History

The National Resource Centre for Dance (NRCD) was founded in 1982, following a report by the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation that looked at Dance Education and Training in Britain (1980). The report made recommendations for a range of support needed for the sector and, with its emerging post- and undergraduate course in Dance, the University of Surrey was provided funding to establish ways of supporting dance education and research.

For many years, the NRCD provided and grew an annual programme of courses to support GCSE and A Level Dance Teachers (including a popular Summer School), offered In-service Training which drew on a network of experienced teachers, and developed and distributed many dance publications in support of the sector. With changes to the examination specifications in the early 2010s and other changes in the sector, it became harder to offer the provision required and the NRCD offered its last courses in 2017. We still have a range of publications available to support the teaching and learning which can be found in our online shop. 

Since its inception, the NRCD has expanded its archive collections and related work. There are over 100 named collections and details of Our Collections can be found on the University’s website, along with our Online Catalogue.