AIDS Oral History Project

What is the AIDS Oral History Project?

In the 1980s and 1990s a major focus of the Dance Division’s Oral History Project was the lives and work of dance professionals at risk due to HIV and AIDS. More than twenty interviews have been recorded and cataloged as part of this effort. Not all of the oral authors choose to speak about their HIV status or how it affects their careers. Some do. The tapes do not make up a separate collection. They become part of the archive of hundreds of oral histories produced by the Dance Division.

Who participates:

The Dance Division documents professional dancers, choreographers, writers, educators, and production personnel. Interviewees are informally nominated to the project coordinator by members of the dance community. Often artists who wish to be interviewed have contacted the coordinator themselves. All interviews are confidential until they are released by the oral author. The Project is based in New York, but interviews in other areas can be arranged, often by cooperatively identifying a local interviewer. As of 2011, this project is still active. Please do not hesitate to contact the project coordinator if you, or someone you know, would like to participate.

Access:

Oral history audio and transcripts are made available to researchers on the third floor of the Library for the Performing Arts. Individual authors may place restrictions on public access to their interview for a specified period of time. Restricted, or unrestricted, these materials may not be copied without the written permission of the oral author or their designated legal representative.

For more information, or to arrange an interview contact:

Susan Kraft, Oral History Coordinator
Jerome Robbins Dance Division
The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts
40 Lincoln Center Plaza
New York, NY 10023-7498
212 870-1836
susankraft@nypl.org

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