The Dance Archive Leipzig (TAL) was founded in 1957 by Kurt Petermann at the GDR Zentralhaus für Volkskunst in Leipzig. Under his direction, it developed an internationally renowned documentation and information point for all areas of dance. In 1975, the TAL became affiliated with the GDR Academy of Arts and extended to include numerous artefacts relating to modern dance from the 1920’s and 30’s. After 1989, the TAL was handed over to the State of Saxony for further use and preservation. In 1993, the TAL then placed in the charge of the Association Tanzarchive Leipzig and in 2011, the library of of the University of Leipzig took on the maintenance of the artefacts.
The main focal points of the TAL are German expressionist dance (particularly Rudolf von Laban), the history of dance in the GDR and in eastern European countries. A German dance bibliography was drawn up and published by the TAL as a standard reference work for dance research. The TAL artefact are divided into three groups: specialist library (ca. 6000 volumes and 150 running journals), collections (films, recordings, videos, DVDs, posters, programmes, photographs, postcards, newspaper extracts), and posthumous bequests (as well as partial bequests and further collections about individuals). The collections are documented in various search aids, including the Allegro-Database with roughly 56,000 entries. You can be directed to the search portal performing-arts.eu with a click on the search button.