Research Guides: Dance History Resources: Biographies

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BIOGRAPHICAL REFERENCE SOURCES

Biographical Dictionary of Dance
This reference book includes short articles about more than 2,900 persons prominent in the last four hundred years in the field of dance in Europe and the Americas. While the emphasis falls on performers and choreographers, articles are also included about impresarios, composers, and other artists of importance in the world of dance.
Looking at Contemporary Dance [ONLINE RESOURCE]
Organized chronologically and international in scope, this reference work provides informative articles on major dancers and choreographers active from the late 19th century to the present.
Film Choreographers and Dance Directors
This comprehensive reference work contains articles on 970 choreographers and dance directors who worked in nearly 3,500 films. The focus is on American films from the 1920s to the present, but some international contributions (primarily European) are also included.

Gale in Context: Biography This link opens in a new window
This online database contains full-text articles from a variety of subject encyclopedias and dictionaries on over 500,000 people active in many different professions, both currently and in the past. Links are also provided to additional full-text biographical information in articles from magazines, newspapers, web pages, and multimedia resources. It is a good source to look for information about dancers and other people active in the field of dance who are not included in other reference works on dance.