Janice Ross Papers (2020)
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Museum of Performance and Design, Performing Arts Library
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Title: Janice Ross Papers (2020)
Dates: 1933-2012
Collection Number: 020.009
Creator/Collector:
Ross, Janice
Extent: 22 containers. 22 linear feet.
Repository:
Museum of Performance and Design, Performing Arts Library
San Francisco, California 94124
Abstract: Janice Ross has had a long a varied career as a Bay Area-based dance critic and Professor of Theater and Performance Studies
at 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. 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.
Language of Material: English
Entire collection is open for research.
Reproduction of these materials can occur only if the copying falls within the provisions of the doctrine of fair use. Copyright
varies by item.
[Identification of item]. Janice Ross Papers (2020). Collection Number: 020.009. Museum of Performance and Design, Performing
Arts Library
This accession to the Janice Ross Papers were donated to the Museum of Performance and Design by Janice Ross in 2020.
Biography/Administrative History
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.
Scope and Content of Collection
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.
Dance
Ballet
Dance--History
Halprin, Anna
Halprin, Anna--Criticism and interpretation
Halprin, Anna. Dance as a healing art
Halprin, Anna. Returning to health
Halprin, Lawrence
Yakobson, Leonid
Yakobson, Irina
Russian ballet
San Francisco Ballet
San Francisco Ballet Association (San Francisco, Calif.)
San Francisco Ballet Association (San Francisco, Calif.)--History
San Francisco Ballet--History
Modern dance
Dance criticism
Dance criticism--Soviet Union--History
Dance criticism--United States
Dance Critics Association (U.S.)
Performing arts
Dance--History
San Francisco
California