Surprise! There is no subject heading for dance in the classification system of the Library of Congress. Dance books are there for sure. (Mine are somewhere!) But the general headings under which you might find our beautiful field are Recreation and Leisure, Music, Fine Arts, or Literature.
I am particularly fond of the first one: Recreation and Leisure because my masters degree from George Washington University is in Human Kinetics and Leisure Studies so I am right in sync with the originators of the system which began in 1897, with the bulk of the work happening in the first few years of the 20th century.
I am part of a group of choreographers advocating for a “class for dance” in the library called Legacy Unboxed. We want to be found. We want our knowledge to be discoverable. We want people in the future to be able to look at and wonder at and even study all the magnificent work of movement artists. All our dances, all our cultures, all our rituals and competitions, all our healing and communal acts, all of our bodies in the streets, the clubs, the dance halls, the theaters. All our soloists and companies, all the scandals and gossip, and justice work, and resistance work and just plain dancing for joy.
Look at the word classification. It contains what we are asking for.
What IF
We had a CLASS for dance?
Take ACTION.
Join me in the advancement of a “class for dance.”
