Dance Resources

Research and Performance Resources at your library

General Websites

American Dance Festival Since 1934, ADF has remained committed to serving the needs of dance, dancers, choreographers, and professionals in dance-related fields. Remaining true to the goals of its founding artists, ADF’s programs are developed based on its mission: to encourage and support the creation and presentation of new modern dance work by both established and emerging choreographers, to preserve our modern dance heritage through continued presentation of classic works as well as through archival efforts, to build wider national and international audiences for modern dance, to enhance public understanding and appreciation of the art form and its cultural and historical significance, to provide a sound scientific and aesthetic base for professional education and training of young dancers, and to maintain a forum for integrating and disseminating information on dance education.
Arizona Commission on the Arts The Arizona Commission on the Arts is an agency of the State of Arizona whose mission is to create opportunities for all Arizonans to participate in and experience the arts. To that end, we deliver grants and support to cultivate sustainable arts communities and promote statewide public access to arts and cultural activities.
Arts Journal - Dance Each day ArtsJournal features link to stories culled from around the internet, including blogs and more than 200 English-language newspapers, magazines and publications featuring writing about arts and culture.
International Dance Council CID is the official umbrella organization for all forms of dance in all countries of the world. CID is recognized by UNESCO, national and local governments, international organizations and institutions. It brings together the most important international, national and local organizations, as well as select individuals active in dance.
National Endowment for the Arts - Dance Established by Congress in 1965, the NEA is the independent federal agency whose funding and support gives Americans the opportunity to participate in the arts, exercise their imaginations, and develop their creative capacities. Through partnerships with state arts agencies, local leaders, other federal agencies, and the philanthropic sector, the NEA supports arts learning, affirms and celebrates America’s rich and diverse cultural heritage, and extends its work to promote equal access to the arts in every community across America.
NYPL Remote Research and Dance: Open Resources
PBS Learning Media - Dance PBS LearningMedia provides PreK-12 educators with access to free digital content and professional development opportunities designed to improve teacher effectiveness and student achievement.
PE Central - Dance Lessons PE Central exists to assist teachers, parents, and others who work with youngsters to guide them in the process of becoming physically active and healthy for a lifetime.

Scholarly Websites

American Ballet Theatre - Library Ballet Dictionary and Repertory Archive
American Dance Festival Archives - Duke University Libraries The American Dance Festival Archives serves as the repository for records of enduring historical value created and collected by ADF. The Archives preserves its collections for use by the dance community, including students, scholars, and the general public.
Dance Heritage Coalition DHC is a national alliance of institutions holding significant collections of materials documenting the history of dance. Its mission is to preserve, make accessible, enhance and augment the materials that document the artistic accomplishments in dance of the past, present, and future.
Dance Notation Bureau The Dance Notation Bureau’s (DNB) mission is to advance the art of dance through the use of a system of notation.
Dance NYC - Research Dance/NYC is committed to effective case building grounded in action oriented research. Through research, it guides strategic and responsive policy and fund development and improves management practice. Dance/NYC understands the key role data has in ensuring dance workers and companies are advocated for and that their needs are served at this time. Dance/NYC has published 14 pioneering research reports. Please visit the research library below to access all of Dance/NYC's past research.
Dance Studies Association The Dance Studies Association (DSA) is an international organization of dance scholars, educators, and artists that aims to strengthen the visibility and increase the reach of dance as embodied practice, creative endeavor and intellectual discipline.
Daniel Nagrin Theatre, Film & Dance Foundation The Daniel Nagrin Theatre, Film & Dance Foundation oversees the estate, historical content and educational implementation of the work of American Modern Dancer and Master Teacher Daniel Nagrin.
Educational Technology Clearinghouse - Dance The Florida Digital Educator program supports the appropriate integration of technology into K-12 education.
Ethnographic Video for Instruction and Analysis (EVIA) Digital Archive Project The EVIA Digital Archive Project is a preservation and access system for annotated ethnographic field video by scholars, available to educators and researchers online.
International Association for Dance Medicine and Science IADMS was formed to foster several related goals in the dance medicine and science field; the purposes and objectives of the organization are summarized in its Mission Statement: IADMS ENHANCES THE HEALTH, WELL-BEING, TRAINING, AND PERFORMANCE OF DANCERS BY CULTIVATING EDUCATIONAL, MEDICAL, AND SCIENTIFIC EXCELLENCE.
Katherine Dunham Collection The Katherine Dunham Collection at the Library of Congress consists of moving image materials that document the extraordinary journey of a woman who changed the face of American modern dance. The Collection highlights Dunham’s early explorations as an anthropologist in the 1930s as she observed a multitude of movement types and dance forms.
Kennedy Center Dance Collections What’s the difference between troika and hula? How can dance tell stories and preserve histories? Discover dance and its impact on culture by exploring Ancient Egyptian rituals and Native American legends. Learn how dance tells stories and poems through a language of movement and music, and pick up a few moves yourself.
Laban/Bartenieff Institute of Movement Studies The Laban/Bartenieff Institute of Movement Studies, LIMS® is a non-profit educational organization, centered in New York/Brooklyn, with a global network of movement professionals. We have been training movement observers, teachers, and coaches for almost forty years. Our international network includes over 1000 Certified Movement Analysts (CMAs) who apply the movement analysis work in a diverse and ever-changing world, making a difference in the way people perform, communicate, observe, learn, and negotiate.
The Laban/Bartenieff Institute of Movement Studies The Laban/Bartenieff Institute of Movement Studies, LIMS® is a non-profit educational organization, centered in New York City, with a global network of movement professionals. As an accredited school of higher education, research center, and cultural arts institution, we have been training movement observers, teachers, and coaches for forty years.
New York Public Library Jerome Robbins Dance Division 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. Chronicling the art of dance in all its manifestations—ballet, ethnic, modern, social, and folk—the division is much more than a library in the usual sense of the word.
Performing Arts Encyclopedia Search and browse descriptions of more than 235 Library of Congress music, theater and dance resources by subject, title, or name.
Royal Academy of Dance The Royal Academy of Dance is one of the world’s most influential dance education and training organisations, with its global headquarters in London. We believe that everyone should have the opportunity to learn to dance.

Society of Ethnomusicology (SEM)
Dance Studies Association (DSA)
National Dance Education Organization (NDEO)
New York Public Library (NYPL) for the Performing Arts
Library of Congress

Professional Websites

American Dance Guild Focuses on offering performance opportunities both in annual festivals and “bare bones” low-tech productions, and awards a summer scholarship to Jacob’s Pillow.
American Dance Therapy Association The American Dance Therapy Association (ADTA), founded in 1966, is a professional organization dedicated to the profession of dance/movement therapy.
Arizona Dance Education Organization The mission of AzDEO is to support and advance dance education centered in the arts.
Ballet Arizona Ballet Arizona is an innovative and provocative professional ballet company that creates, performs, and teaches outstanding classical and contemporary ballet. The company is dedicated to preserving and celebrating classical dance while creating and commissioning new innovative works.
Dance USA By providing national leadership and services, Dance/USA enhances the infrastructure for dance creation and distribution, education, and dissemination of information.
Dancing Wheels If dance is an expression of the human spirit, then it is best expressed by people of all abilities. That is the fundamental belief behind the Dancing Wheels Company & School. Considered one of the premier arts and disabilities organizations in the U.S., Dancing Wheels is a professional, physically integrated dance company uniting the talents of dancers both with and without disabilities.
Desert Dance Theatre Desert Dance Theatre is a contemporary dance company that was founded in 1979 by four ASU Dance Graduates. Currently, under the artistic direction of Lisa R. Chow and Step Raptis, Desert Dance Theatre has an eclectic variety of dances in the current repertory, which range from classical, comical, abstract and theatrical. The company is comprised of experienced performers, choreographers and enthusiastic educators who strive to bring the openness, spontaneity and diversity of dance to the public. The company offers a variety of quality programs to schools and communities that are inspiring, entertaining and educational, including: master classes, lecture demonstrations and performances.
Epik Dance Company EPIK Dance Company is a nonprofit street-fusion dance company that combines classical training (like contemporary, jazz, and modern) with urban disciplines (like hip hop, breaking, and locking) to provide all people an opportunity to experience the benefits of dance and the arts through public education, performances, and community enrichment.
The International Association of Blacks in Dance The International Association of Blacks in Dance preserves and promotes dance by people of African ancestry or origin, and assists and increases opportunities for artists in advocacy, audience development, education, funding, networking, performance, philosophical dialogue, and touring.
National Dance Education Organization NDEO provides professional development, networking forums, honor societies, journals, research and advocacy tools for teachers, administrators and students in the field of dance arts education.
Stage Directors and Choreographers Society SDC is the theatrical union that unites, empowers, and protects professional Stage Directors and Choreographers throughout the United States.