| Collecting Strand | National Resource Centre for Dance |
| Level | Collection |
| Ref No | BIG |
| Title | BALLET INDEPENDENTS' GROUP ARCHIVE |
| Date | 1996-2006 |
| Extent | 69 files of papers, 18 audio cassette tapes (masters and listening copies), 1 theatre programme, 1 issue of a periodical |
| Name of Creator | Jackson; Jennifer |
| Crow; Susie |
| Description | Founded in 1996, the Ballet Independents' Group (BIG) aimed to stimulate independent thought and action in ballet and influence its culture by situating ballet practice in a contemporary context, nurturing creativity and composition, and facilitating communication and debate. BIG's primary activities were discussion forums, which allowed open discussion of issues of concern to ballet professionals, and choreographic courses for graduating vocational students interested in making work within the ballet genre. It was run as a partnership by Susan Crow and Jennifer Jackson, ballet artists with experience as dancer/choreographers initially with the Royal and Sadler's Wells Royal Ballet (1972-1988), as teachers and workshop leaders in education, and as directors of independent initiatives promoting creativity and debate in ballet.
The archive documents the activities of the Ballet Independents's Group, with particular focus on the BIG Discussion Forums and the choreographic courses run by Susan Crow and Jennifer Jackson. These include four Ballet into the 21st Century courses held at the Royal Festival Hall - Single Steps (1996), Findings (1997), Classical and Contemporary (1997), and Contemporary Narratives (1999) - and Making Work, a mentored choreographic and composition residency run in collaboration with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra in 2000. Also covered in the archive are events at which Crow and Jackson represent ballet independents, articles they have written on the subject, and administration and funding of BIG. |
| Arrangement | Material arranged at time of cataloguing according to the format-based classification scheme which was then in use by the National Resource Centre for Dance.
The papers fall into these categories:
o Discussion Forums
o Courses
o Funding
o Management
o Projects
o Events
o Articles
To provide cohesion to the catalogue, the subject headings 'Management', 'Events', and 'Projects' were added to relevant files; the other headings were already in use by Crow and Jackson. The titles of the files were transferred from the originals, with some modifications. Some files were combined. |
| Language | English |
| Accruals | Further deposits are expected. |
| Related Material | Dance Advance/VOLTaire Archive |
| Physical Description | Listening copies were made of the audio cassettes. The sound quality of those recorded during the Contemporary Narratives course is poor. |
| Custodial History | Source of acquisition: Susan Crow and Jennifer Jackson of Ballet Independents' Group. The archive was received as two deposits in 2004 (June and November). A further deposit was made in July 2006. Preservation and cataloguing of the archive were funded by the Dance Data Online project grant from the Arts and Humanities Research Board. |