Get an Inside Look at the Latest Dance Exhibit in NYC’s Library for the Performing Arts

The collections held within New York City’s libraries and museums contain many of the world’s most rare and fascinating treasures. There is also so much diversity in the types of collections amassed. One unique collection found in New York City is the Jerome Robbins Dance Division of the New York Public Library found at the Library for the Performing Arts. This year, this special collection is celebrating its 75th anniversary with a brand new exhibition at the Lincoln Center location, Archive in Motion: 75 Years of the Jerome Robbins Dance Division. The exhibition charts the division’s history and the establishment of international dance archival practices through the display of significant items from its collections. If you are an Untapped Cities Insiders, you can get an inside look at the items on display at a guided walkthrough of the exhibit led by the curator of the exhibition and head of the Jerome Robbins Dance Division, Linda Murray. Not an Insider yet? Become a member today to gain free access to behind-the-scenes tours and special events all year long!

Chronicling the art of dance in all its manifestations—ballet, ethnic, modern, social, and folk—the division is much more than a library in the usual sense of the word, it is the largest and most comprehensive archive in the world devoted to the documentation of dance. Originally called the Library’s Dance Collection, it was created in 1944 by a young music librarian named Genevieve Oswald at The New York Public Library. She argued that dance materials didn’t fit well into the Music or Theatre archives.

Jonathan Blanc/The New York Public Library

The exhibition will not only show the many treasures of the Division’s holdings, but also tell the story of the Division itself. Through rare audio and video materials from the Dance Division’s original documentation projects, you will see images and hear testimony from Division staff who have devoted themselves to preserving dance history, as well oral histories from dance luminaries, and video recordings of performances, rehearsals and more. Items on view will include materials from the first five major collections Oswald acquired — those of Isadora Duncan, Ruth St. Denis and Ted Shawn, Doris Humphrey, and Charles Weidman — which helped create a foundation for the archive in modern dance. The new exhibition will be on display through January 25, 2020.

Jonathan Blanc/The New York Public Library

DATE: Friday, August 2nd, 2019 12:00PM – 1:30PM

PRICE: FREE for Untapped Cities Insiders!

CAPACITY: 15 guests. Spots allocated on a first come, first served basis.

REGISTRATION: Friday, July 19th, 2019 at 12 PM EST
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Jonathan Blanc/The New York Public Library

Jonathan Blanc/The New York Public Library

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