Find Books
Books and articles will make up the core of your research. These textual sources contain the research of established scholars, and they can help you interpret the performances you are studying. On this page, learn how to use OneSearch to find books, read about how books are organized on library shelves, and view recommended books you might consider for your research.
Finding Books in OneSearch
If you want to find books we own, you'll want to search in OneSearch and then apply the "Library Catalog" limit.
- OneSearch This link opens in a new windowOneSearch is a tool that cross searches all of our library-owned titles, many of our article databases, and other online sources. You can search across many collections in one search box simplifying the resource discovery process.
To look up books about the choreographer Merce Cunningham, you can type his name into the search box, like this...
To limit to just titles we own here at the Ball State Libraries, I can click on "Library Catalog" on the left. This will include print books as well as eBooks. Then I can explore my results!
Most books will be in the General Collection, on the upper floors of Bracken Library. Use the Book Locations and Floorplans page to figure out the exact floor to go to, based on the first couple letters of the call number. GV, for example, where dance books are often classified, can be found on Floor 3 West.
How Books are Organized
Find books about dance on Bracken Library's third floor, west side (3 West). BSU Libraries uses Library of Congress Classification, or LCC, for organizing books on the shelves. Used in libraries worldwide, this system groups items by topic and assigns each a unique alphanumeric call number. Tip: Enter the first part of a call number into OneSearch to see all items on a given topic.
Call Numbers for Dance:
GV 1585 Dictionaries. Encyclopedias
GV 1588 Philosophy and theory of dance
GV 1589 Dance instruction
GV 1597 Dance as a profession
GV 1600 Dance criticism. Appreciation
GV 1601 - 1728 History
GV 1607 - 1619.5 By period
GV 1621 - 1728 By region or country
GV 1623 - 1624 United States
GV 1743 National dances. Folk dances
GV 1746 - 1771 Social dancing. Ballroom dancing
GV 1779 Dance in motion pictures, television, etc.
GV 1781 - 1795 Theatrical dance
GV 1781 General works
GV 1782 Production and staging
GV 1783 Modern dance
GV 1784 Jazz dance
GV 1785 Biography
GV 1787 - 1790 Ballet
GV 1794 Tap dancing
GV 1796 Other types of dances (e.g., break dancing)
GV 1799 Dances for children
Recommended Books
The recommended books below represent a wide sampling of topics in dance research and include biographies, dance histories, choreography, dance as a profession, and other topics. Perhaps one or more of these topics will inspire your next research project. Books are sorted by their call numbers for ease of browsing. Click on the info icon to see a description.
Dancers As Diplomats: American Choreography in Cultural Exchange by
Dancers as Diplomats chronicles the role of dance and dancers in American cultural diplomacy. In the early decades of the Cold War and the twenty-first century, American dancers toured the globe on tours sponsored by the US State Department. Dancers as Diplomats tells the story of how these tours shaped and some times re-imagined ideas of the United States in unexpected, often sensational circumstances--pirouetting in Moscow as the Cuban Missile Crisis unfolded and dancing in Burma shortly before the country held its first democratic elections. Based on more than seventy interviews with dancers who traveled on the tours, the book looks at a wide range of American dance companies.
Call Number: GV1588.6 .C75 2015Publication Date: 2015
Being a Dancer: Advice from Dancers and Choreographers by
How do I get a job as a dancer? Where and when should I train? How can I protect my body from injury? How do I become a choreographer? These and many more such questions asked by young or aspiring dancers are answered in this book - the most revealing and instructive book yet on what it means to be a dancer. Here is advice from some of the best dancers and choreographers in the world, crossing the fields of ballet, contemporary, South Asian dance, musical theatre and hip hop, and covering subjects both motivational and mundane, from tapping into your own reserves of creativity and resilience, to the important matter of when to eat your pre-show banana.
Call Number: GV1597 .W56 2015Publication Date: 2015
Dramaturgy in Motion: At Work on Dance and Movement Performance by
Dramaturgy in Motion innovatively examines the work of the dramaturg in contemporary dance and movement performance. Katherine Profeta, a working dramaturg for more than fifteen years, shifts the focus from asking "Who is the dramaturg?" to "What does the dramaturg think about?" Profeta explores five arenas for the dramaturg's attention--text and language, research, audience, movement, and interculturalism. Drawing on her extended collaboration with choreographer and visual artist Ralph Lemon, she grounds her thinking in actual rehearsal-room examples and situates practice within theoretical discourse about contemporary dramaturgy. Moving between theory and practice, word and movement, question and answer until these distinctions blur, she develops the foundational concept of dramaturgical labor as a quality of motion.
Call Number: GV1782 .P76 2015Publication Date: 2015
Safe Dance Practice: An Applied Dance Science Perspective by
Every dancer of every age, ability, and style should be able to engage fully in the act of dancing and be encouraged to achieve their potential without risk of harm to the body or mind. Practical information on all aspects of safe practice that is not too simplistic or complex has not always been easy to find. Enter Safe Dance Practice, by Edel Quin, Sonia Rafferty, and Charlotte Tomlinson. With nearly 60 years of collective experience in the dance profession as creative artists, teachers, and researchers, the authors translate extensive research and evidence-based practice in order to present the principles of safe practice that are essential to any dance experience.
Call Number: GV1782.3 .Q85 2015Publication Date: 2015
Soft is Fast: Simone Forti in the 1960s and After by
Morse shows that Forti's work negotiated John Cage's ideas of sound, score, and theater through the unique approach to movement, essentially improvisational and grounded in anatomical exploration, that she learned from performer and teacher Ann (later Anna) Halprin. Attentive to Robert Whitman's and La Monte Young's responses to Cage, Forti reshaped Cage's concepts into models that could accommodate Halprin's charged spaces and imagined, interpenetrative understanding of other bodies. Morse considers Forti's use of sound and her affective use of materials as central to her work; examines Forti's text pieces, little discussed in art historical literature; analyzes Huddle, considered one of Forti's signature works; and explicates Forti's later improvisational practice.
Call Number: GV1785.F665 M67 2016Publication Date: 2016
Milestones in Dance History (eBook) by
This introduction to world dance charts the diverse histories and stories of dancers and artists through ten key moments that have shaped the vast spectrum of different forms and genres that we see today. Designed for weekly use in dance history courses, ten chosen milestones move chronologically from the earliest indigenous rituals and the dance crazes of Eastern trade routes, to the social justice performance and evolving online platforms of modern times. This clear, dynamic framework uses the idea of migrations to chart the shifting currents of influence and innovation in dance from an inclusive set of perspectives that acknowledge the enduring cultural legacies on display in every dance form.
Call Number: Taylor & Francis eBooks CompletePublication Date: 2022
Interlibrary Loan
Users are encouraged to search for items beyond University Libraries' catalog via International Bibliography of Theatre & Dance and WorldCat. Materials not available in print or online may be requested through Interlibrary Loan. Please allow up to seven days for electronic delivery and up to fourteen days for delivery of physical items.