The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts > Collections > Jerome Robbins Dance Division

Special Features: Supporting the Vitality of Dance

The Dance Division has developed a series of projects to address both the specialized needs of the professional dance community and the needs of the general public. These projects include:

Exhibitions

The division regularly selects from its diverse holdings to mount thematic, biographical, or historical exhibitions. Past exhibitions have explored such subjects as "Music, Dance and the French Revolution" and "Four Decades of the New York City Ballet." Selected exhibitions may travel to other venues; the Curator of Exhibitions (212.870.1830) can provide information about this service.

Exhibition Loan Program

The division will loan materials from its collections to other organizations for the programming of conferences or major exhibitions. Exhibitors are expected to meet museum standards of display, security, insurance and art transport. Detailed guidelines and requirements are available on request from the Curator of Exhibitions (212.870.1830).

Screenings and Lectures

To augment its exhibitions, the division sponsors film screenings, lectures, demonstrations, and performances. For information on events, call 212.870.1630 or visit the Performing Arts Library's Web site.

Oral History Archive and Project

The Dance Division's Oral History Archive is comprised of some 4,000 recordings. These audiotapes document the voices and ideas of more than half a century of dancers, choreographers, scholars, and producers working in all areas of popular and theatrical dance. The archive is also the repository for the Dance Division’s own Oral History Project, which numbers nearly 400 interviews. The Project is a distinct, searchable collection of interviews that have been initiated and recorded by the Library in an effort to add to the existing primary source material available to researchers in dance. One major focus of the Dance Division’s Oral History Project has been the lives and work of dance professionals with HIV and AIDS.

Publications

The division periodically publishes books and pamphlets on dance. Representative titles include Images of the Dance by Lillian Moore (New York: The New York Public Library, 1965), Dancing in Prints (New York: The New York Public Library, 1964), Stravinsky and the Dance (New York: The New York Public Library, 1962), "Your Isadora" (New York: Random House & The New York Public Library, 1974), and Alexander Pushkin (New York: The New York Public Library, 2001).

Consulting Technical Services

Recognized as a leader in film, videotape, and manuscript preservation, the division offers technical assistance to dance companies and choreographers, helping insure that recorded and still images of their work survive into the future. A paper conservator is also available to provide conservation information to the professional field. For further information on any of these services, call 212.870.1655.

Documenting and Preserving Live Performance

Since 1965, the division has selected, produced, and recorded more than 1,000 dance works on film and videotape and taped hundreds of hours of oral history interviews. These recording projects ensure that today's masterworks will be tomorrow's legacy, available to future generations for study and restaging.

Responding to a critical need in the field, The Collaborative Editing Project to Document Dance, funded by a grant from the National Initiative to Preserve America’s Dance (NIPAD), explores how collaborations between choreographers and editors can extend the dance community’s ability to produce high-quality records of dance (Report in Adobe PDF).