Reference on the Web: Performing Arts.

Mulac, Carolyn (author).

The subject of performing arts is particularly suited to the Internet. Online video and audio clips can offer a taste of a performance or a program in a way that still photographs and printed texts cannot. At the same time, those still photographs and printed texts can also be more widely disseminated through the wonders of digitization. Here is a list of free Web sites about the performing arts in general and sites devoted to individual performing art forms, including dance, theater, film, and television and radio. All sites were viable as of September 11, 2009.

Performing Arts in General

Art and Culture .

An interactive site that covers a variety of the performing arts as well as literature, music, and the visual arts and offers a forum for artists, organizations, and audiences.

Global Performing Arts Consortium.

GloPAC is “an international organization of institutions and individuals committed to using innovative digital technologies to create easily accessible, multimedia, and multilingual information resources for the study and preservation of the performing arts.”

Great Performances.

Special features, program companions, multimedia presentations, and more from the long-running and award-winning PBS series that brings the best in the performing arts to your living room.

Performing Arts Encyclopedia.

Discover the performing arts treasures of the Library of Congress with finding aids, digitized items from the collections, databases, links, and special Web features.

SIBMAS: International Directory of Performing Arts Collections and Institutions.

The Société Internationale des Bibliotheques et des Musées des Arts du Spectacle (SIBMAS) maintains this useful guide to the world of performing arts collections that includes alphabetical lists by location, collection, and name of institution.

Dance

ABT Online Ballet Dictionary.

An interactive site where you will find an introduction to the art of ballet in small video clips illustrating 170 technical terms such as adagio, pirouette, ronde de jambe, and more.

Balletcompanies.com.

This gateway, created by Dick Heuff, former head of the audiovisual department of the Netherlands Dance Theatre, provides more than 3,000 links to ballet and dance companies around the world.

Ballroom Dance Resource.

Video clips, technical tips, a directory of resources, a discussion forum, and more for beginners as well as the Freds and Gingers among us.

Cyber Dance: Ballet on the Net.

Thousands of links to ballet and modern-dance companies, schools, services, products, organizations, and other dance Web sites on a site started in 1995 and still going strong.

Dance Style Locator .

Illustrated examples of dance styles and musical instruments from around the world are presented on the Web portion of ’People Like Me,” and eductianal arts program sponsored by World Arts West that showcases dancers, writers, musicians, storytellers, and others in yearly themed programs,

Voice of Dance. www.voiceofdance.com.

For more than a decade, the Voice of Dance has offered links, performance listings, message boards, news, reviews, directories, and more to the dance community and the world..

Theater

The Internet Broadway Database. This site bills itself as “the official database for Broadway theatre information” and offers production records of current as well as previous shows documented by the Research Department of the Broadway League.

Kabuki for Everyone.

Enjoy the sights and sounds of this traditional Japanese art form, watch an Onnagata (men who play the roles of women) morph into a female, and read up on the history of a tradition that dates back to the seventeenth century.

Playbill.

Theatergoers will want to bookmark this site, which offers the latest news from Broadway and beyond, Playbill archives, performance listings, seating charts, and many other special features.

Theatrecrafts.com.

The aim of this site, developed by Jon Primrose in association with the University of Exeter’s School of Performance Art, “is to eventually be the best resource for practical information and advice about technical theatre techniques for theatre folk at any level.”

TheatreHistory.com.

Provides theater resources galore, including an online script archive, changing feature topics, articles about theater around the world, and a daily Today in Theatre History.

Tony Awards.

Everything you ever wanted to know about the ultimate in theater accolades, including video clips from the awards show, interviews with winners, the history of the award, posters from award-winning shows, and more.

Film

All Movie Guide.

Describes and rates thousands of feature films and documentaries and includes a glossary, movie trailers, film essays, and more. Searchable by genre, country, title,and actor name.

Glossary of Film Terms.

Definitions of more than 700 terms, indexed by alphabet and subject, and links to other Web film glossaries on a site that’s short on glamour but long on useful and technical information.

The Greatest Films.

An award-winning site for classic film buffs and anyone else interested in the great moviies of the twentieth century offers a variety of “best lists,” plot synopses, and feature articles.

Internet Movie Database (IMDB).

A vast amount of film information that includes television movies and series, searchable by titles, keywords, characters, and so forth. Video clips of television programs and movie trailers are also included.

Internet Moving Images Archive: Movie Collection.

More than 200,000 free digital films uploaded by archive users includes animation and cartoons, cultural and academic films, ephemeral films, news and public affairs, full-length movies, and more.

RogerEbert.com.

The best American film critic currently writing maintains a strong Web presence and shares his movie reviews, essays, interviews, and more.

Television and Radio

British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC).

The world-famous broadcasting corporation offers a selection of audio collections on its Web site: click on Arts & Culture to find short films, interviews, and an archive of various programs.

Emmy Awards.

Television’s golden idol is celebrated in all manner of video interviews and clips, including a short video on how the statuette is made.

Hulu.

Couch potatoes beware: you can watch episodes of complete television shows and excerpts from others from a variety of networks, selected full-length movies, and movie trailers on this addictive site.

Museum of Broadcast Communications.

Although the opening ot its actual building has been delayed by a number of unforeseen events, the museum’s Web site provides free access to more than 7,000 hours of digitized radio and television content as well as a searchable database of thousands of programs. The entire content of the first edition of the Encyclopedia of Television (1997) is available here at no charge.

The Paley Center for Media.

The Paley Center for Media (originally known as The Museum of Television & Radio) maintains locations in New York and Los Angeles. Its Web site offers online discussion forums and a searchable database of the thousands of television and radio programs and advertisements available for viewing in person at either location..

Television Production Handbook.

This practical site offers definitions of technical television production terms, an online forum, and a link for the purchase of a hardcopy version of the book.