Dance on Video
Aside from live performance, recorded films of dance are possibly the most informative sources for becoming familiar with various dance styles and aesthetics. Remember that these are usually highly edited and produced and may not be representative of what happened on stage.
An excellent guide for getting to know dance styles through online resources is:
Looking at Contemporary Dance by Call Number: Available ONLINEISBN: 9780871273543Publication Date: 2012-06-29With a focus on dance innovation from the late 19th century to the present, this history provides dance students with accessible information on the major contributors to the art. Organized chronologically by the decades in which innovators were born or dance organizations were founded, the study shows the similarities and generational character that arise from shared influence. Rather than illustrations or photographs, this modern guide offers links to YouTube videos and other internet references to view examples of the work discussed. The scope is international, with coverage of German, Swedish, Belgian, Dutch, Taiwanese, Russian, Finnish, and Spanish pioneers of the avant-garde to illustrate that dance is a global language that continues to break boundaries and explore new ideas. Just a few of the 120 artists and performers featured include Martha Graham, Doris Humphrey, George Balanchine, Mark Morris, Twyla Tharp, Merce Cunningham, Paul Taylor, Jose Limon, Katherine Dunham, Chunky Move, and Trey McIntyre.
Online Archives and Databases
- Dance in VideoDigitized, streaming dance videos from a variety of styles, performers, and choreographers.
- Academic Video OnlineAcademic Video Online has access to hundreds of videos on dance from around the world.
- The EVIA Digital Archive Project : Ethnographic Video50 collections and thousands of hours of music, dance, ritual, and other performances from all over the world.
- American Archive of Public BroadcastingOnline archive of public television, which includes thousands of videos of dance and ballet, created by Library of Congress and WGBH in Boston
- Dance Channel TVDance Channel TV (www.dancechanneltv.com) is an online media network dedicated to promoting, preserving and supporting all forms of dance around the world. Our mission is to educate our viewers about the art form and to inspire, engage and connect them through the universal language of dance. To this end, we develop and produce original video programming, covering numerous styles of dance through unique series, news content, interviews, performances, classes, documentaries and much more.
- Dance Heritage Video ArchiveThe collection preserves culturally significant recordings that document global and U.S. dance traditions, creative work by outstanding choreographers and performers, and performances that helped to advance the art form.
- Folk StreamsAn online database of films about folkways, including folk dance.
- Jacob's Pillow Dance InitiativeCheck out rare footage filmed at Jacob's Pillow, America's longest running dance festival, dating as far back as the 1930s
- NumeridanseNumeridanse 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.
- NYPL Jerome Robbins Dance Division Audio and Moving Image ArchiveCollection of over 25,000 films and videos, preserving archival footage of many dancers, including Mikhail Baryshnikov and the Merce Cunningham Dance Company.
- Social Dances from the Library of Congress75 clips that illustrate social dances from "all time periods" in the Library of Congress' Dance Instruction Manuals
- UbuWebUbuWeb began in 1996 as an online repository for visual, concrete, and sound poetry. The website has since expanded to include all avant garde arts, including dance and electronic music.
Library Media
The Media Collection at Douglass Library holds hundreds of recordings of dance that are available to students. Use QuickSearch to identify holdings in the collection. You can limit your search results to the resource type film/video and that it is held by the library. Here is a sample search.
