About the Project

Library Without Walls: George Washington Dances is the pilot project of the Library Without Walls.

It is a collaboration between the Florida State University MA in American Dance Studies, the Jerome Robbins Dance Collection of the New York Public Library, and the Florida State University College of Information.

The purpose of Library Without Walls is to:

Primary source materials relating to George Washington Dances -- including audio and video reconstructions of music and dancing, graphics, text, and artifacts about the period (1768-1780) -- exist at NYPL/Dance, the premiere archive of over a million documents pertaining to dance studies. Using George Washington as the centerpiece affords multiple entry points for researchers and gives the broad overview of history that properly positions dance in wider contexts and meanings. This information adds to the early dance curriculum by providing information for a period that is difficult to research due to the limited availability of sources and images from the period. Utilizing the interactive and new technology of the internet is key to vitalize and contextualize the ephemeral history of dance.

Copyright considerations guided selections for initial inclusion in the site. Many primary source Washington-era materials are in the public domain.

Rationale:

For too long dance has been insular in its teaching methods. "By transporting research in history and art to the desks of students...the Library Without Walls: George Washington Project encourages interdisciplinary study and debate," writes Arts Consultant Suzanne Callahan. "Invigorating the study of historical dance with technology in ways that appeal to today's students begins to overcome the barriers of time and geography. It can graphically and elegantly illustrate the relevance of dance in culture and politics, the ways in which dance influences culture and conveys messages of the times....The choice of George Washington as a subject for the first such project is strategic...."Learning that a figure commonly associated with leadership in politics had a strong interest in dance challenges assumptions about the presence -- and thus the value -- of dance in culture, and the ways in which historical and political trends are integrated with art."1

The scope of the project is ambitious. The dance and cultural information is endless and will keep surfacing as more people become familiar with the project. Dance is the most ephemeral of art forms. This is even more remarkable with those dance forms that existed prior to photography, film and video. The fact that dance is performative, existing only in the time and space of its performance, has been a detriment in documenting its development. In consequence, dancers don't have access to their own history. "Moreover, libraries face limitations because it is difficult or impossible for researchers, teachers and students to access their holdings from across the country. We are at a moment in time when technology can begin to solve these problems." 2


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Potential for the Field:

In evaluating the project, Callahan wrote: "The array of relationships is a principal strength of this project, because the LWW: GWP calls for collaborative integration of thoughts and materials. The dance field must determine new ways to archive its history and reach students, and take advantage of technology. What the dance field has not had, until recently, is the ability to integrate all three into a sound and distributable project -- a major strength that Library Without Walls offers. The prototype has the potential to merge the past with the present in a manner that creates excitement in pedagogy... and could, by its very nature, encourage research, debate and reciprocal learning among academic departments, as scholars recognize and forge new connections between art and history, between culture and politics." The hope is that this project will provide one crucial building block for future programs.


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Project Support:

This project was funded, in part, by two Florida State University Arts and Humanities Program Enhancement Grants (2003, 2004), and generous in-kind support from the FSU College of Information.

The FSU MA program in American Dance Studies (FSU/ADS) provides scholarly guidance, graduate assistants, prompt and serious classroom use of the material. Most importantly, in collaboration with FSU College of Information (FSU/CI) and Professor Anthony Chow, FSU provides Internet architectural-systems designs, a server, and monitored, password protected accessibility (important in the initial stages for NYPL/Dance). On its side, NYPL/Dance provides superb materials, expert assistance, and the excellence of a collaborating with this prestigious, world-class institution. This is a working project and professional partnership for students (the first of its kind).

Interdisciplinary collaboration has been key to this project. One example of collaborative work using the possibilities of web delivery was the reconstruction of a George Washington-era minuet. Using a digitized version of an original 18th century minuet score from NYPL, a professor of Violin in the FSU School of Music played the song on a period instrument using period-specific bowing techniques. This was recorded and then served as accompaniment for a professional dancer, trained in 18th century social dance, to dance a George Washington-era minuet. This performance was then digitally recorded and, using "virtual tour" software technology, a three-dimensional video was created that allows users to manipulate the image 360 degrees interactively.


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