About the Jerome Robbins Dance Division

Third Floor

Phone: (212) 870-1657

Fully accessible to wheelchairs

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 forms, the Division acts as much more than a library. We preserve the history of dance by gathering diverse written, visual, and aural resources, and work to ensure the art form's continuity through active documentation and educational programs.

 

Founded in 1944, the Dance Division is used regularly by choreographers, dancers, critics, historians, journalists, publicists, filmmakers, graphic artists, students, and the general public. While the Division contains more than 44,000 books about dance, these account for only a small percent of its vast holdings. Other resources available for study free of charge include papers and manuscript collections, moving image and audio recordings, clippings and program files, and original prints and designs. 

 

To learn more about our current activities, read our annual reports at the bottom of this page!

 


Circulating Collection

Ribbon Dance

 

Consists of an extensive array of books, encyclopedias, periodicals and commercial DVDs which illuminate all aspects of theatrical and non-theatrical forms of dance. The collection is especially strong in dance history, dance instruction, and biographies of leading dance figures.

 

 

 

Circulating and reference materials can be found on the Library’s 1st and 2nd floor.

Popular Research Collections

Archival Manuscripts and Rare Books

Twentieth century developments in the field of dance are chronicled through more than 1 million manuscript items. Ranging from choreographic notes, letters, and diaries, to contracts and financial records of major companies, such materials provide vivid primary source documents left by historical dance figures. Among the Division’s extensive collection of research books are rare books from the last five centuries.

Clippings, Program Files and Journals

 described by Vernon Castle
The Castle gavotte : scrapbook 

Articles culled from hundreds of American and foreign newspapers have been arranged under names of choreographers, dancers and companies to create thousands of clipping files. These, along with program files and an unsurpassed journal collection, aid in the process of primary-source research.

Iconography, Prints, and Designs

Prints, original designs, posters, and photographs provide rich insights into details of costume and set design, overall production development, as well as performance style. The Division’s collection of images portray a range of performances, set designs, companies and dancers, both notable and lesser-known, from the 17th century through current day.

Materials from the Research Collections can be accessed on the Library’s 3rd floor. Most materials, including moving image and audio recordings, are available to researchers on a daily, first-come, first-served basis, without appointment. For further information, please consult our Frequently Asked Questions.

Jerome Robbins Audio and Moving Image Archive

Dance Audio Archive

Home to more than 4,000 unique and rare audio recordings that capture the voices and ideas of performers, choreographers, composers, designers, and dance scholars from the mid-20th Century to the present. These recordings, mostly acquired through donations, encompass a wide range of original content, including:

 

Dance Audio Archive logoRadio Broadcasts

Panel Discussions and Public Lectures

Classes and Workshops

Dance Magazine Awards Ceremonies

 

 

 

Moving Image Archive

Chita Rivera, dancers in rehearsal for stage production West Side Story, Martha Swope
Chita Rivera,            West Side Story

The moving image archive of the Dance Division began when choreographer Jerome Robbins donated six cans of film—along with a gift of a small percentage of his royalties as author of the musical Fiddler on the Roof—to the Division in 1965. Half a century later, the archive has grown to over 25,000 titles of moving image materials on a variety of film, video and digital formats through donors’ gifts and original documentations. Past projects undertaken by the Moving Image Archive and Dance Original Documentations offer innovative solutions to the recording of performances, the preservation of at-risk recordings, and providing our researchers with broader digital access. Examples include:

 

The Collaborative Editing Project to Document Dance

 

The Bhutan Dance Project, in collaboration with Core of Culture, is a project to record and preserve the Kingdom of Bhutan’s disappearing dance traditions.​

 

Takako Asakawa and Mary Hinkson, Diversion of Angels (Graham)
Takako Asakawa & Mary Hinkson,      Diversion of Angels

Dance Original Documentations 

Unique to the Dance Division is our commitment to document live dance performances. Through in-house efforts of original documentation since 1967, our Moving Image Archive has created, and added to its collections, footage of over 2,600 dance performances primarily in New York City. Find performances in the catalog by searching under names of choreographers, dancers, or companies, and view them in the Library’s Reading Room.

 

Dance Oral History Project

A distinct, searchable collection of over 500 in-depth audio interviews that have been initiated and recorded by the Library in an effort to add to the existing primary source material available to researchers in dance. Listen to excerpts of selected Oral History Project interviews on our Project Playlist.

 


Digital Collections

Vaslav Nijinsky, Afternoon of a Faun
Vaslav Nijinsky, Afternoon of a Faun

 

Several collections in NYPL’s Digital Collections portal represent the growing number of materials being digitized by the Division:

 

Prints Depicting Dance

Photographs of Indonesia

Denishawn Collection

Merce Cunningham Archive

Mikhail Baryshnikov Archive

Dance Theater Workship Video Archive

 

 

 

 


Education and outreach

 

We present materials from our collection to frame dance practice in a historical context.  To enhance the learning experience we offer: 

Denishawn school, 1923
Denishawn school, 1923

 

  • Virtual lessons
  • In-person class visits to complement classroom or studio learning
  • Guided tours of the building
  • Research assistance and catalog instruction to help students access our archive on their own
  • Dance exhibit tours with an emphasis on inquiry-based learning
  • Curriculum guides

Find out more about our Educational Programming

If you are ready to book your visit, please fill out the visit request form.

Still not sure of classroom or organization needs? Contact our Education Coordinator at 212-870-1746. 

 


 

Want to learn more about us? Read our Annual Reports.