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Dance

The following is a selected list of resources for starting research in Dance. Most of these resources are located in the Knight Library on the second floor, with reference resources on the third floor in the Music Services reference collection. For further assistance, contact Leslie Bennett, Dance Reference Librarian, at lbennett@uoregon.edu.

Starting Your Research

These sources can help you identify a topic for your research. Some provide an overview of a specific issue and suggest other materials which might be useful for your research. Others help you to notice a topic that might be of interest to you.

  • Bibliographies of Topics in Dance

      Search the Z7514 .D2's on the Music Reference shelves.
      (One of the most comprehensive is Mary Bopp's Research in dance: a guide to resources. [MUS. REF. Z7514 .D2 B6 1994])

  • Subject Encyclopedias

      Look at encyclopedias for background on your topic and bibliographies. The latest ones for Dance are located in MUSIC REFERENCE in the GV 1585 section. They provide essay-type articles and a list of citations. A few titles include: 

    • International Encyclopedia of Dance
      [MUS. REF. GV 1585 .I586 1998 (6 vols.)]
      A multi-volume resource on all dance that is also available online (to UO patrons) in the Library's title section as the International Encyclopedia of Dance

    • International Dictionary of Ballet
      [MUS. REF. GV 1585 .I57 1993]

    • International Dictionary of Modern Dance
      [MUS REF. GV 1585 .I58 1998]

    • The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians
      [MUS. REF. ML100 .N48 2000].
      Excellent scholarly articles on dance forms, with comprehensive bibliographies. This resource is available online (to UO patrons) through the title Grove Music Online

    • The Garland Encyclopedia of World Music
      [MUS. REF.ML100 .G16 1998 (10 vols.)]
      A multi-volume encyclopedia with excellent articles on music and dance in cultures around the world.

    • Encyclopedia Britannica
      Concise, frequently scholarly articles on many topics of interest to dance and dancers.  This resource also ties in photographs and videos to add to the information.

  • Dance Dictionaries

      Consult these sources (as well as the encyclopedias above) for definitions of terms in dance: 

    • Oxford Dictionary of Dance
      [MUS. REF. GV1585 .C78 2000]
      A good one-stop place to consult for terms and genres of dance. Also available on the Library's web site (to UO patrons) by the title: Oxford Dictionary of Dance.

    • Glossarist: Dance glossaries and dance dictionaries
      An online resource that allows you to search specific dance terms- and provides free access to all users.

    • American Ballet Theatre's Online Dictionary
      This dictionary defines 170 terms from the Technical Manual and Dictionary of Classical Ballet. It uses QuickTime movies to demonstrate the movements.

Finding Journal Articles

To look for articles in journals, newspapers, or magazines, you will need to start with an index. An index will allow you to look by subject or a few keywords which describe your topic or by author.

    Indexes to Dance Articles:

  • NYPL Dance Catalog
    This catalog includes indexing to dance journals and articles.
    To limit your search to just journal articles, use the Limit/Sort Search button after you've searched your topic as a Subject, then choose Publication Type: SERIAL COMP PT
    (Keep in mind that the UO may not own that journal, so make sure you've saved your search results!)

  • Music Index
    A good general starting point for research about dance, indexing many of the standard dance journals.

  • RILM Music Abstracts
    This index is especially strong for dance articles in other languages and other cultures.

  • Academic Search Premier
    A general index that has articles on dance in society, and connects to full-text journal articles.

  • SportDiscus
    An index of sport and physical education periodicals published in English or French. This is especially useful for articles on physiology, kinesiology, and dance therapy. Indexing is available from 1949 to the present.

  • JStor
    This archive of online journals provides browsing capability of the journals, including the Dance Chronicle, Dance Research, and the CORD News, through the Browse screen, under Performing Arts.
    Note that most journals stop within five years of the current subscription. Use FindText to find current online journals.

    • Finding the Journals

  • After identifying articles which look useful for your research, look up the title of the journal or magazine in the UO Library Catalog to determine if the Library subscribes to this title and get the call number and location. Use the FindText button on each entry to determine if electronic access is possible, or to order the article through Interlibrary Loan, if our copy is not available.

  • To find online versions of dance journals, use the FindText feature on the Library's web catalog, under Journal Titles, and search by the title of the journal.

  • Browse through the table of contents of current music journals. These are kept on the second floor on the Current Periodicals shelves. Most of the dance journals will be found in the GV 1580 section.

  • For a list of the dance journals owned by the University of Oregon, see Dance Journals at the UO

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Finding Books

  • UO Library Catalog
    Identify books by topic, title or author; identify journals and magazines owned by the UO Library. To find journal articles on your topic, use the databases listed in the section above. Once you have a citation, you can check the library catalog by doing a title search on the name of the journal to see if we have it here.

  • Summit Catalog
    Orbis/Cascade is a consortium of Northwest libraries that more than doubles our collection. You can borrow books not owned by the UO Library by selecting the Request Item option. Summit works only for books and other items, not journals. If you want to request a journal articles, you'll need to fill out an interlibrary loan form.

  • WorldCat
    WorldCat provides access to library catalogs from around the world. The database contains bibliographic records describing books, journals, maps, musical scores, manuscripts, etc.

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Finding VIDEOS on Dance

  • Begin your search in the Library's catalog by choosing Limit search to... and choose Video and Film.

  • Search the Library's catalog by Author for performers and composers of ballets and dance.

  • Search the Library's catalog by Subject for types of dances (e.g. Tango; Ballroom Dancing, etc.)

  • Search the Library's catalog by Keyword for videos whose titles you know.

  • Browse the covers of DVDs in the Reserve/Video room on the first floor of the Knight Library. There is a couple of sections for Dance materials there.

  • See the UO Dance Videos Web Site (under construction at http://libweb.uoregon.edu/music/Dance/Dancevids/dancevid.html) for a preliminary list of dance videos held by the UO.

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People & Organizations

Along with the dance encyclopedias listed above, see the following resources for biographical information:

  • Biographical Dictionary of Dance.
    [MUS. REF. GV1785 .A1 C58 1982]

  • Complete Guide to Modern Dance.
    [MUS. REF. GV1783 .M26]

  • Film Choreographers and Dance Directors: an Illustrated Encyclopedia.
    [MUS. REF. GV1779 .B55 1997]

  • Search the UO web site Dance Organizations at
    http://libweb.uoregon.edu/music/Dance/Danceguides/danceorgs.html for sites of current dancers, choreographers, and related people.

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Dance in Oregon

Web Resources