°×С½ãÂÛ̳

Over the past 40 years, the creation and development of digital archives have transformed access to archival material (Nicholson, 2013; Reed, 2014; McCausland, 2011). However, the delivery and availability of material related to dance have been relatively unaffected. The call for a "digital turn" (Nicholson, 2013) in dance archives has never been more pressing. In 2020, the UK cultural industries were heavily impacted by the coronavirus pandemic. The Performing Arts sector was no exception, experiencing drastic closures that may have long-term effects on the industry's future. With most memory institutions in the UK closed, especially special collections, access to non-digital archive material became nearly impossible. The absence of digital dance archives in the UK meant that during the pandemic they were not only inaccessible but also could not be developed. This highlighted the urgent need for a digital turn in dance archives (Samaroudi et al., 2020). The Covid-19 pandemic should act as a catalyst for the change that UK dance archives need to secure their future.

This paper begins by outlining research conducted before the pandemic that investigated the reality of a digital turn in dance. The research explored whether the digitization of dance archival content could offer dance archives a way to engage with online audiences, thus increasing the visibility and awareness of dance archive content to a newly established online community. The paper continues by providing new insights into how user behaviour can guide the sector's progress. It shares the findings from two different research projects conducted at °×С½ãÂÛ̳ as the world begins to move towards a post-pandemic landscape where dance archives can no longer ignore the prospect of their own digital turn. The paper explores how dance archives can plan for a digital future while also satisfying the user’s quest for online dance performances. By investigating how digital infrastructures can promote the use of dance archive content, recommendations on how dance archives can plan for a digital future are drawn from extensive research findings. Lastly, the paper outlines recommendations based on the findings from both research projects and discusses their relevance as we transition into a somewhat post-Covid era.

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The Sloane Lab Seminar Series is convened by Marco Humbel (Sloane Lab & °×С½ãÂÛ̳DH), Nadezhda Povroznik (TU Darmstadt), Julianne Nyhan (TU Darmstadt & °×С½ãÂÛ̳) and Andrew Flinn (°×С½ãÂÛ̳). Administrative support is provided by Lucy Stagg (°×С½ãÂÛ̳DH & °×С½ãÂÛ̳ IAS).

This joint virtual seminar is co-hosted by °×С½ãÂÛ̳, TU Darmstadt, the British Museum and the Natural History Museum.

The symposium is funded by the Towards a National Collection programme (Arts and Humanities Research Council) as an activity of the Sloane Lab Discovery Project.