About the project
Who is DanceStory for?
DanceStory is research done by swing and blues dancers for dancers. If you want to learn more about where these dances came from, this is the place for you. If you want inspiration for your dancing, this is the place for you. If you teach other people how to do these dances, this is the place for you.
What are we looking for?
DanceStory is focused on finding original materials about social dance for Lindy Hop, Vernacular Solo Jazz, and Blues Dance. By emphasizing social dance, we are trying to go beyond performance to how and why people danced these dances in their everyday lives and understand the broader social context of the Black American culture that these dances came from.
What can we expect to find?
The NYPL is an incredible resource for film footage, interviews, photographs, researcher notes, newspaper articles, and more. Materials in archives may be fragile, original copies that few people have seen.
Finding any old dance clip isn't that hard. The real challenge is in finding social dancing instead of performance. Social dance was rarely filmed; moves and dance styles were not called by the same names from community to community or era to era; and we may need to look in collections that aren't even described as dance at all because of how social dance shows up in everyday life. This is where working as a team really helps us as we compare leads and notes and share successes and failures.
What is the time commitment?
We ask that you try to attend as many meetups as possible and commit to doing some research on your own between meetups. How much extra research you do is up to you. Please note that the libraries are mostly open during daytime hours on weekdays and limited Saturdays, so there are limited options to do research outside of those times.
We'll meet up on Saturdays every 2-3 months through February 2027:
2 Saturday research sessions in June 2026 at the 2 libraries (pick one or attend both).
Then quarterly meetups in a dance studio to share our research and put it into practice.
How much does it cost to join?
It's free! Thanks to the support of the SW!NG OUT Community Fund, there is no cost to join the research team.
What do I need to do bring?
You'll need to have a NYPL library card and researcher account before our first meetup. Apply for a library card here.
If you don't live in New York State, NYPL will let you get a temporary card that will allow you to do research in the archives.
Bring a laptop or dedicated notebook to take notes.
You'll also need to join our Discord server, where we'll communicate between meetups and share research.
Who's running this show?
Jess Noble is a NYC swing and blues dancer who happens to also be a librarian. When she is not in the library or on the dance floor, you might find her teaching a blues dance class her in New York City-- More info at bluesmovement.com
