Performance History Revealed: The Performance Databases of Rambert and the Royal Ballet

Abstract

Dance archives were instrumental in the development of the first performance databases produced in the UK. This article examines the conceptual frameworks and practical components of the performance databases created by two of them: the Rambert Archive and Royal Opera House Collections, which holds the archives of the Royal Ballet and Birmingham Royal Ballet (up to 1997). It outlines their work-based data models (contrasting these with event-based data models), the contents and cataloguing rules of their ‘work’ and ‘performance’ records, and their online presentation of the data.