Teach About ‘The Joffrey + Ballet in the U.S.’: Discover Class Visits & Teaching Resources
As the Library for the Performing Arts presents its large-scale exhibition, The Joffrey + Ballet in the U.S., the Jerome Robbins Dance Division invites educators and students to a facilitated learning experience that focuses on the history of The Joffrey Ballet company. Explore below to learn about incorporating our exhibition guide into your classroom, joining us for a class tour at the Library for the Performing Arts, and closing out the lesson with a reflective dance activity.
Learn more about scheduling a class visit.
About the Exhibition & Accompanying Guide
Curated by researcher, author, and professor Julia Foulkes with assistance from former Joffrey dancer Nicole Duffy, The Joffrey + Ballet in the U.S. investigates the question who is ballet for?
By creating The Joffrey Ballet company, Robert Joffrey and co-artistic director Gerald Arpino wanted to convey that ballet is for everyone. The exhibit focuses on early touring of the company, the kind of ballet Joffrey performs, who is on the stage, who is in the audience, and how savvy business decisions and bouncing back from artistic and financial failures, all which are the bedrock of the resilient company today.
Explore our pre-visit Exhibition Guide, designed to supplement your class tour by offering students key information on the history of American dance and culture to help facilitate their discovery of the items on display.
Begin with the Pre-Visit Exhibition Guide
The Exhibition Guide is divided into three components: (1) a section with historical context essays and a selected chronology for educators, (2) six themed sections that feature essays, primary sources, and discussion questions for students, and (3) a post-visit activity to tie the themes together after a class tour of the exhibition.
Download the Exhibition Guide.
Visit the Exhibition with Your Class
Upon your scheduled arrival to the Library for the Performing Arts, an expert educator from the Dance Division will guide you and your students in a free tour of the exhibition, touching on key themes explored in the Exhibition Guide. We are happy to focus on specific items on display to fit the needs of your learning goals.
Students will have the chance to view materials from the Dance Division’s collections, including programs, photographs, and original costumes of dancers. Throughout the tour, there will be opportunities for students to engage in discussion on a variety of topics, including how historical events shaped Joffrey and Arpino’s artistic vision. In the gallery, students will be prompted to respond to the exhibition using small physical movements, so they can experience how an artist might create in response to an external source.
Schedule a class visit.
Wrap Up with a Post-Visit Activity
Author of The Joffrey Ballet Sasha Anawalt closes her book by saying, “If Robert Joffrey happened once in America, he can happen again. That is the promise of the arts. This is the greatness of American dance.”
We encourage educators to conclude the lesson with the post-visit activity included in the Exhibition Guide to reinforce concepts from the exhibition. This final part is intended to guide students to tie the themes together by imagining their own dance company.
Education at the Library for the Performing Arts
The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, one of NYPL’s renowned research libraries, houses one of the world's most extensive research collections in the fields of theater, film, dance, music, and recorded sound, as well as a wide array of circulating and reference materials.
Explore our collections in the fields of theater, film, dance, music, and recorded sound with your students.
Explore the Center for Educators & Schools
The New York Public Library’s Center for Educators and Schools is devoted to making all of the Library’s resources accessible and useful for educators. You’ll find programs and services tailored for the educator community, such as book lists, credit-bearing workshops, special access to exhibitions, tips on teaching with primary source materials from our vast research collections, and much more.