Elsie Ivancich Dunin is a dance ethnologist (ethnochoreologist), choreographer, professor

Professor

A professor is a scholarly teacher; the precise meaning of the term varies by country. Literally, professor derives from Latin as a "person who professes" being usually an expert in arts or sciences; a teacher of high rank...

 and author specializing in folk dance

Folk dance

The term folk dance describes dances that share some or all of the following attributes:*They are dances performed at social functions by people with little or no professional training, often to traditional music or music based on traditional music....

 from Croatia

Croatia

Croatia , officially the Republic of Croatia , is a unitary democratic parliamentary republic in Europe at the crossroads of the Mitteleuropa, the Balkans, and the Mediterranean. Its capital and largest city is Zagreb. The country is divided into 20 counties and the city of Zagreb. Croatia covers ...

, Macedonia

Republic of Macedonia

Macedonia , officially the Republic of Macedonia , is a country located in the central Balkan peninsula in Southeast Europe. It is one of the successor states of the former Yugoslavia, from which it declared independence in 1991...

, and Romani (Gypsies) in Macedonia. Her studies focus on Croatian diaspora

Croatian diaspora

Croatian diaspora refers to the Croatian communities that have formed outside Croatia.Estimates on its size are only approximate because of incomplete statistical records and naturalization, but estimates suggest that the Croatian diaspora numbers between a third and a half of the total number of...

 communities and associated sword dance

Sword dance

Sword dances are recorded from throughout world history. There are various traditions of solo and mock battle sword dances from Greece, the Middle East, Pakistan, India, China, Korea, England, Scotland and Japan...

s in both Old

Old World

The Old World consists of those parts of the world known to classical antiquity and the European Middle Ages. It is used in the context of, and contrast with, the "New World" ....

 and New World

New World

The New World is one of the names used for the Western Hemisphere, specifically America and sometimes Oceania . The term originated in the late 15th century, when America had been recently discovered by European explorers, expanding the geographical horizon of the people of the European middle...

 contexts. She is Professor Emerita of dance ethnology from the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA) and is currently a dance research advisor with the Institute of Ethnology and Folklore Research in Zagreb, Croatia. Her two daughters are Theresa (T.J.) and Elonka Dunin

Elonka Dunin

Elonka Dunin is an American game developer at Simutronics Corp. in St. Louis, Missouri, where she has worked since 1990. She is Chairperson Emerita and one of the founders of the International Game Developers Association's Online Games group, has contributed or been editor in chief on multiple...

.

Cross-Cultural Dance Resources Collection

Dunin is also a leading member of Cross-Cultural Dance Resources

Cross-Cultural Dance Resources

Cross-Cultural Dance Resources is a non-profit dance research organization in the United States, formed in 1981 and based in Flagstaff, Arizona. It maintains a non-lending library devoted to the study of dance, with over 15,000 shelved items plus the archives of Eleanor King, Gertrude Prokosch...

, (CCDR) a non-profit organization dedicated to the study of dance ethnology. Founded in 1981, the CCDR has amassed a collection of over 15,000 books, manuscripts, personal papers, costumes, films and instruments. In April 2008, Dunin, who serves on the organization's board, made a gift to Herberger College of the Arts

Herberger College of the Arts

The Katherine K. Herberger Institute for Design and the Arts at Arizona State University in Tempe, Arizona was created in 2009 by the merger of two existing academic units, the Herberger College of the Arts and the College of Design...

 to provide for the collection's permanent care and curation

Curation

Curation may refer to:*Digital curation, the preservation and maintenance of digital assets*Sheer curation, a minimalist form of digital curationCuration may also be:*The work performed by a curator*Archiving, historical record keeping...

.

Awards

• In 2006, Dunin was awarded the "Outstanding Leadership in Dance Research" award by Congress on Research in Dance
  Congress on Research in Dance
  Congress on Research in Dance is an international non-profit interdisciplinary society for dance researchers, artists, performers and choreographers. CORD publishes the Dance Research Journal, and sponsors annual conferences which distribute annual awards...
  
  (CORD)

Books

• Folk dances, 1969, ASIN B0007FZ1DO
• Gypsy wedding, dance and customs, 1971, ASIN: B0007C5K9C
• Yugoslav dance: An introduction and list of sources available in United States libraries, 1981, ISBN 0-918660-11-4
• Dance Occasions and Festive Dress in Yugoslavia, 1984, ISBN 99946-1-174-7
• Starobosansko kolo in Yugoslavia and in California, 1988, ISBN 0-918660-77-7
• DdA reference format for dance, 1989, ASIN: B0006F2EJ4
• Orata vo Makedonija: Scenski del : Tanec, 1995, ISBN 9989-9774-0-2
• (editor) Dance And Society: Dancer as a Cultural Performer (European Folklore Institute Bibliotheca Traditionis Europae), 2005, ISBN 963-05-8273-2

External links

• Slavonijo Dance Ensemble - Elsie Dunin, dance ethnologist
• The Society for Ethnomusicology
• International Council for Traditional Music
• Cross-Cultural Dance Resources - Elsie Dunin's current field research