Janice Ross Papers (2020), 1933-2012

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Summary

Creators:
Ross, Janice
Abstract:
Extent:
22 containers. 22 linear feet.
Language:
Preferred citation:

Janice Ross Papers (2020). Museum of Performance and Design, Performing Arts Library

Background

Scope and content:

The Janice Ross Papers (2020) document the research and writing career of Professor Janice Ross. A substantial portion of this collection consists of research files for three books written by Professor Ross: Anna Halprin, Experience as Dance (2009), Like a Bomb Going Off: Leonid Yakobson and Ballet as Resistance in Soviet Russia (2015), and San Francisco Ballet at Seventy-Five (2007). Additional series found in this collection include numerous press kits, programs, and audiovisual materials documenting the performing arts throughout the United States, with a particular emphasis on Bay Area artists. Ross’s work as a dance critic and Professor of Theater and Performance Studies is also represented in this collection in the form of research and articles by Ross as well as teaching materials from courses taught at Stanford University and through the San Francisco Ballet. Ross’s documents created during the organization of several national dance conferences are also included.

Biographical / historical:

Janice Ross was born in 1952 in Los Angeles, California. She received her BA in Art History from University of California, Berkeley (1973), and her MA in Dance Education (1975) and PhD in Education (1998) from Stanford University. Ross has had a long and varied career as a Bay Area-based dance critic and Professor of Theater and Performance Studies (Stanford University). Her career as a critic began as a Staff Dance Critic and Columnist at the Berkeley Gazette in 1975. Since then, she has written for Artweek Oakland, the S.F. Bay Guardian, Dancemagazine, the Oakland Tribune, The New York Times and The Los Angeles Times. In addition to her performing arts criticism, Ross served on numerous boards, advisory committees and professional organizations including the California Arts Council, the West Coast Institute for Dance Criticism, the National Endowment for the Arts, the International Dance Critics Association, the Society of Dance History Scholars, and the Congress on Research on Dance, among many others. As a Professor in the Department of Theatre and Performance Studies, Ross’s research has focused on “the intersections of social issues and their expression through performance.” As a result she has published several books, including Like a Bomb Going Off: Leonid Yakobson and Ballet as Resistance in Soviet Russia (2015), Anna Halprin: Experience as Dance (2007), and San Francisco Ballet at Seventy-Five (2007). Ross’s research for each of these books is included in this collection. Ross has been the recipient of numerous honors and awards, including a fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts for Dance Criticism, the Stanford Humanities Center Internal Fellowship, the Isadora Duncan Dance Award, a Fulbright Senior Fellowship, and the Miriam Roland Award for Public Service.

Acquisition information:
This accession to the Janice Ross Papers were donated to the Museum of Performance and Design by Janice Ross in 2020.

Access and use

Restrictions:

Entire collection is open for research.

Terms of access:

Reproduction of these materials can occur only if the copying falls within the provisions of the doctrine of fair use. Copyright varies by item.

Preferred citation:

Janice Ross Papers (2020). Museum of Performance and Design, Performing Arts Library

Location of this collection:
2200 Jerrold Avenue
Suite T
San Francisco, CA 94124, US
Contact:
4157413531
info@mpdsf.org
Website