Dance 231: Fundamentals of Choreography and Improvisation
Research & Writing Tutors
Research and Instruction Librarian for Music & Fine Arts
Karen Olson
she/her/hers
Reference databases!
- African American Music Reference This link opens in a new windowFull-text reference resource on African American music, covering blues, jazz, spirituals, civil rights songs, slave songs, minstrelsy, rhythm and blues, gospel, and other genres. Includes biographies, chronologies, lyrics, sheet music, liner notes, images, and discographies.
- Classical Music Reference Library This link opens in a new windowFull-text reference resource on all genres of classical music, medieval to contemporary. Includes dictionaries, encyclopedia articles, biographies, histories, and other materials.
- Credo Reference This link opens in a new windowOffers full-text access to over 500 titles, covering a variety of subjects, including the arts.
- Garland Encyclopedia of World Music Online This link opens in a new windowFull-text encyclopedia covering music around the world and throughout history.
- Oxford Music Online This link opens in a new windowAlso known as Grove Music Online; full-text collection of reference works on music across genres and eras.
Dictionaries and Encyclopedias
- Bremser, Martha. Fifty Contemporary Choreographers. London: Routledge, 1999.
Rølvaag Reference GV1785.A1B74 1999
Provides brief biographical articles about 50 contemporary choregraphers. Each entry includes lists of works by the choreographers and suggestions for further reading.
- Cohen-Stratyner, Barbara. Biographical Dictionary of Dance. New York: Schirmer, 1982.
Rølvaag Reference GV1785.A1 C58
Offers brief biographical sketches of some 2,900 figures from the last four centuries of dance in Europe and the Americas. Includes impresarios, composers, and artists as well as performers and choreographers.
- The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Ballet. London: Oxford University Press, 1977.
Rølvaag Reference GV1585.C73 1977
A good source for brief definitions of terms about ballet.
- Encyclopedia of Dance and Ballet. New York: Putnam, 1977.
Rølvaag Reference GV1585.E5
Filled with illustrations and photographs. Bibliographies are not regularly included. Includes entries for dancers, companies, choreographers, individual ballets, and types of dances; also a glossary of technical terms
- International Dictionary of Ballet. ed. by Martha Bremser. Detroit: St. James Press, 1993.
Rølvaag Reference GV1585.I57 1993
An excellent starting point, with brief articles on all aspects of ballet. Most articles include bibliographies for further reading.
- International Dictionary of Modern Dance. Detroit: St. James Press, 1998.
Rølvaag Reference GV1585.B46 1998
Offers "over 400 entries on all aspects of modern dance ranging from biographical entries on dancers to essays on major movements and styles to overviews of the development of moder dance in countries around the world." Includes nationalities and subject indexes as well as a chronology of modern dance.
- International Encyclopedia of Dance. 6 vols. NY: Oxford, 1998.
Rølvaag Reference GV1585.I586 1998
The most comprehensive, scholarly encyclopedia in the field of dance. Includes international coverage of dance in all forms from all countries. Biographical entries are slightly more selective. Bibliographies follow articles. An excellent starting point for almost any dance topic.
- New Encyclopaedia Britannica. 1997.
Rølvaag Reference AE5.E56 1997
The most scholarly English-language encyclopedia. Be sure to check the micropaedia before going to macropaedia volumes. An excellent source for overview articles, with bibliographies. You can also consult Britannica Online .
- New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians. 2nd ed. Stanley Sadie (ed.). 29 vols. London: Macmillan, 2001.
Music Library Reference ML100.N48 2001
The most comprehensive and scholarly encyclopedia of music. Be sure to consult the overview article on dance, which traces dance throughout history and includes excellent bibliographies. An essential source for anything dealing with the music of ballet. Also available online via the libraries' homepage as part of Oxford Music Online.
- Garland Encyclopedia of World Music Online This link opens in a new windowNY: Garland, 1998. 10 vols.
Music Library Reference ML100.G16 1998
A terrific source for gaining an overview of informaiton about music from all over the world. Volumes are arranged by geographic area, with the last (10th) volume providing a valuable discussion of general perspectives about world cultures. Each volume has a corresponding CD recording.
Subject Guides to Music
- Goodenberger, Jennifer. Subject Guide to Classical Instrumental Music. Metuchen, NJ: Scarecrow Press, 1989.
Music Library Reference ML128.I65G59 1989
Lists instrumental music (17th - 20th centuries) by more than 200 subject categories. - Green, Jeff. The Green Book of Songs by Subject: the Thematic Guide to Popular Music. 4th ed. Nashville, Tenn: Professional Desk References, 1995.
Music Library Reference ML156.4.P6G73 1995
Provides subject listings of songs from 1900 to the present (including 5,000 artists). Divided into more than 200 subject categories.