RESOURCES

Dance Collection Danse distributes several publications and DVDs that are useful in an educational setting. Browse the list below to see how our resources may be useful to educators.

BOOKS ON CHOREOGRAPHIC PROCESS

Express Dance: Educators’ Resource for Teaching Dance
By Allen Kaeja, Karen Kaeja and Carol Oriold

The curriculum often asks teachers with no dance experience to guide students through creating their own movement phrases and dances – but where to start? Express Dance helps educators guide students through the process of developing their own movements and movement phrases, and then combining phrases to create a dance.

Recommended for teachers of grades 4-12 or post-secondary students taking dance for non-majors

Form Without Formula
By Patricia Beatty

Created by Toronto Dance Theatre co-founder Patricia Beatty, Form Without Formula guides students and artists through the choreographic process.

Recommended for grades 9-12, post-secondary and conservatory dance students

BOOKS ON BALLET TECHNIQUE

Ryman’s Cecchetti Dictionary
By Rhonda Ryman

Rhonda Ryman is a respected notator and educator and an expert in the Vagonova, Cecchetti and Royal Academy of Dancing methods of teaching ballet. Her Cecchetti dictionary provides useful definitions for ballet terminology.

Recommended for grades 9-12, post-secondary and conservatory dance students

Betty Oliphant: The Artistry of Teaching
By Nadia Potts, DanceForms illustrations by Rhonda Ryman

Nadia Potts worked with National Ballet School founding principal Betty Oliphant to record exercises from a series of her classes. The book includes complete lesson guides for 5 classes, including specific exercises for boys, and is uniquely illustrated using figures from the DanceForms computer technology.

Recommended for grades 10-12, post-secondary, conservatory dance students and teacher-training programs

BOOKS ON DANCE HISTORY

Encyclopedia of Theatre Dance in Canada
Edited by Susan Macpherson

The first bilingual encyclopedia of dance in Canada, this is a valuable reference tool for all dance students covering a range of artists from across the 20th century and across the country.

Recommended for grades 6-12, post-secondary, graduate and conservatory dance students

Canadian Dance: Visions and Stories
Edited by Selma Landen Odom and Mary Jane Warner

This useful anthology is valuable for any course on Canadian dance history as it covers a variety of dance artists and events from different eras and parts of the country.

Recommended for grades 9-12, post-secondary, graduate and conservatory dance students

Renegade Bodies: Canadian Dance in the 1970s
Edited by Allana Lindgren and Kaija Pepper

This anthology provides a series of articles that look in-depth at causes, effects and events of the 1970s dance boom in Canada, including a series of articles about the founding of university dance programs in Canada.

Recommended for post-secondary and graduate students

DVDs

The Dancemakers

This series captures seminal Canadian dance works from the 1980s and includes photo galleries, a teachers’ guide and interviews with director Moze Mossanen recorded in 2011 when the series was re-released on DVD.

Recommended for grades 9-12, post-secondary and conservatory dance students

Footnotes: The Classics of Ballet with Frank Augustyn

Hosted by former National Ballet of Canada principal dancer Frank Augustyn, this series uses interviews and film clips to look at a range of classical ballets and major movements in the history of classical ballet.

Recommended for grades 9-12, post-secondary and conservatory dance students

Freedom with Robert Desrosiers

The Freedom series provides a candid behind-the-scenes look at the creative process as renowned choreographer Robert Desrosiers enters the studios of cutting-edge choreographers across Canada.

Recommended for grades 9-12, post-secondary, graduate and conservatory dance students

Celia Franca: Tour de Force and A Dancer’s Story

Directed by filmmaker and former National Ballet of Canada principal dancer Veronica Tennant, these complementary documentaries are a must for any course on Canadian dance history as they capture the story of the National Ballet of Canada.

Recommended for grades 7-12, post-secondary and conservatory dance students