Dance

Generally, reviews of dance will be found in newspapers, dance magazines and journals, and websites devoted to dance.

Your strategy for finding reviews of dance and ballet starts with the time and location: where and when the performances that you are interested in will greatly effect your strategy. 

General Search Tips

• Use whatever information you already know in your search. Include elements like
  • Work title
  • Choreographer, composer, or performer
  • Critic's name
• Use quotation marks and use AND between each element, such as: "Appalachian Spring" AND "Martha Graham"

  The quotation marks let the database know that you need those words to appear together and in that order and the AND limits the results to articles containing both phrases.

• Look for options in whatever tool you are searching to limit your search (often in the advanced search, if there is one) to:
  • a particular time period if you need reviews of a premiere, for example
  • a particular newspaper/publication
  • to just "Reviews" as an item type

You can use some of these strategies to search in Library Search. However, Library Search does not search the everything that the library has access to (for example, newspapers and Dance Online), and it can bring back too many things. Make sure to narrow your search results to "Reviews" (under "Resource Type").

1. If the dance or performance is contemporary, start with Newspaper Search. This searches most of the current newspapers that the library subscribes to. You can also search by city in Journal Finder to see if we have access to newspapers for any individual city and what their date coverage is.

• These popular newspapers also have their own databases, though are also generally searchable in Newspaper Search:

• If you need more help with contemporary newspapers, consult the Newspapers Research Guide.

2. If the dance or performance is historical, use ProQuest Historical Newspapers (below). You can also search by city in Journal Finder to see if we have access to newspapers for any individual city and what their date coverage is.

These popular newspapers also have their own databases:

Dance Magazines and Journals can be found in the following databases:

Other popular dance magazines:

While newspapers may employ full-time dance critics who have made a career reviewing dance, many people are also reviewing contemporary dance performances online. Here is a selection of respected dance websites and review aggregators. (You may also want to consult the dance company's website, which may quote reviews of selected performances.)