Dance

Generally, reviews of dance will be found in newspapers, dance magazines and journals, and websites devoted to dance.

Your strategy for finding reviews of dance and ballet starts with the time and location: where and when the performances that you are interested in will greatly effect your strategy. 

General Search Tips

• Use whatever information you already know in your search. Include elements like
  • Work title
  • Choreographer, composer, or performer
  • Critic's name
• Use quotation marks and use AND between each element, such as: "Appalachian Spring" AND "Martha Graham"

  The quotation marks let the database know that you need those words to appear together and in that order and the AND limits the results to articles containing both phrases.

• Look for options in whatever tool you are searching to limit your search (often in the advanced search, if there is one) to:
  • a particular time period if you need reviews of a premiere, for example
  • a particular newspaper/publication
  • "Reviews" as an item type

You can use some of these strategies to search in QuickSearch. Make sure to narrow your search results to "Reviews" (under "Resource Type").

Newspapers have historically written many reviews of dance performances. The Rutgers University Libraries subscribes to many individual newspaper databases, and you can find them on our Database List. 

Some of the more prominent newspapers include:

Some databases focus on different readers and geographical areas, which may be of use:

While newspapers may employ full-time dance critics who have made a career reviewing dance, many people are also reviewing contemporary dance performances online. Here is a selection of respected dance websites and review aggregators. (You may also want to consult the dance company's website, which may quote reviews of selected performances.)

• BachTrack Dance Reviews

• The Ballet Bag

• Critical Dance

• The Dance Journal

  The Dance Journal seeks to provide an outlet for writing on a range of topics that encompass the ever growing and emerging dance community in the greater Philadelphia region.

• Dance Tabs

• DanceView Times

• Dancing Times Reviews

• Fjord Dance Reviews

• The Guardian Dance Reviews

• The Village Voice Dance Section