An international non-profit learned society for dance researchers, artists, performers and choreographers, CORD published the Dance Research Journal and sponsored annual conferences and awards for scholarship and contributions to the field.

In 2007, the CORD National Office moved to the care of Prime Management Services based in Birmingham, Alabama.

Membership generally includes performers, choreographers, artists and dance academics from colleges and universities.

[3] The official records for CORD are held at the University of Maryland's Special Collections in Performing Arts.

The journal was published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of the Congress on Research in Dance until the merger in 2017.