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DANC 105: Dance History: Handbooks and Dictionaries

research guide

Print Dictionaries

The "REF" indicated above and below in the call numbers refers to the REFERENCE collection of books on the 2nd floor.  These materials may be used only in the library.  Return the books to a purple cart or the Circulation Desk when you are finished using them, so that they may be reshelved.  Please do not reshelve the books yourself.

  • Concise Oxford Dictionary of Ballet
    Call Number: KENYON Reference GV 1585 K6313 1987
  • Dance Words  
    Call Number: KENYON Reference GV 1585 P74 1995
  • Dictionary of Classical Ballet Terms  
    Call Number: KENYON Reference GV 1585 R95 1997
  • Dictionary of the Middle Ages 
    Call Number: KENYON Reference D 114 D5 1982 (includes several entries on medieval dance)
  • Encyclopedia Latina 
    Call Number: KENYON Reference E 184 S75 E587 2005 (use index in Vol. 4 to access materials)
  • Facts on File Encyclopedia of Black Women in America: Dance, Sports, & Visual Arts 
    Call Number: KENYON Reference E 185.96 F2 1997 vol. 3
  • International Dictionary of Ballet  
    Call Number: KENYON Reference GV 1585 I571993
  • International Encyclopedia of Dance  
    Call Number: KENYON Reference GV 1585 I586 1998 V. 1-6
  • International Dictionary of Modern Dance  
    Call Number: KENYON Reference GV 1585 I58 1998
  • Oxford dictionary of dance  
    Call Number: KENYON Reference GV 1585 .C78 2010
  • Tap Dictionary  
    Call Number GV 1794 K66 1998 (this is in the main stacks)
  • Tap dance: a dictionary of steps in Labanotation   
    Call Number: KENYON GV 1794 M255 1986 (this is in the main stacks)
  • World Ballet and Dance: An International Yearbook   
    Call Number: KENYON Reference GV 1787 W67

Print Biographical Resources

We have a wide variety of biographical dictionaries including:

  • Biographical Dictionary of Dance
    Call Number: KENYON Reference GV 1785 A1 C58 1982 includes brief entries of dancers, choreographers
  • Contemporary Black Biography 
    Call Number: KENYON Reference DT 18 C66 (each volume has cumulative subject, occupation and nationality indices, each article includes a small bibliography)
  • Current Biography
    Call Number: KENYON Reference CT 100 C8 1941 to present this resource is useful for contemporary reports on dancers and choreographers
  • Fifty Contemporary Choreographers
    Call Number: KENYON Reference GV 1785 A1 B74 1999
  • International Dictionary of Modern Dance
    Call Number: KENYON Reference GV1585 I85 1998 longer biographies of selected dancers and choreographers, includes lists of works, roles performed, publications and filmed performances.

Electronic Dictionaries

Electronic Biographical Resources

Print Dance Bibliographies

Dance Handbooks