The mission of la Bibliothèque de la Danse of the École supérieure de ballet contemporain (ESBC) is to make information on dance in all its forms and aspects available to the whole dance community as well as to the public in general. One of the few Canadian organizations devoted essentially to treating dance documentation, La Bibliothèque de la danse plays a vital role in research and development in dance as well as for the preservation and diffusion of a threatened artistic heritage.

For many years La Bibliothèque de la Danse has acquired and conserved innumerable traces of choreographic activity. The dynamic and vital dance community generates a large quantity of documentation: programs, posters, video recordings, etc.  La Bibliothèque de la Danse is trying to conserve these fragile and ephemeral traces which are important and sometimes unique witnesses to the evolution of dance.

Conscious of the historical value of these many treasures, and thanks to the support of Canadian Heritage and a legacy from Linda Stearns, La Bibliothèque de la danse has developed a website name CHORÈME, that is a unique source of information which aims to :

1. make accessible ;
2. bring to light  ;
3. and assure the conservation of our rich dance heritage.

The Chorème web site
Chorème is a bilingual website consecrated to dance in Québec. (La Bibliothèque de la danse possesses many documents on Canadian dance companies outside of Québec, but for logistical reasons we have limited ourselves for this first phase of the project to the treatment of documents related to Québec groups).

Chorème has four wings:

	Catalogue The catalogue section makes it possible to search the Chorème database which lists more than 2000 digitized documents (performance programs, posters, video recordings, books and prints) related to the history of Dance in Québec. The database is accessible in French and English and permits the user to search through many fields specific to the theatre arts.
	Portfolios The Portfolios section is a space devoted to dance personalities, choreographic works, events or organizations which have fashioned the landscape of dance in Québec into the present. This section of Chorème includes texts written by many recognized authors: historians, academics, journalists or teachers. In the form of thematic files, these portfolios constitute a rich informational resource, offering supplementary research trails for all who wish to broaden their research on any given subject. The textual content of the portfolios is enriched by still images or video excerpts drawn from the digitalized collections of la Bibliothèque de la Danse, which thereby creates a user friendly tool.
	On Stage ! Especially conceived for children from 8 to 11 years old, the On Stage! Section invites them to discover the dance through games. Chorème offers 6 activities which exploit in a playful, interactive way our digitized collections (posters, theatre programs, prints) as well as video excerpts which are digitized with the support of Canada Heritage.
	Activities guide This section is addressed to those who work with children (teachers, animators, educators, etc.) and hopes to make them aware of our rich heritage in Dance. The guide to activities proposes various learning ideas encouraging exploration of the different sections of the Chorème site.

The completion of this project was achieved by la Bibliothèque de la danse who worked together with four invaluable partners: Les Productions Vandal & Thomin,  specialists in numerical editions for the young public, Visard Solutions, the developer and distributor of Academus, Trigonix, specialist in the digitization of archival documents and le Réseau des Bibliothèques de la Ville de Montréal.

The website Chorème is accessible since march 2006, it will be constantly updated and will keep growing in the years to come.   

Please come and visti!