Digitizing and Cataloguing Dance Collection Danse's VHS tape collection

This thesis is an applied digitization and cataloguing project for Dance Collection Danse (DCD). The collection consists of sixteen dance performance recordings on VHS which were created by DanceWorks, a Toronto-based presenter of independent dance choreographies, and given to DCD by Mimi Beck, Director of DanceWorks. The objectives for this project included: digitizing the VHS recordings, cataloguing the VHS tapes using the Canadian Integrated Dance Database (CIDD), and conducting research on topics related to dance video preservation. This thesis is divided into two parts: a research paper and a catalogue. The research paper discusses: the history of DanceWorks and DCD, the hurdles associated with trying to preserve VHS tapes, theories debating the value of preserving dance on video, and characteristics of the CIDD cataloguing software. Part two includes screenshots of the sixteen catalogue records created using the CIDD.