Programs, 1997

The collection documents the administrative, educational, creative, outreach, and public relations aspects of the Bates Dance Festival from its founding in 1982 under the initial co-directorship of Marcy Plavin, until the present. There are extensive administrative records, including student transcripts, evaluations, and registration information; faculty contracts; payroll information for faculty, staff and student assistants; budgets; information about grants applied for and received from state and national agencies; membership information; and course descriptions and schedules. Publicity and marketing efforts are documented in a separate series with that name which includes newspaper and magazine clippings of articles and reviews about the Festival, ads bought and sold by the Festival, press releases, and correspondence with media contacts.

The Faculty and Creative Personnel series provides extensive information about the instructors, performers, lighting designers, accompanists, and other artistic individuals who are the lifeblood of the Festival. The series is comprised largely of professional publicity photographs; press kits with reviews and articles from newspapers and magazines; curriculum vitae and other biographical information; and correspondence with Festival staff. Two series, Community Outreach and Special Projects, document ongoing programs and special events sponsored by the Festival, often in collaboration with other creative organizations, and with the involvement with community groups and members. There is, for example, extensive information about Doug Varone's work, "A Momentary Order," which premiered at the Libbey Mill in Lewiston, Maine in October 1992 and takes as its inspiration the Franco-American culture of the Lewiston-Auburn area.

The collection also includes several format-specific series, particularly Audio Recordings and Transcripts, Video Recordings, Publications, and Concert Guides and Programs, which taken together provide a multi-faceted, multi-media history of the Festival and its creative output. There are transcripts of informal, yet inspirational, artists' conversations, and video recordings of most main stage performances, the annual Festival Finale, and the improvisational "Moving in the Moment" faculty performance and concert, among other events. The Photographs Series documents Festival performances, rehearsals, and classes with mainly informal, candid images. The Concert Guides and Programs and the Publications series provide important background about events, programs, classes, and projects.

The textual records along with the video and audio recordings and photographs that comprise the collection ensure that the important and original work performed and created at the Bates Dance Festival will not be lost despite its ephemeral nature. From the records, students can learn a choreographer's phrases, research technical notes, or read reviews of past performers. Because several dancers and choreographers have performed or taught at the Festival many times over the years, it is even possible to chart the artistic development of some of the most well-established and best-known dancers in the country by consulting the records.