[2] SDHS became a member of the American Council of Learned Societies in 1996, hosted an annual conference, published conference proceedings and a book series, and presented awards to new and established scholars.
[3][4] The Society included scholars in musicology, anthropology, history, literature, theatre, performance studies, and other fields.
SDHS had close ties with its peer organizations such as the Congress on Research in Dance (CORD).
Since 1988 the Society published a periodical, Studies in Dance History, which was redefined as a monograph series in 1994.
It included various scholarly texts in dance history and was published by the University of Wisconsin Press.