Pictures can be a reflection of dance, expressing the cultural identity of movement. Dance pictures are no mere records but reflect our collective imaginations of dance. The TAL’s picture library contains some 9,000 photographs, 2,400 slides, 1,200 posters, sketches and drawings, 4500 postcards and 360 art prints.

The documentation of dance productions and festivals is one of our main interests and we have a large collection of programmes, reviews and press clippings on contemporary choreographies and productions and the Euro-Scene Leipzig.

The dance archive holds close to 3,000 records, tapes and CDs of ballet and dance music as well as an extensive collection of music supplies. There are also audiotape recordings of famous figures in d

How to record, write down or preserve movement? The very spirit of dance defies all attempts of capture. Where text, notation or photography all fail to reproduce movement, film is the only suitable medium.

The reference library with its more than 10,000 volumes is ever expanding and holds an extensive collection of books, works of reference, music supplies and German as well as international dance magazines.