Why Use Reference Sources?
Reference sources are a great place to start your research when you need to gather initial information about a topic or get a rough overview of a subject so you can decide what areas to research further. Reference books and online tools are also excellent for looking up a quick fact, definition, or date, and they will often direct you to more sources.
The first section on this page covers general reference materials, and we've split our recommendations by category. The bibliographies are great to consult to develop a list for further reading and get a sense of what scholarship exists about your topic. The second section lists some background and reference books for specific styles of dance.
If you are interested in exploring dance through an interdisciplinary lens - dance and gender, dance and politics, etc. - be sure to look at the next tab for reference materials that cross academic disciplines!
If none of this is quite what you're looking for, try a search in the library catalog for the subject you're researching and "reference", "handbook", "guide", or "companion" to see what reference materials we might have on the subject.
General Reference
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International Encyclopedia of Dance
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Call Number: Online Resource and MPAL Reference Non-circulating GV1585 I57Also available online. 6 volumes. With nearly 2,000 articles written by scholars from fifty countries, the Encyclopedia covers the full spectrum of dance—theatrical, ritual, dance-drama, folk, traditional, ethnic, and social dance. -
The Bloomsbury Companion to Dance Studies
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Call Number: GV1589 .B56 2019The Bloomsbury Companion to Dance Studies brings together leading international dance scholars in this single collection to provide a vivid picture of the state of contemporary dance research. The book commences with an introduction that privileges dancing as both a site of knowledge formation and a methodological approach, followed by a provocative overview of the methods and problems that dance studies currently faces as an established disciplinary field. The dances under investigation range from experimental conceptual concert dance through to underground street dance practices, and the geographic reach encompasses dance-making from Europe, North and South America, the Caribbean and Asia. -
The Oxford Dictionary of Dance
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Call Number: MPAL Reference Non-circulating GV1585 .C73O9 2010With over 2,600 entries, the second edition of The Oxford Dictionary of Dance is a unique single volume reference on all aspects of dance performance written by two leading dance writers, Debra Craine and Judith Mackrell. The work covers all aspects of the diverse dance world from classical ballet to modern, from flamenco to hip-hop, from tap to South Asian dance forms and includes detailed entries on technical terms, steps, styles, works and countries, in addition to many biographies of dancers, choreographers, and companies. -
The Routledge Dance Studies Reader
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Call Number: Online Resource and GV1594 .R68 2019The Routledge dance studies reader has been expanded and updated, giving readers essential texts that address the social, political, cultural, and economic impact of globalization on embodiment and choreography. These interdisciplinary essays in dance scholarship consider a broad range of dance forms in relation to historical, ethnographic, and interdisciplinary research methods including cultural studies, reconstruction, media studies, and popular culture.
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Dance Words
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Call Number: MPAL Reference Non-circulating GV1585 R34 D363In her unique collection of the verbal language of dance practitioners and researchers Valerie Preston-Dunlop presents a comprehensive view of people in dance: what they do, their movement, their sound, and the space in which they work - from the standpoint of the performers, choreographers, audiences, administrators, and teachers. -
Dictionary of the Dance
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Call Number: MPAL Reference Non-circulating GV1585 R34 D5
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Baila! a bibliographic guide to Afro-Latin dance musics from mambo to salsa /
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Call Number: MPAL Reference Non-circulating ML128.D3 G73 2013 -
Black Dance: An Annotated Bibliography
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Call Number: 016.7928 AD14B -
Hip-Hop Studies
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Call Number: MPAL Reference Non-circulating ML128.R28 G73 2016 -
Treatises on Indian music and dance : an annotated bibliography
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Call Number: ML120.I5 P38 2015
Background & Reference for Specific Dance Styles
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The Encyclopedia of World Ballet
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Call Number: Reference Non-circulating ; GV1585 .S66 2015 & Online ResourceIn The Encyclopedia of World Ballet, Mary Ellen Snodgrass surveys the emergence of ballet from ancient Asian models to the present, providing overviews of rhythmic movement as a subject of art, photography, and cinema. Entries in this volume reveal the nature and purpose of ballet, detailing specifics about leaders in classic design and style, influential costumers and companies, and trends in technique, partnering, variation, and liturgical execution. -
Dictionary of Classical Ballet Terminology
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Call Number: Music & Performing Arts Reference GV1585 R95 1997This volume is designed to provide information about terminology used within the Royal Academy of Dancing (RAD). It is geared to both teachers and students who wish to understand the precise ways in which ballet terms are used within the RAD. -
The Cambridge Companion to Ballet
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Call Number: GV1787 C363The Cambridge Companion to Ballet' contains a collection of essays by international writers on the evolution of ballet.
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International Dictionary of Modern Dance
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Call Number: MPAL Reference Non-circulating GV1585 I584 & OnlineOffering an up-to-date and comprehensive examination of modern dance, this reference offers alphabetically arranged essays, selected, written and reviewed by expert contributors. -
Modern Dance Terminology
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Call Number: MPAL Reference Non-circulating GV1585 L68P7Modern dance concepts, terms, principles, and movements are defined in the words of the great founders of modern dance. The manuscript was originally prepared through personal interviews with Doris Humphrey, Hanya Holm, Martha Graham, Charles Weidman, and Helen Tamiris; quoted extensively as well are Isadora Duncan, Jaques Dalcroze, Rudolf Laban, Ruth St. Denis, Jose Limon, Alwin Nikolais, Glen Tetley and eminent New York Times dance writer John Martin. -
Ballet and Modern Dance: a Concise History
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Call Number: Main Library Stacks, GV1787 .A467 2018Ballet and Modern Dance meets the needs of both students and inquisitive dance goers through a narrative focused on the development of Western theatrical dance from the Renaissance to the first decades of the 21st century, incorporating the most recent scholarship and projecting trends. -
The Complete Guide to Modern Dance
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Call Number: MPAL Reference Non-circulating GV1783 M33C6
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Hip Hop around the World
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Call Number: MPAL Reference Non-circulating ML102.R27 H56 2019This set covers all aspects of international hip hop as expressed through music, art, fashion, dance, and political activity. Hip hop music has gone from being a marginalized genre in the late 1980s to the predominant style of music in America, the UK, Nigeria, South Africa, and other countries around the world. Hip Hop around the World includes more than 450 entries on global hip hop culture as it includes music, art, fashion, dance, social and cultural movements, organizations, and styles of hip hop. -
Hip Hop Dance
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Call Number: GV1796.H57 R35 2012This guide provides an overview of the history of hip hop culture and an exploration of its dance style, appropriate both for student research projects and general interest reading. This insightful book provides not only an overview of hip hop's distinctive dance style and steps, but also a historic overview of hip hop's roots as an urban expression of being left out of the mainstream pop culture, clarifying the social context of hip hop culture before it became a widespread suburban phenomenon. -
Underground Dance Masters
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Call Number: GV1623 .G89U5 2012This book is a comprehensive, historical bible on the subject of urban street dance and its influence on modern dance, hip hop, and pop culture. This text redefines hip hop dance and the origins of a worldwide phenomenon, explaining the origins of classic forms such as Funk Boogaloo, Locking, Popping, Roboting, and B'boying--some of the most important developments in modern dance that directly affect today's pop culture.
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Jazz Dance
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Call Number: 793.3 J333 (Main Stacks) & Online ResourceThe history of jazz dance is best understood by comparing it to a tree. The art form's roots are African. Its trunk is vernacular, shaped by European influence, and exemplified by the Charleston and the Lindy Hop. The branches are many and varied and include tap, Broadway, funk, hip-hop, Afro-Caribbean, Latin, pop, club jazz, popping, B-boying, party dances, and much more. Unique in its focus on history rather than technique, Jazz Dance offers the only overview of trends and developments since 1960. -
Jazz dance: the story of American vernacular dance
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Call Number: 793.33 ST3J1979
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The Encyclopedia of World Folk Dance
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Call Number: GV1743 .S66E5 2016 & OnlineWhile there are books about folk dances from individual countries or regions, there isn't a single comprehensive book on folk dances across the globe. This illustrated compendium offers the student, teacher, choreographer, historian, media critic, ethnographer, and general reader an overview of the evolution and social and religious significance of folk dance. The Encyclopedia of World Folk Dance focuses on the uniqueness of kinetic performance and its contribution to the study and appreciation of rhythmic expression around the globe. -
Folk Dancing
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Call Number: Online ResourceWhile the general term "folk dance" encompasses a surprising variety of specific dances, there are three major recreational communities or forms: international folk dance, modern western square dance, and contra dance. Throughout the last century, millions of people have enjoyed folk dancing as an educational and recreational activity, regardless of the particular style. Folk Dancing explains the reasons for the folk dance movement that exploded in Europe and North America in the late 19th century. It describes the clubs, camps, festivals, and communities that sprang up, and examines the culture of the movement--the music, key individuals and events, types of clothing, and influences of technologies and popular culture. -
Choreographing Identities
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Call Number: GV1623 S43C4Throughout its history, the United States has become a new home for thousands of immigrants, all of whom have brought their own traditions and expressions of ethnicity. Not least among these customs are folk dances, which over time have become visual representations of cultural identity. Naturally, however, these dances have not existed in a vacuum. They have changed - in part as a response to ever-changing social identities, and in part as a reaction to deliberate manipulations by those within as well as outside of a particular culture. Compiled in great part from the author's own personal dance experience, this volume looks at how various cultures use dance as a visual representation of their identity, and how ""traditional"" dances change over time.
Online Reference Tools
We also recommend checking out these two online reference tools if you are looking for more information related to dance terminology or notation.
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American Ballet Theatre Online Ballet DictionaryThis reference tool includes definitions of major ballet terms as well as video demonstrations of some movements.
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Dance Notation BureauGives description and examples of labanotation, a type of dance notation which uses symbols to capture dance steps. This site includes the DNBulletin as well as a link to DNB publications through Princeton Book Company.