Dance: Background Information

The Jerome Robbins Dance Division of The New York Public Library is the largest and most comprehensive archive in the world devoted to the documentation of dance.

A virtual space for dance enthusiasts and researchers alike to browse, search, compare, and comment on dance videos and images - then share their discoveries with others!

A very useful short research guide by the Jerome Robbins Dance Division librarians.

Over 200 links to dance resources online selected by the staff at the Jerome Robbins Dance Division.

The Dance Heritage Coalition is a national alliance of institutions holding significant collections of materials documenting the history of dance and has published a collection of essays, images, and biographies of 113 American individuals and institutions that have made a significant impact on dance as an art form.

DHC provides access through one portal to dance-related collections held by libraries, museums, archives, and dance organizations. Many of these finding aids are available through other websites or in person at their respective institutions. This portal provides the convenience of being able to search all dance-related collections that have been contributed, making it easier and faster for researchers to locate primary sources in their research topic.

The Dance Notation Bureau (DNB) creates dance scores through a system symbol notation called Labanotation. Dance scores function for dance the same way music scores function for music, allowing the dances to continue to be performed long after the lifetime of the artist. DNB has produced and houses scores by artists such as George Balanchine, Paul Taylor, Antony Tudor, Bill T. Jones, Doris Humphrey, William Forsythe, José Limón, Laura Dean, and about 270 others.

The Dance Notation Bureau (DNB) Library maintains the world's largest collection of original Labanotated dance scores. This catalog is not a complete inventory of the DNB’s holdings but does include information regarding the most frequently requested materials used by stagers and researchers worldwide. It includes scores in Labanotation but not scores in other forms of notation, e.g., Benesh.

American Ballet Theatre (ABT) has designed a unique interactive resource that pairs 170 terms from the Technical Manual and Dictionary of Classical Ballet with videos and images of the positions demonstrated by ABT Company dancers.