The Wikipedia Dance Project
Dance + Words’ Wikipedia Dance Project focused on increasing and improving the presence of Canadian dance artists on Wikipedia. This was accomplished by deploying the dance community itself to write new entries and augment stubs (short, incomplete article entries) with additional information and citations.
The project seeks to correct the gap between the vibrant reality of movement arts in Canada and the incomplete state of its overall profile on Wikipedia where articles and data items fail to represent the dance sector adequately. For example, dance pioneers such as Anna Wyman, Earl Kraul, Judy Jarvis, John Alleyne, Len Gibson, Gina Lori Riley, among many others, are not included at all in Wikipedia. Community and company information is also missing.
The project proposed an everyday brand of information activism to serve current and future generations of dance artists, scholars, data scientists, researchers, presenters and potential audience members using a shared global resource. The project developed and delivered an integrated series of workshops, presentations and tutorials aimed at raising awareness of Wikipedia and related platforms and empowering the dance community to participate in forms of online and digital representation. Wikipedia Dance Project events took place over the course of 2019 in
Montreal on May 26
Facilitated by Amber Berson in both French and English, this tutorial and edit-a-thon took place at the Bibliothèque de la danse Vincent Warren.
Toronto on June 2
Facilitated by Ella McGeough and Zeesy Powers, this tutorial and edit-a-thon took place in the library at Canada’s National Ballet School.
Vancouver on June 22
Facilitated by interdisciplinary artist and curator Simranpreet Anand, the Vancouver event took place at the Dance Centre.
Toronto on August 17
Facilitated by artist and Wikipedia editor Zeesy Powers, this event at dance: made on/fait au Canada was supported by Canada’s National Ballet School.
St. John’s, Newfoundland on August 23
Facilitated by Wikipedia editor Evan Gray at The Centre for Newfoundland Studies, Queen Elizabeth II Library at Memorial University.
The following entries were created through the initiative:
Ola Skanks
Elizabeth Langley
Zab Maboungou
Kevin Pugh
Louise Moyes
Kittiwake Dance Theatre
Karen Kaeja
Annette av Paul
Ethel Bruneau
Lawrence Adams
Miriam Adams
If you’re interested in contributing or learning more, check out the following resources:
How To Be Included in Wikipedia by Amber Berson
Canadian Dance Artists in Need of Wikipedia Entries or Enhancements
This project was created with the support of the Canada Council for the Arts.