International Encyclopedia of Dance
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. Cultural and national overviews are accompanied by entries on dance forms, music and costumes, performances, and biographies of dancers and choreographers.
Oxford Reference Online - Performing Arts
This link opens in a new windowOxford Reference Online brings together language and subject reference works from one of the world's biggest reference publishers into a single cross-searchable resource.
MusRef: An Online Guide to Print and Internet Resources for Music and Dance
MusRef is a site devoted to music and dance bibliography and reference. The site consists of five main features: An online bibliography of music and dance bibliographies and reference sources (both print and online), A blog devoted to music and dance bibliography and reference, Basic introductions to reference tools intended to help students understand how reference sources can guide them to appropriate research materials, Links to unpublished bibliographies, A corresponding Facebook page designed as a forum for interested librarians, scholars, and students. At present the bibliography includes more than 7,300 bibliographies and reference sources (both print and online), approximately 1,880 of which are annotated with critiques on use, coverage, organization, and pros and cons (click here for guidelines on writing critiques).
American Ballet Theatre's Ballet Dictionary
A unique interactive resource designed to bring dance to the Web and make it accessible to everyone. Dover Publications has graciously allowed the use of 170 terms from the Technical Manual and Dictionary of Classical Ballet, which are then demonstrated by ABT Company dancers.
New York Public Library Dance Research Collection
The Jerome Robbins Dance Division of The New York Public Library is the largest and most comprehensive archive in the world devoted to the documentation of dance. Chronicling the art of dance in all its manifestations - ballet, ethnic, modern, social, and folk. Select "Dance Research Collection" from the drop-down menu on the search screen.
Other Useful Encyclopedias
World Biographical Information System (WBIS) Online
WBIS Online is the most comprehensive biographical database available, providing short biographical information on 5.49 Million people from the 8th century B.C. to the present.
Included are 7.2 Million digital facsimile articles from biographical reference works on 5.1 Million people worldwide.
Classical Music Reference Library (ASP)
This link opens in a new windowClassical Music Reference Library brings together more than 30,000 pages of essential reference materials, spanning the entire history of Western classical music, in a unified online database. Included are the authoritative reference titles Baker\\'s Dictionary of Music, Baker\\'s Biographical Dictionary of Musicians, and Baker\\'s Student Encyclopedia of Music.
African American Music Reference (ASP)
This link opens in a new windowAfrican American Music Reference from Alexander Street Press offers comprehensive coverage of blues, jazz, spirituals, civil rights songs, slave songs, minstrelsy, rhythm and blues, gospel, and other forms of black American musical expression.
Garland Encyclopedia of World Music Online (ASP)
This link opens in a new windowThe Garland Encyclopedia of World Music Online is devoted to music research of all the world's peoples. It includes more than 9,000 pages of material, combined with entries by more than 700 expert contributors from all over the world.
Indexes the full text of the revised second edition of the New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, the authoritative encyclopedia for all aspects of music. Includes links to digital sound, images, and related sites. Updated quarterly and annually. We have 10 simultaneous users.
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