Subject Librarian: Kathryn Elder
Policy written by: Mary F. Williamson (retired)
Description of Current Collection and Programmes Supported
The collection includes books and periodicals on dance, to include history of dance, ballet, court dance, theatrical dance, social dance, folk dance, and dance ethnology; body movement, kinesiology, dance therapy, medical aspects of dance; manuals and instruction books; dance music, dance notation, and dance education. There are also souvenir programs in connection with appearances by dance and ballet companies and troupes, and individual dancers; and regular programmes of dance performances in Canadian theatres, and by Canadian dancers and dance companies. We also acknowledge other kinds of da nce-related activities such as music hall, vaudeville, burlesque, festivals, carnivals, eurhythmics, dramatic expression, etiquette and deportment. In the case of aboriginal peoples, general cultural materials are collected because they usually contain dance information.
The collection includes a substantial number of rare and unusual, 19th and 20th century printed items, virtually all in the "primary sources" category.
With the exception of the collections of rare dance materials at the University of Waterloo, the dance collections at York are unrivalled in Canada.
The collection supports undergraduate courses in dance in both the Dance Department and Atkinson/Fine Arts, among them dance history, theory, and studio practice. It also supports the graduate MFA program in dance history which is unique in Canada, the proposed MFA program in Choreography and Performance, and to a lesser extent the PhD program in Music, and proposed MFA in Interdisciplinary Fine Arts Studies. The Libraries support productions of theatrical events which combine dance with music and theatre.
Related Collections at York
Dance relates to the other performing arts: music and theatre, especially in the areas of musical theatre, and dance music scores and sound recordings. Class inst ruction in dance depends to a considerable extent on films and videos housed in the Sound & Moving Image Library. Dance also relates to physical education in its emphasis on body movement. Dance researchers make considerable use of ephemeral materials such as programmes and manuscript sources, which are held in the Archives and Special Collections Department. Newspapers and general periodicals are essential sources for research into dance in Canada, and these are covered in other policies.
Languages Materials in English and western European languages are preferred, but materials in other languages are acquired, especially when they are key works or contain useful illustrations.
Geographical Coverage
Geographical coverage depends to a great extent upon our ability to identify and secure publications from regions that are of special interest, such as Africa, the Caribbean, Latin America, and the Far East.
Chronological Coverage
There are no chronological limits.
Date of Publications
The only restriction on date is our wish to not duplicate the rare book collections at the University of Waterloo, although we purchase reprints whenever these become available.
Duplication
The literature of dance is small, but because of the significance of the instructional and research programs at York, the dance collections in the York University Libraries are a first and last resort for many titles. This means that there must be several copies of many out-of-print texts to ensure that the titles will be in the collections for generations to come.
Gifts
Dance programmes, rare books, runs of dance magazines and duplicate copies of important texts are welcomed, but otherwise there is no special policy.
Relegation and Weeding
Virtually all materials in the collections have some relevance for the foreseeable future.
- Books -- The collection of books includes not only reference books, indexes, catalogues, and other secondary sources but also biographies, manuals, guides, technique books, picture books, children's books, auction catalogues and music scores.
- Journals -- The collections include a broad range of the main journals in several languages, i.e. all journals that concern dance history, dance research, and major journals for current dance activity; newsletters are added selectively, as are periodicals dealing with folk dance, and social dance (e.g. square dancing). Late 19th and 20th century music periodicals usually devote considerable space to dance topics.
- Microforms -- We acquire microforms that reproduce printed materials on dance not a lready in the collections. The Richardson collection of rare dance sources was purchased, but such microform collections are rare. In any case they must be printed out if the dance notation is to be of practical use. Because dance in earlier days was dealt with extensively in music periodicals, runs of these in microform are acquired as funds permit. The Metro Toronto Reference Library's Arts Department's vertical files on dance (Performing arts files) have been acquired in microfiche. Otherwise very little on dance is published in microform although some theatrically-focused collections that reproduce broadsides, playbills and costumes are relevant.
- Theses and Dissertations -- Theses (these are usually at the master's level) in the areas of dance history, dance ethnology, dance education and dance notation are acquired comprehensively, and selectively in other areas such as kinesiology and dance education.
- Ephemera -- Much of what is published in dance is ephemeral in nature, i.e. does not emanate from trade publishers, and can be identified only by paying close attention to advertisements, reviews, and notices in the dance press and on the DLG-L list, and by being part of the dance research network. Apart from this, we look for souvenir programmes of dance companies and dancers. The ephemera collections at York are underdeveloped only because the libraries lack the staff to identify, and phone or write for materials, and to maintain such collections. York has been pinpointed by the authors of the National Library's Dance resources in Canadian libraries (1982), and by graduate program assessors as an institution that should be collecting much more extensively in this area, in particular photographs. The academic level and uniqueness of our instructional and research programs certainly warrant such a direction.
- Electronic Data Files -- Dance-on-Disc compiled by the Dance Collection of the New York Public Library is an ongoing comprehensive bibliography which is fundamental for research in dance. One Toronto dance publisher: DANCE COLLECTION DANSE, is publishing archival collections and reference works in microcomputer format, such as the Encyclopedia of theatre dance in Canada. Hypertext files which have been developed by dance historians at York and elsewhere will be available for purchase soon, and will be considered for acquisition. Any private databases for dance would be of interest, and we should consider those that are produced locally as possible subjects for mounting on the Library's gopher.
- Manuscripts and Archives -- We are always interested in acquiring the papers of Canadian dancers, dance companies, and dance critics.
- Special Collections -- Rare books are acquired from time to time, especially any Canadian titles that turn up on the market, or 19th-early 20th century manuals or works on social dance. But we try not to duplicate the collections at the University of Waterloo. All dance programmes are housed in Special Collections. Many new antiquarian acquisitions are too fragile to be integrated into the open stacks. Monographs in the open stacks sometimes assume "rare" status, and these are transferred to Special Collections as they are identified.
- Films and Videos -- Films and videos are acquired by the Film and Video Librarian, with an emphasis on those related to dance ethnology and 20th century dance.
- Recordings -- Recorded dance music in both older and contemporary forms is acquired by the Sound and Image Library.
Resources Elsewhere in the Toronto Region
The University of Waterloo Library used to collect in the same areas as York, but the dance programmes there has ceased. The Library is well known for the Dance Collection in the Doris Lewis Rare Book Room (ca. 1,000 items in 1983) based on the Crapo rare dance books donation.
The Arts Dept. of the Metro Toronto Reference Library maintains files of newspaper clippings on Canadian dance companies and dancers (these are available up to 1985 on microfiche in Scott Library), plus press kits and programmes, production and publicity photographs, etc. from dance companies across Canada, drawings, sketches, prints, and rare festival books. These collections are being assessed as to whether their development should be continued. The Faculty of Music Library at the University of Toronto owns older works on eurhythmics, and body movement as it relates to dance.
Last updated 1995