The Association of German Dance Archive Network works for the preservation and visibility of dance and dance heritage in society.

Dance is one of the most temporal of the performative arts. The diversity of creativity in dance in history and the present would be lost if documentation and materials on the art of dance were not preserved in archives and collections.  

In the German Dance Archive Network (Verbund deutscher Tanzarchive - VDT), five of the leading institutions for dance heritage in Germany have come together: the archive at the Akademie der Künste Berlin, the German Dance Archive Cologne, the German Dance Film Institute Bremen, the Dance Archive Leipzig and the Media Library for Dance and Theatre at the ITI – German Centre.  

The focus of the cooperation over many years is working together on shared projects, events, symposiums and workshops with experts in order to advocate more strongly as a network for the visibility of dance heritage and for making well-founded knowledge about dance accessible. The aim is also the development of sustainable and long-term working structures, including the national and international connection of databases, the possibilities for digitisation and online publications, and international cooperation in the area of preservation and accessibility for dance heritage.

The VDT is an informal working group and is chaired by the Dachverband Tanz Deutschland. Thomas Thorausch (German Dance Archive Cologne) is the public spokesperson.