The holdings of the Folkwang Dance Archive not only document the history of the Institute for Contemporary Dance, but also reflect the history of the founding of the Folkwang University of the Arts in 1927.

Kurt Jooss collected newspaper clippings with reports on the founding of the former School of Music, Dance, and Speech and filed them away. Over the years, this collection was expanded to include extensive and noteworthy newspaper clippings with reports on the founding of the former School of Music, Dance, and Speech.

Kurt Jooss collected newspaper clippings with reports on the founding of what was then the School of Music, Dance, and Speech and filed them away. Over the years, this collection was expanded to include photos, programs, posters, reviews, sheet music, music and film recordings, and other items related to the dance department's considerable and exciting activities, such as performances, summer courses, and guest performances.

The prestige of the dance archive is enhanced by the estates of Hans Züllig and Gisela Reber, as well as the kinetography archive, which consists of recordings by Albrecht Knust from his time teaching at Folkwang, among other things.