The Jerome Robbins Dance Division at The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts recently announced it has acquired the complete archives of Michael Holman, iconic downtown New York dance impresario, filmmaker, experimental musician, journalist, and television producer. The archive contains an unrivaled trove of underground video and film footage capturing the moves of b-boys and breakers at the dawn of hip-hop dance culture, and is the first archive of hip-hop materials in the Dance Division’s collections.
The Michael Holman Archive encompasses more than eight linear feet of paper materials, includes over 500 audio and moving image items, and three terabytes of electronic records. Spanning the years 1978 through 1984 and beyond, the present archive of Holman’s original video and film footage, audio recordings, production notes, media clippings, manuscripts, typescripts, screenplay drafts, event flyers, and personal diaries comprises a one-of-a-kind primary source collection for researchers interested in the origins and influences of hip-hop culture, particularly as it relates to popular dance, both in live performance and its representations through film and television.