Until recently, there has been no easy or standardized way to record its history. A new initiative is designed to address this problem and create a much-needed living legacy for dance. Called SAVE AS: DANCE, the project is dedicated to documenting and preserving the work of dance artists. It is a partnership between the National Initiative to Preserve America's Dance (NIPAD) and the UCLA National Dance/Media Project, funded with grants from The Pew Charitable Trusts.

The philosophy underlying SAVE AS:DANCE is that dance artists are major contributors to American culture, whose works should be documented and protected. SAVE AS:DANCE will undertake such activities as cataloging existing materials, preserving deteriorating films, making new audio/visual recordings, and exploring innovative ways to use new media for both creating and disseminating dance works.

NIPAD will focus on investing in a small number of model projects to expand the knowledge of best practices in dance documentation and preservation. It will also undertake a communications program to promote awareness of the need to preserve America's dance legacy. The communications program will include: developing an education video, creating a web site, establishing a news column in association journals, and making ongoing presentations at conferences and meetings.

The mission of the UCLA National Dance/Media project is to increase dance documentation in many formats, including film, video, and new digital technologies. Its plans consist of three components:

• UCLA National Dance/Media Leadership Group. A national advisory group will function as a think tank to identify, develop and disseminate the best practices in dance documentation. The group will include experts from the fields of choreography, dance history, ethnology, library sciences, American studies, television, and new media technologies. It will hold a three-day meeting each year from 1997 and 2000.
• Conference on Dance, Media and Documentation. A national three-day conference in 1998 will explore advanced techniques of dance documentation.
• UCLA National Dance/Media Fellowship Program. In each of the next three years (1998, 1999, and 2000) the program will admit six dance professionals as fellows and two UCLA graduate students into dance documentation training workshops. Each 10-week intensive workshop will explore technical aspects of documenting dance and the role of documentation in the creation, appreciation, critical analysis and scholarly study of dance.

SAVE AS: DANCE is part of a broader effort by The Pew Charitable Trusts to support the needs working artists and address long-term needs of the dance field.

More information is available from the following web sites.

SAVE AS:DANCE Press Release