Line Dancing surveys dance in cartoon art to celebrate the renovation of Sullivant Hall, the future home of both the Department of Dance and the Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum.  From a 1788 print of A Cotillion – the precursor to the American square dance – to modern works like a Jules Feiffer dancer and a jig from Charles Schulz’ Snoopy, these figures dance across history and across the page. Be it a literal depiction of dance as an event in time or the symbol of dance as metaphor, the works in this exhibit are moving, just like our library!

Line Dancing is part of Ohio State is Dancing, a campus-wide celebration throughout the Fall. Dance holdings from the Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee Theatre Research Institute will be featured in a companion exhibit, Dancing Dimensions: Movement through Time and Space, at the Thompson Library Gallery. These range from an 18th century French fan with dance scenes to a top hat from A Chorus Line; from dance in notation to dance in 3D; and from costume and set designs to costumes and scenery. Other events will include an exhibit of work at the OSU Urban Arts Space by Bebe Miller, Distinguished Professor of Arts & Sciences at The Ohio State University, choreographer, and dance company director, and the Department of Dance Mershon performance Dance Uptown.

Line Dancing will have a special viewing on Friday, November 16th in tandem with Dance Uptown at Mershon Auditorium.

Curated by Lucy Shelton Caswell, Professor Emerita, The Ohio State University Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum.