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DEBATE: THE IED MESS CONTINUES ...

Dance Magazine has devoted an unprecedented three reviews, by Glenn Giffin, Octavio Roca, and Clive Barnes, to The International Encyclopedia of Dance (IED) [January, page 73, February, page 66, March, page 94]. So we, the seven editors of the IED, would like to clarify what this encyclopedia sets out to accomplish, since we feel that this was not made clear.

Although the reviewers are different in background and residence, they have one thing in common: Their comments indicate that all are primarily interested in Western theatrical dance, especially in twentieth-century ballet and modern dance. While these fields are covered extensively, one major innovation of the IED is that it is truly international. It looks at all kinds of dance and includes extensive articles on more than a hundred countries and regions, with most of these articles (which make up more than three-quarters of the encyclopedia) covering several different dance traditions. In most cases, authors were selected from the country involved. Much of this information, such as the dance traditions of Micronesia, has never before been available in English, if at all.

Although important figures in many fields are covered, the IED was never intended to be a biographical dictionary. As an encyclopedia, it is organized thematically and topically, covering not only theatrical performance and choreography, but such areas as folk, popular, ritual, and recreational dance, aesthetics, education, anthropology, publication and scholarship, music, costume, and libretti. It spans the centuries from Ancient Egypt, Mesopotamia, and India to the latest technologies, and a detailed index provides an invaluable key to this wealth of information.

Inevitably there are omissions in any encyclopedia. To make ours affordable to as many libraries and individuals as possible, limitations on length were inevitable and choices had to be made. The Grove Dictionary of Opera, cited by several reviewers as a standard of comparison, deals with just 400 years of a single Western art form and is more than a thousand pages longer than the IED. Dance scholarship is still an evolving field, without the long traditions of art history and music history. Grove Opera is based on the twenty-volume New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians (first published in 1889 and in its sixth edition, with a seventh now being prepared). As with Grove, we do not expect any single reader to be interested in the full range of material presented, but we strongly believe that all of it should be generally available. The IED is the first major step in bringing together the vast quantity of material that is only now becoming available in our field. It is our hope that subsequent editions can build on and refine what we have started.

Selma Jeanne Cohen, George Dorris, Nancy Goldner, Beate Gordon, Nancy Reynolds, David Vaughan, Suzanne Youngerman

Mr. Barnes replies: We were aware that our reviews of the International Encyclopedia of Dance were all written by writers primarily concerned with theatrical dance. (Incidentally, our three reviews--while certainly unprecedented--did not seem unwarranted in view of the magnitude and potential significance of the project.) Not only must we deem this focus to be the prime concern of our readers, we also would find it difficult to come up with reviewers who had any particular expertise and savvy in, for example, "the dance traditions of Micronesia."

I must point out that, were I to need information on the dance traditions of Micronesia--or even folk dance in some of the former Soviet republics--I would be circumspect and chary to accept it, unchecked, from your new Encyclopedia, fearing that its level of academic accuracy and general scholarship would be no more dependable in detail on the subjects I know nothing about than it is on the subjects I know rather a great a deal about. I wonder how a Micronesian folklorist would feel?

Clive Barnes Senior Editor, Dance Magazine

Mr. Giffin replies: The points set out by the editors of the IED tend to beg the question: Who is this encyclopedia for anyway?

The editors defend many of their choices on the argument of inclusiveness and internationalism, although this smacks of the W. S. Gilbert complaint--voiced by Koko in The Mikado--of that individual "who praises with enthusiastic tone/All centuries but this and every nation but his own." Most of the articles are indeed welcome. But their justification still baffles me. There are extensive columns on Kabuki and its acting dynasties where the dance elements derive from regular Japanese dance and the show is by no means a dance-drama, as well as on Bunraku, the Japanese puppet theater. On the other hand, the genuine dance-drama of Southeast Asia, The Ramayana, begs for a systematic exploration of its various incarnations throughout that area in a separate article. Instead, this information is fragmented among the countries in which it is performed without reference to shifting attitudes expressed in the epic depending on where the performance takes place.

I still contend that the organization of the IED is flawed--which was my whole point in mentioning the Grove Dictionary of Opera (which, like much of Western theatrical dance, is a collaborative effort) and the Grove Dictionary of Music (which has managed to bring coherence and integration to a field as diverse and as old as dance). To ignore such stellar examples and to complain about the newness of dance scholarship as justification smacks of provincialism.

The IED editors contend that their encyclopedia "was never intended to be a biographical dictionary." But their reasoning for in- or exclusion remains a maddening jumble. Indeed, this is another barrier to those who would use the IED daily.

Despite its flaws, I find myself consulting the IED often--and just as often being again angered by the organization of its information. Grove VII is indeed in the works. Is there an IED II in the works? If not, there should be. And under the general editorship of someone who has experience in the writing of encyclopedias.

Glenn Giffin Dance Critic, Denver Post

FIRST SEEN AT SUMMER SCHOOL

* The piece on Olympia Dowd was great ["Being Ready for the Moment," February, page 120], but she was not first seen at the Goh Academy in Vancouver. She was seen at the Moscow City Ballet Summer School, which was hosted by us, the Vaganova Academy of North America (Canada). Our summer school in 1999 is August 3-14. Please see our Web site for further information at http://members.tripod.com/

Frank Robinson Vaganova Academy of North America