LibGuides: Dance: Find Dance Humanities Resources

The Leatherby Libraries has a collection of books across many disciplines. Books on dance studies, dance history, dance technique, and choreography are mostly found in the Henley Social Science Library on the second floor of the Leatherby Libraries. You will find the majority of dance books and DVDs in the call number range of GV 1580--GV 1799.

Use this search bar to find books in the catalog:

And also try looking in the ESCO Academic E-Books Collection:

eBook Academic Collection This link opens in a new window Over 250,000 multidisciplinary e-book titles representing a broad range of academic subject matter, including titles from leading university presses. Terms of Use. Each book is restricted to 1 download at a time (requires Adobe Digital Editions or the EBSCO Mobile App). Unlimited users may read in browser.

You can also find books from libraries all over the world and have themn sent to the Leatherby Libraries through Interlibrary Loan.

The Leatherby Libraries also has a large number of e-books that cannot be found in the library catalog.

Search in the "Start Your Search" box on the library homepage for e-books and other materials:

Leatherby Libraries Home Page

Best bets for finding articles from dance journals, magazines, and professional literature:

ProQuest Performing Arts Periodicals Database This link opens in a new window Indexes 400 scholarly and trade journals, magazines, books, and newspapers covering theater, dance, film, television, stagecraft, broadcast arts, storytelling, and more. Terms of Use. Coverage: 1864-present. Restricted to 4 users at a time.
Academic Search Premier This link opens in a new window A multi-disciplinary database providing access to scholarly journals articles, newspapers, popular magazines, and reviews. Terms of Use. Coverage: 1975-present.

Other databases to find dance articles:

Arts and Humanities Citation Index This link opens in a new window A multidisciplinary index covering the journal literature of the arts and humanities. Coverage of over 1,200 of the world's leading arts and humanities journals, as well as selected items from over 6,000 scientific and social sciences journals. Terms of Use. Coverage: 1975-present.
Humanities Full Text (H.W. Wilson) This link opens in a new window Offers full text of scholarly sources, as well as lesser-known, specialized magazines. Includes full text of articles, interviews, obituaries, bibliographies, fiction, drama, poetry, and reviews. Terms of Use. Coverage: 1984-present.

Video Databases:

Bloomsbury Video Library This link opens in a new window Features filmed performances, fiction films, documentaries, instructional videos, and more. Includes access to the full Arts and Humanities Collection, which includes 2,000 films from the Dance, Film and Media, History and Culture, Music , and Visual and Applied Arts Collections. Terms of Use. Coverage: 1940-present.
Dance in Video This link opens in a new window Contains dance productions and documentaries by the most influential performers and companies of the 20th century. Selections cover ballet, tap, jazz, contemporary, experimental, and improvisational dance, as well as forerunners of the forms and the pioneers of modern concert dance. Terms of Use.
Swank Digital Campus This link opens in a new window Streaming films and documentaries from 30+ major studios. Our subscription provides the 1,000 most-requested videos on the platform (updated June 2024). Faculty may create accounts to request additional titles per the Streaming Video Policy. | How to create an instructor account and request films.
Kanopy This link opens in a new window Streaming films and documentaries from Criterion Collection, Kino Lorber, The Great Courses, and Psychotherapy.net. Faculty may log in and request additional films on https://www.kanopy.com/search to be added per the Streaming Video Policy. | Terms of Use. Coverage: 1894-present.

Online dance video resources:

Jacob's Pillow Dance Interactive Jacob’s Pillow Dance Interactive is an ever-growing collection of dance videos filmed at Jacob’s Pillow from the 1930s to today.

Jacob’s Pillow is a National Historic Landmark, a National Medal of Arts recipient, and home to America’s longest running dance festival. Each year thousands of people from across the U.S. and around the globe experience the Festival with more than 50 dance companies and 200 free performances, talks, and events; train at The School at Jacob’s Pillow; explore the rare and extensive dance Archives; take part in numerous Community Programs; and experience the rich history of the Festival online.

Jerome Robbins Dance Division Audio and Moving Image Archive From the New York Public Library's Digital Collections. A collection of dance images and videos, many of which can be freely viewed online for dance research.

The Leatherby Libraries has a large collection of dance DVDs. Most can be found in the Social Sciences li

Free and Legal Videos (Creative Commons Licensed or Public Domain)

Vimeo Creative Commons
Browse and search videos on Vimeo with Creative Commons licensing.
YouTube (Creative Commons filter)
Once you enter a search on YouTube, click the "Filter" dropdown menu and choose "Creative Commons" under Feature.
Prelinger Archives - Internet Archive
From the site:
"Rick Prelinger and The Internet Archive hereby offer public domain films from Prelinger Archives to all for free downloading and reuse.
You are warmly encouraged to download, use and reproduce these films in whole or in part, in any medium or market throughout the world. You are also warmly encouraged to share, exchange, redistribute, transfer and copy these films, and especially encouraged to do so for free."

Music resources to listen and find that perfect piece to work with or inspire your choreography:

Naxos Music Library This link opens in a new window An enormous library of classical music recordings. With over 2 million tracks, this is a great resource for listening to obscure works or multiple performances of standard works. Terms of Use.

Free and Legal Music (through Creative Commons licensing or in the public domain):

British Library Sounds
80,000 Free audio recordings from the British library. Recordings include world music, classical music, interviews, nature sounds, and more.
Internet Archive- Audio Archive
Explore all of the audio collections hosted by the Internet Archive.
From the site:
"This library contains recordings ranging from alternative news programming, to Grateful Dead concerts, to Old Time Radio shows, to book and poetry readings, to original music uploaded by our users. Many of these audios and MP3s are available for free download."
Copyright for Performing Artists

General OneFile This link opens in a new window Peer-reviewed, full-text articles from journals and reference sources covering the physical sciences, technology, medicine, social sciences, the arts, theology, literature, and other subjects. Terms of Use. Coverage: 1980-present.
Newspaper Source This link opens in a new window Provides cover-to-cover full text for more than 40 national and international newspapers and selective full text for more than 370 regional newspapers. Also includes television and radio news transcripts from sources like CBS News, CNN, FOX News, and NPR, and more. List of Titles. | Terms of Use.
ProQuest Performing Arts Periodicals Database This link opens in a new window Indexes 400 scholarly and trade journals, magazines, books, and newspapers covering theater, dance, film, television, stagecraft, broadcast arts, storytelling, and more. Terms of Use. Coverage: 1864-present. Restricted to 4 users at a time.
Los Angeles Times This link opens in a new window Complete full-text content of local and regional news, including community events, schools, politics, government policies, cultural activities, local companies, state industries, and people in the community. Paid advertisements are excluded. Terms of Use. Coverage: 1985-present.