By
analyzing dance-specific documentation issues, and by
investigating the potential technological applications of our
time, we may develop new models for capturing the art of
dance that promote the production of quality media products
and better represent the genre. Working from specifically
established criteria and employing new technologies when
needed, these models will serve our culture by ensuring the
preservation of precious dance works. Reconstructions of
historical dances in the future will benefit from such
thorough documentation. This will be particularly valued in
situations when dances no longer exist in the body memory of
dancers, and neither the choreographer nor original
performers survive. Financially, the dance community may
benefit through better quality documentations that can lead
to higher visibility and increased financial resources.
General goals may be broken into three chronological
categories: Preliminary Investigation of Current Practices,
Development of New Models, and Production of a Documentation
Series. The Development and Production stages are long-term
results of the initial Preliminary Investigation. The overall
goal is to help establish new standards, means and
methodologies for documenting concert dance, to become well
informed in order to positively influence the field, to offer
this knowledge through courses and workshops, and to make
quality contributions to our global dance archive.
The outcomes from such activities are relevant to the general
field of dance. Like all arts, dance can serve to
encapsulate, reinforce and transmit cultural traditions and
values. This work becomes a worthwhile aid for preserving the
dance itself, the choreographer’s process, and the
inspirational contexts of the era in which concert dances are
being created.
This site, although centered on video as a documentation
medium, acknowledges the valuable contributions of other
forms of documentation including dance notation, oral and
written description, and motion capture technologies.