National Library of Australia - Gateways

ISSN 1039-3498 | no. 64 | August 2003


Library Collects Australian Dance

A colour photograph with from left to right: Rachel Rawlins, David McAllister and Steven Heathcote of the Australian Ballet visit the Library in May. Photographer: Kym Smith. Reproduced with permission of the Canberra Times
left to right: Rachel Rawlins, David McAllister and Steven Heathcote of the Australian Ballet visit the Library in May
Photographer: Kym Smith. Reproduced with permission of the Canberra Times

Surprise and delight were the order of the day when the Artistic Director of the Australian Ballet, David McAllister, and two of his leading dancers, Steven Heathcote and Rachel Rawlins, took time out from their Australian Ballet tour in May to visit the National Library. They ‘danced’ through Peggy van Praagh’s notebooks on The Sleeping Beauty, saw pictures and programs of their own performances, listened to interviews with former artistic directors of the Australian Ballet (including Robert Helpmann and Maina Gielgud), and studied notated scores of dance productions.

Their visit highlights the Library’s growing commitment to building its collection of unique Australian dance resources. Recently, a Dance Collection Development Policy was formally adopted, to focus upon collecting all kinds of original and printed materials documenting dance history and practice in Australia, and  complementing the Library’s rich music and literary collections. Australia’s dance creativity—from choreography through to performance and production, both past and present—will be captured across a broad spectrum of dance styles, including folk and multicultural dance traditions. 

The Library is also actively producing digital copies of Australian dance heritage materials and archiving new electronic dance resources. The Library aims to support in the future the cooperative digitisation and delivery of dance resources by other Australian institutions, as well as provide access to dance information and documentation delivered through the AustraliaDancing service, <www.australiadancing.org>. This service was developed in 2002 as a partnership between the National Library, the Australia Council and the peak dance industry body, Ausdance.

The Library is delighted that Michelle Potter, noted dance historian and critic, is continuing to work as Curator of Dance at the National Library. She can be contacted on (02) 62621427 or via email, mpotter@nla.gov.au
—Robyn Holmes, Music and Dance Branch

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