This course introduces students to issues and methods in the field of dance history. Reckoning with the embodied and ephemeral nature of dance, students consider varied ways in which dancing tends to elude official history. With an emphasis on 20th century U.S. concert dance, course material includes theoretical and historical texts, recordings of performance, ethnographic accounts, and oral histories. Exploring a choreographic event of their choosing, students conduct research at the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, one of the world’s largest and most comprehensive archives devoted to the documentation of dance. The course is open to students across the arts and humanities.