Library: DAN 101: Introduction to Dance Studies: Find Archival & Museum Resources

Performances

Digital Collections in NYPL
Records of dance performances and videos from NYPL.
Fred Fehl Digitial Collection
In addition to the Fred Fehl dance collection, the Ransom Center also holds Fehl's collection of theater photographs.
Numeridanse
Numeridanse is a multimedia dance platform. It offers free access to a unique video base: filmed performances, documentaries, interviews, fictions, dance videos. Every single genre, style and form is showcased here: butoh, classical ballet, neo-classical ballet, baroque, Indian, African, flamenco, contemporary, traditional dances, hip-hop, tango, jazz, circus arts, performance, etc.

Archival & Libraries Resources

Alvin Ailey Digital Collection
Alvin Ailey Digital Collection.
Balanchine Catalogue
Choreography by George Balanchine: A Catalogue of Works provides a complete premiere-performance database record of Balanchine’s creative output. The Catalogue, compiled by scholars and researchers and initially prepared with Balanchine’s participation, covers a period of more than sixty years – from La Nuit at the Petrograd Theater Ballet School, choreographed circa 1920, to Variations for Orchestra for the New York City Ballet in 1982, his final work.
Ballet Russe Archive
As some former Ballets Russes dancers left their respective companies, they settled in many communities throughout the United States. Two of these dancers, husband and wife Miguel Terekhov and Yvonne Chouteau founded the University of Oklahoma School of Dance in 1961. In 2005, discussions began with School of Dance to donate some of their memorabilia. This launched the collection of material that eventually led to the founding of the Ballets Russes Archive in 2007. What began as a small amount of material has expanded to approximately 70 linear feet of information, with contributions from sixty-one individuals to date. The collections include contracts, correspondence, programs, clippings, diaries, scrapbooks, and photographs as well as video resources and ephemera. Collection of oral histories and transcripts of live interviews is ongoing.
Jerome Robbins Dance Division
The Jerome Robbins Dance Division is the world’s largest dance archive and library with an international and extensive collection that spans seven centuries.
Katherine Dunham Collection
This online Katherine Dunham Collection presentation makes available a selection of photographs from the Library of Congress, The Missouri Historical Society, and Southern Illinois University; film and videotape excerpts from Dunham's research and performing career; and selections from the Library's Dunham Legacy Project that documented the Dunham dance technique. In addition, a complete inventory of the Collection is included.
Serge Diaghilev and His World: A Centennial Celebration of Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes, 1909–1929
Features material concerning the Ballets Russes, one of the most influential dance companies of the twentieth century. Most of the objects come from the Library's Bronislava Nijinska collection. Nijinska, sister of the legendary Ballets Russes member Vaslav Nijinsky, was also a dancer and a choreographer for the company. Objects include photographs of Diaghilev and members of the company, musical scores, production photographs, costume designs, dance notation manuscripts, souvenir programs, and posters.
USC Libraries
Dance catalogs and performance records from USC Libraries / Archives.
West Side Story: Birth of a Classic
West Side Story is not only a classic musical, it is also one of only a handful of landmark shows that fundamentally changed the form of musicals. Arguably, its greatest influence was in the theatricality of its presentation—the seamlessness and cinematic flow of its staging—and the integration of script, song, dance, and set. In its original Broadway run, West Side Story ran for 732 performances—a success, but not a smash hit. Not until the overwhelming success of the film in 1961 (and its ongoing popularity) were the show and its score fully appreciated and embraced by audiences.