CriticalDance Forum

Does anyone know about any dance cd-rom's that are out there? I'm talking about cds with biographies, videos, interviews, interactive computer activities - that kind of thing.<P>I've not ever seen one in the stores (and believe me when I say we spend a bit of time in computer stores) but that doesn't mean there aren't some for order or something.<P>Any thoughts? Maybe teachers have something?

Here's what's available in Dance Books:<BR> <A HREF="http://www.dancebooks.co.uk/catalog/cat51.shtml" TARGET=_blank>http://www.dancebooks.co.uk/catalog/cat51.shtml</A> <P>The Forsythe is very interesting. They usedto have a ballet terminology CD-ROM as well. Perhaps it's available on Amazon.

in australia the only one i know of (which just means i don't know much!) is from gideon obarzanek's chunky move company (VERY interesting company of superb contemporary dancers, undr obarzanek's direction - he has choreographed for NDT, amongst other places...)<P>however, their website address, which i have, and from which it can be read about, and purchased, is giving up an error message at present, so perhaps they have moved....i'll put it up if i find it again....

You're right, there doesn't seem to be a lot of CD ROMs out there. I'm not really sure why, it's not hard to burn a CD ROM, I've done it myself instead of using VHS tape because then you don't run into the VHS/PAL conversion problem if you have to send it to someone and they're cheaper and easier to mail.<BR>Maybe no one is producing dance CD ROMs because the entertainment industry is moving towards DVD?<P>Anyway, these are two CD ROMs that would be easy to get in the U.S.<P><A HREF="http://www.pav.org/ballet.htm" TARGET=_blank>Ballet CD ROM:</A> <BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>See over 700 ballet terms demonstrated, by Evelyn Cisneros, Katita Waldo, and Christopher Stowell, Principal Dancers from the San Francisco Ballet. Hear the correct pronunciation by Pascale Leroy who was born and trained in Paris. Read hundreds of amusing anecdotes from the History of Ballet. Listen to advice, comments and stories from dancers around the world in the Interview section.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE> <P><A HREF="http://www.danceonvideo.com/" TARGET=_blank>"Dance for an Accelerated Society"</A> <BR>There are 4 contemporary videos on this CD ROM that you can preview on the site.

Thanks Marie, the Ballet CD-ROM you describe is te one I meant. I'm away from home so don't have access to it. It's preety good, but for a civilian like me it is rather too detailed. For dancers it is probably much mre useful.

marie - the link you have provided for the ballet cd-rom is interesting, and quite informative - though any number of the hyperlinks there seem to lead into downloads, rather than just pages; but the 'Contents' links seem to give some impression of what's there, without waiting for downloads, so i looked at them.<P>here are the barre,the centre & the 'interview' contents, for example: <A HREF="http://www.pav.org/barcont.htm" TARGET=_blank>http://www.pav.org/barcont.htm</A> <A HREF="http://www.pav.org/centcont.htm" TARGET=_blank>http://www.pav.org/centcont.htm</A> <A HREF="http://www.pav.org/intcont.htm" TARGET=_blank>http://www.pav.org/intcont.htm</A> <P> <P>at $35 US dollars - i think that's about $100 australian dollars - it's certainly not cheap. this is the same price as gretchen ward warren's 'Classical Ballet Technique' book, which is considered rather exorbitant here, even though it's worth every penny! - not to harp on about that book, as we do have it mentioned in other threads, at the moment - but i suppose if a parent asked me, i would have to recommend the product which i have SEEN , and KNOW to be good and reliable (the book), rather than the one (the CD) which is a bit of an unknown (although even the most dedicated parent, who DID ask me, a month ago, for her 16 yo daughter's birthday, would not have considered spending $100!)<P>the review there is very positive (although strangely, it is dated 1966!) even 19<B>9</B>6 seems too early...but..who knows?..i don't!<P>still, the site alone would probably be fun for some kids to looks around - <A HREF="http://www.pav.org/ballet.htm" TARGET=_blank>http://www.pav.org/ballet.htm</A> <BR>

Great - thanks for the tips everyone.<P>After I posted this question I went off looking about to see what I could find on my own. I know, you're supposed to look before you ask and usually I do, but... So I still really didn't find a lot. <P>One thing I did run across was an archived discussion from a dance technology mailing list - from 1999. -- <A HREF="http://www.art.net/~dtz/archive/DanceTech99/0191.html" TARGET=_blank>http://www.art.net/~dtz/archive/DanceTech99/0191.html</A> -- And I guess I'd hoped more had changed since then. I looked for more discussion of the topic in their archives, but didn't see any - doesn't mean it's not there, just I didn't find it. <P>Otherwise, I kept getting links to a cd on classical Indian dance -- <A HREF="http://ice.dynamite.com.au/kgent/dance/dance.htm." TARGET=_blank>http://ice.dynamite.com.au/kgent/dance/dance.htm.</A> <P>I really am interested finding out about the whole spectrum on dance on cd - performances to watch, but educational/informational too - games even. Thanks again!