Co-Archiving a Ballet Repertory Course during the COVID-19 Pandemic

Archiving is a process of organizing and creating content for sustainable, long-term access. However, the “archivists” actively shape the content in the realm of the performing arts, which often involves adding a new layer of knowledge to the original artform. This article explores the archiving of a ballet repertory course conducted in a higher education institution in Hong Kong during the pandemic, including the archival product and the collaborative process between a multidisciplinary team of people from dance, education, and library science. While teaching repertory online has its challenges, being “online” also offered unique learning experiences. Aiming to illustrate the topics related to hybrid pedagogy and individual creativity in use during the pandemic, the team conducted interviews with some participants for the purpose of creating a series of short educational films. These materials were collected and stored in the institution’s digital repository as the first archive for a specific course.