Dancers/Archivists: Community Archiving Practices Among Country Dancers

Country dancing is a niche form of folk dance which, nevertheless, continues to flourish today. Country dance practitioners have unique information needs which are not met by traditional institutions, as well as a strong desire to preserve their dance form for future generations. As such, they have developed a variety of methods to preserve country dance ephemera and make it accessible to the broader dance community. This study describes some of these methods and how they have evolved in the digital age based on semi-structured interviews with country dance practitioners who have contributed to these efforts through the lens of community archiving.