Collections by Subject: Dance
A Selected List of Holdings Related to the Field of Dance in Special Collections in Performing Arts at the University of Maryland Libraries
For more information about how to access materials in this guide, please visit the Special Collections in Performing Arts web page or fill out an information request.
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American College Dance Festival Association (ACDFA) Archives, 1972-2011. 41 linear feet.
Location: Special Collections in Performing Arts
The American College Dance Festival Association (ACDFA) was founded in 1973 to acknowledge and foster the role that colleges had been playing in the development of dance since the 1960s. Originally formed by thirteen charter member colleges and universities, the ACDFA now consists of over 300 member institutions. The ACDFA sponsors eleven regional conferences where colleges and university submit pieces to be adjudicated by nationally recognized dance professionals. The association also sponsors the National Dance Festival, which showcases works selected from all the regional conferences. The ACDFA Archives contains materials relating to the founding and running of the organization from 1972-2011, with the bulk of the materials coming from 1973-2000. The archives consists of general correspondence, as well as the correspondence of the board of directors and the treasurer; board minutes; fundraising, financial, and scholarship information; materials relating to regional conferences and the National Dance Festival including programs, brochures, pamphlets, correspondence, realia, photographs, and videos.
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Improvisations Unlimited Collection, 1970-1997. 14.5 linear feet.
Location: Special Collections in Performing Arts
Improvisations Unlimited was a modern dance company based at the University of Maryland, College Park, from 1978-1992. Founded and directed by university dance professor Meriam Rosen, the company began with informal performances of improvised movement, but gradually introduced more structured choreography, though still within a largely improvisational framework. Improvisations Unlimited commissioned works by well-known choreographers and developed a repertoire of works and workshops, which they performed and conducted for a wide array of audiences, including dancers, children, older adults, and populations with special needs throughout the Washington, D.C.-area and the Eastern Seaboard. The Improvisations Unlimited Collection covers the period from 1970-1997; the bulk of the materials date from 1978-1992. The collection consists of administrative files, financial records, correspondence, grant and other applications, programs, publicity materials, reviews, clippings, press releases, photographs, and video tapes.
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James J. Taylor Collection of the Washington Area Performing Arts Video Archive, 1991-2009. 240 Linear Feet (400+ Titles).
Location: Special Collections in Performing Arts
The James J. Taylor Collection of the Washington Area Performing Arts Video Archive (WAPAVA) documents a comprehensive range of theatre productions, nationally active local dance companies, and discussions featuring contemporary creative artists. Founded and sustained through the individual efforts of videographer Jim Taylor, WAPAVA began as a one-man-show on a small budget and now contains over a decade of performance practices and performing arts history in the Washington, DC area. By the time Taylor died in winter 2005, the collection he created had surpassed 400 titles and still continues to grow. Productions are found in the Libraries main catalog by doing an Advanced Search and including the term "WAPAVA" in a search field. The collection also includes programs, press kits, and other documents relating to these productions. Please contact the curator to view these additional materials.
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Liz Lerman Dance Exchange Archives, 1964- 2005. 129.5 Linear Feet; 2,260 Media Items.
Location: Special Collections in Performing Arts
Liz Lerman Dance Exchange Archives is the administrative, programmatic, performance, press, and visual records of the company, its members, and its related groups. Liz Lerman Dance Exchange, based in the D.C./Montgomery County, Maryland area, was founded by Liz Lerman in 1976. Liz Lerman Dance Exchange pursues a broad definition of dance as a multi-disciplinary art form that encompasses movement, music, imagery, and the spoken word. The collection consists of the administrative materials of correspondence, reports, meeting materials, pamphlets, notes, publications, and statistics; the production materials of photographs, playbills, flyers, press kits, and contextual information; memorabilia; and video and audio cassettes, all of which relate to the activities and functions of Liz Lerman Dance Exchange.
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Maryland Dance Theater Collection, 1973-2008. 4.50 Linear Feet.
Location: Special Collections in Performing Arts
Maryland Dance Theater, founded on the University of Maryland campus in 1971 by Dorothy Madden and Larry Warren, performed contemporary dance in the DC and Baltimore metro areas until it disbanded in 1988. Its repertory embraced a wide variety of movement, styles, and theatrical concepts. The company also provided dance education through lecture demonstrations and master classes. The Maryland Dance Theater Collection consists of programs, photographs, correspondence, press clippings, publicity materials, various records of performance, and other organizational documents outlining its history. The Media formats in the MDT Archives are located in Nonprint Media Services. Paper documents, including photographs, are in Special Collections in Performing Arts.
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Meriam Rosen Papers, 1942-2009. 10.50 linear feet.
Location: Special Collections in Performing Arts
A choreographer, dancer, and professor, Meriam Levine Rosen (born 1927) taught modern dance at the University of Maryland from 1954 until her retirement in 2009. An active participant in the Washington, D.C.-area performing arts community, Rosen founded and directed Improvisations Unlimited, a university-based improvisational dance company; conducted and participated in workshops, festivals, and master classes; choreographed works performed by dancers both in the United States and abroad; and helped establish the University of Maryland's Department of Dance. The collection consists of materials related to Rosen's career as a dancer, choreographer, and professor, including correspondence, awards and certificates, University of Maryland Department of Dance materials, performance programs and related publicity materials, grant applications, articles and reviews, photographs, video tapes, audio cassettes, and CDs.
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Myra Wykes Rigor Selvadurai Collection, 1959-2012. 7.75 linear feet.
Location: Special Collections in Performing Arts
Myra Wykes Rigor Selvadurai (1936-2012) was a performer, researcher, art therapist and Fulbright Scholar specializing in the indigenous artistic forms of Sri Lanka. The collection consists of books, posters, postcards, statues, masks, instruments, costumes, and jewelry from her time in Sri Lanka.
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Madeleine Bartfeld Sigel Collection of Autographs and Performing Arts Memorabilia, 1899-2003. 9.00 Linear Feet.
Location: Special Collections in Performing Arts
Madeleine Bartfeld Sigel (b. 1924), who grew up in Austria and later emigrated to the United States, and her father Albert Bartfeld, a theatre manager and owner of a cabaret in Vienna in the 1930's, were both avid collectors of performing arts autographs and programs. This collection includes programs from various performances attended by Sigel thoughout the United States and internationally, the bulk of which are from the Washington, DC metro area; materials related to the Comedian Harmonists, a popular male vocal ensemble who performed throughout Europe in the mid-to-late 1930's; and scrapbooks, photographs and autographs of various performers from the early 1900's through the 1930's collected by Sigel and her father.
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The Congress on Research in Dance Archives, 1964-1999. 31.50 linear feet.
Location: Special Collections in Performing Arts
Convened in October of 1964, The Congress on Research in Dance is an international community of dance researchers, scholars, teachers, and performers who seek to encourage, facilitate and disseminate dance scholarship. The organization promotes a discursive approach to researching and understanding dance as more than just art and expression, but the value of the form as a manifestation of universal communication, resonant ideas, and cultural commodity. The Congress on Research in Dance collection covers the period from 1964 to 1999; the bulk of the materials date from 1975 to 1999. The collection consists of founding documents, bylaws, Board and member correspondence, meeting minutes, published volumes of CORDs own Dance Research Journal, an assortment of specially published CORD issues devoted to specific topics, conference materials, scholarly papers submitted to the conferences, newsletters, office materials, and financial documents.
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Larry Warren Papers, 1913-1991. 4.50 linear feet.
Location: Special Collections in Performing Arts
A choreographer, dancer, and professor, Larry Warren (1932-2009) taught modern dance at the University of Maryland from 1971 until 1995. The collection consists of historic dance materials collected by Warren, specifically programs and promotional materials programs, but also art, photographs and documents.