LibGuides: Dance: Background Information

Dance Research Guide

Research Guide for Dance

Six dancers on a stage gazing down, each with their right foot turned inward and their forearms raised elbow high and hands held limply. This guide brings together materials useful for conducting research in dance. You can use this guide to find:

Sources for background information in dance
How to find books in Columbia libraries and beyond
Articles and reviews specific to dance research
Streaming media sources
Primary sources and data research in dance
Recommendations for citing and writing

[Image] V. Sladon, Dance performance in Minor Latham Playhouse, photograph. 1970. Barnard Archives and Special Collections.

Dictionaries & Encyclopedias

Undergraduate Research in Dance by Lynnette Young Overby; Gregory Young; Jenny Olin Shanahan
Call Number: ebook
ISBN: 1138484113
Publication Date: 2019-01-21
Guides students through the fundamentals of research methods, providing a foundation to help students get started in understanding research protocols and processes. Students will learn skills such as how to choose a research topic, refine research questions, conduct literature reviews, cite sources, synthesize and analyze data, develop conclusions and results, and present their findings. Details forms of undergraduate research in a rich diversity of fields within dance that are taught in many collegiate dance programs including dance therapy, history, science, psychology, education, and technology, in addition to public scholarship, choreography, and interdisciplinary topics. The book also includes a final chapter which provides annotated online resources, and many of its chapters are supported by examples of abstracts of capstone projects, senior theses, and conference presentations by undergraduate researchers.
Encyclopedia of Aesthetics by ed. Michael Kelly
Publication Date: 2014
Scholarly resource for the conceptual side of the arts, excellent for backgrounds & theory. A comprehensive survey of major concepts, thinkers, and debates about the meaning, uses, and value of all the arts—from painting and sculpture to literature, music, theater, dance, television, film, and popular culture.The second edition includes increased coverage of international aesthetics, modern aesthetics, new media like computer art, and areas like neuroaesthetics that were not thoroughly covered in the first edition.
International Dictionary of Modern Dance by Taryn Benbow-Pfalzgraf (Editor); Glynis Benbow-Niemier (Contribution by); St. James Press Staff
ISBN: 1558623590
Publication Date: 1998-05-01
Provides thorough coverage of artists, works, companies, periods, performances, schools, collections and selected forms, and trends and innovations in modern dance. However, last updated in 1998, so it's better for more historical research on modern dance.

The International Encyclopedia of Dance
A searchable database with articles on all aspects of dance, including theatrical, ritual, dance-drama, folk, traditional, ethnic, and social dance. Cultural and national overviews are accompanied by entries on dance forms, music and costumes, performances, and biographies of dancers and choreographers. Entries are also A-Z browsable.
Oxford Encyclopedia of Theatre and Performance
This encyclopedia provides authoritative and up-to-date information about theatre and performance from ancient Greek theatre to the latest developments in London, Paris, New York, and around the globe. In addition to performances in playhouses, it covers dance, opera, radio, film, television, and popular performance, including carnivals, circus, and public executions. Entries range from short definitions of terms to lengthy considerations of genres and movements, such as feminism and psychoanalytic criticism. Entries on cities and regions place performance in its local social and political context. Searches can be done by keyword or through a browsable A-Z list. Written in accessible language.

Developing Keywords

Why use keywords?

Keywords are terms that describe the topic you are researching. Keywords can be a people, places, things, ideas, or concepts. We need keywords to effectively search in library academic databases (like CLIO or Jstor). Unlike internet browsers, which have developed to understand full questions written in natural language, academic databases use keywords to locate resources.

There are no perfect searches when using keywords, which is why it's useful to brainstorm lots of related terms and/or synonyms to locate what you are looking for. For example, we might use the word "teenager" to describe a particular population, but the term "youth" might be used in a database instead. You can also find new keywords once you begin searching in the content section and subject sections of a catalog entry.

Dance

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Dance Research Guide

Research Guide for Dance

Dictionaries & Encyclopedias

Developing Keywords

Why use keywords?

Using boolean operators and boolean modifiers