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Dance

The following is a selected list of resources for starting research in Dance. Most of these resources are located in the Knight Library on the second floor, with reference resources on the third floor in the Music Services reference collection.

Using Call Numbers and Subject Headings to Find Dance Materials

The UO Libraries use call numbers from the Library of Congress classification system, which groups books on similar topics together on the shelf. This allows you to browse the physical shelves or browse by call number in LibrarySearch and find other books that are relevant to your research on a particular topic. Dance materials generally fall within the range of GV 1580 - GV 1799, and are located on the 2nd floor of Knight Library. Within that range, some of the useful call number subdivisions for Theory & Philosophy of Dance are:

  • GV 1580: Periodicals
  • GV 1585: Dictionaries, encyclopedias
  • GV 1588: Philosophy (and theory)
  • GV 1589: Study and teaching
  • GV 1590-GV 1594: General works
  • GV 1595: Special aspects of the subject as a whole
  • GV 1597: Dancing as a profession
  • GV 1600: Dance criticism, appreciation
  • GV 1645-GV 1728: Dance history (and historical dance)
  • GV 1743: National dances. Folk dances and dancing (General)
  • GV 1746-GV 1771: Social dancing. Ballroom dancing
  • GV 1781-GV 1795: Theatrical dancing
    • GV 1785: Biography
  • GV 1796: Special dances.

Call numbers for other topics that relate to dance can be found in other sections of the library:

  • Books and music scores with the following call numbers are located in the Music Collection on the 3rd floor of Knight Library:
    • M 1450: Dance music [scores]
    • M 1520-M 1526: Ballets (full scores, piano scores, excerpts) [scores]
    • ML 3400-ML 3465: History and criticism--dance music [books]
    • MT 950: Music to accompany instruction in ballet, folk dancing, gymnastics, etc. [books]
  • Books with the following call numbers are located on the 4th floor of Knight Library, as well as in the Science Library:
    • QM 1- QM 511: General human anatomy
    • QP 1 - QP 345: General physiology
    • RC 1220: Sports medicine - Dance

The following are useful Library of Congress Subject Headings to search when looking for dance materials.  To search one of these terms, use the Advanced Search interface in LibrarySearch, and be sure to select the "subject" option next to the box where you type in these terms, so that the catalog will only search for that term in the subject fields of the record.

  • Arts, Medieval
  • Ballerinas
  • Ballet
  • Ballet -- Aesthetics
  • Ballet -- Costume
  • Ballet dance music
  • Ballet dancers
  • Ballet dancing -- Accidents and injuries
  • Ballets -- Excerpts -- Piano Scores
  • Bible and dance
  • Choreographers -- Germany -- Biography
  • Choreography -- Philosophy
  • Dance
  • Dance -- Aesthetics
  • Dance -- Anthropological aspects
  • Dance -- Biography
  • Dance companies
  • Dance criticism
  • Dance -- History
  • Dance in literature
  • Dance music -- Europe -- 14th century [Dance music -- Continent -- century]
  • Dance notation
  • Dance -- Philosophy
  • Dance -- Production and direction
  • Dance -- Religious aspects
  • Dance -- Religious aspects -- History -- Medieval period
  • Dance -- Sex differences
  • Dance -- Social aspects
  • Dance -- Spain -- History [Dance--Country--History--"X" Century]
  • Dance -- Study and teaching
  • Dancers
  • Dancers -- Germany -- Biography [Dancers -- Country -- Biography]
  • Dancing injuries
  • Labanotation
  • Modern dance -- Aesthetics
  • Modern dance -- Political aspects -- Germany -- History
  • Modern dance -- Social aspects -- Germany -- History
  • Modern dance -- United States -- History
  • Movement, Aesthetics of
  • Movement analysis
  • Movement notation
  • Movement, Psychology of
  • Movement, Psychology of -- Cross-cultural studies
  • Religious dance
  • Sex in dance

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