Range of current dance documentation and preservation activities

Snyder, Andrea (ASnyder@MAIL.Kennedy-Center.org)
Thu, 25 Jun 1998 11:08:26 -0400

We thought you would appreciate this update of completed or current
documentation and preservation projects or organizations who are
initiating projects. It is pared down and excerpted from Andrea
Snyder's recent presentation at the Dance/USA's Roundtable Conference in
Charleston, SC. If you would like more details of the organizations,
projects or a full copy of the presentation, please contact us at:
asnyder@mail.kennedy-center.org.

American Dance Festival's archival work and black choreographers
project;
The American Dance Legacy Institute at Brown University;
The African American Dance Ensemble's study and research of African
dances;
Brooklyn Academy of Music's presentation of Dance Women/Living Legends;
Dance Heritage Coalition's Access to Resources in the History of Dance;
The Dance Librarians Discussion Group
Dance Pioneers' filming of legendary dance figures;
The George Balanchine Foundation's archival initiatives;
The Jose Limon Dance Company's methods of passing Limon works from one
generation to another;
LEGACY Oral History Project's multi-faceted approach to document artists
at risk;
Library of Congress's acquisition and reconstruction efforts;
Michigan Dance Archives
The New York Baroque Dance Company's comprehensive approach to keeping
works from the 18th century alive;
The Paul Taylor Repertory Preservation Project
The Twyla Tharp Archives at the Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee
Theatre Research Institute of The Ohio State University;

and the following, funded wholly or in part by NIPAD:
American Tap Dance Orchestra's efforts to save important video materials
documenting the Copasetics;
The Arizona State University Institute for Studies in the Arts video
disc project to document Daniel Nagrin;
Filmmaker Anne Belle's project to document the master ballet teacher,
Stanley Williams;
The Cambodian Network Council's documentation of eight works from the
Cambodian court dance repertory;
Changing Times' transfer, cataloguing and preservation of important
footage and oral histories from Jane Goldberg's By Word of Foot 1,2 and
3;
City Lore's one-hour, bilingual film documenting traditional Afro-Puerto
Rican bomba;
Classic Black, a project by Dawn Horwitz and Jonnie Green, that captures
through oral histories, photos and symposia, black dancers in ballet
prior to 1970;
Cross-Cultural Dance Resources' project to preserve the collection of
Gertrude Kurath;
The Cunningham Dance Foundation Archives and project to copy and scan
Merce's choreographic notes and notations;
The Dance Notation Bureau's new project to link computer technologies to
record dance;
The Erick Hawkins' Dance Foundation's project to document the Hawkins'
technique;
The Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival's Archives project;
Living Archives' archival film documenting master teacher Bessie
Schonberg;
Meredith Monk's comparative documentary of Education of the Girlchild;
MOMENTA's coaching tapes of five Humphrey works;
Morrison-Shearer Foundation's preservation of 16mm films of the
choreography and performance of Sybil Shearer;
Nancy Ladd Muller's efforts to secure the materials of Dr. Pearl Primus;
NY Public Library for the Performing Arts Dance Collection's completed
oral history project, and newly funded project to improve the dance
community's ability to edit videos;
The Ohio State University Dance Department's multimedia CD-ROM prototype
to capture information about an artist, and newly funded investigation
of a prototype on DVD to document the elements of a dance production;
Preserve's publication of Dance Archives;
Sally Sommers' one-hour club dance documentary, Check Your Body at the
Door;
And, the San Francisco Performing Arts Library & Museum, Bay Area Video
Coalition, Theater Artaud, and World Arts West consortium to improve the
quality of video documentation of dance in the Bay Area.
Also, we need to include the NEA's continued support, first through the
Dance Program and now through the Heritage and Preservation funding
category, to many, many projects.

*****

Periodically you will receive information about dance preservation and
documentation work that is going on around the country, as well as other
relevant dance information that we feel may be helpful to you. If you
think of others who should receive this information, if you are not
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SAVE AS: DANCE can be found on the World Wide Web at:
http://save-as-dance.org.

Andrea Snyder, Director
National Initiative to Preserve America's Dance
The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts
Washington, DC 20566

(202) 416-8036
email: ASnyder@mail.kennedy-center.org
http://save-as-dance.org