annual report dan fy2015 draft 9 7 2015 - nypl

COVER IMAGES

NEW ACQUISITIONS Les Ballets Trockaderos de Monte Carlo, Swan Lake . Photograph by John L. Murphy

David Gordon. Photograph by Andrew Eccles

PRESERVATION & ACCESS Mikhail Baryshnikov in Russia ORIGINAL DOCUMENTATIONS Maguette Camara interviewed by Ife Felix Carlota Santana, Flamenco Vivo screenshot from video recording May 21, 2015 PUBLIC PROGRAMS Alastair Macaulay, David Vaughan, and Robert Greskovic. Photograph by Evan Leslie

Suzanne Farrell and Paul Holdengrabber at NYPL Live May 12, 2015, Stephen A. Schwarzman Building, Celeste Bartos Forum PATRONS

Mikhail Baryshnikov. Photograph by Lisa Rinehart Group Photo:Right to left on image: Shamar McKinney, David Nazario, Gian Baez, Hamlin Daley, Anthony Deas, Isaiah Cox, Sophia Domeville, Arlene Yu, Priscilla Marrero. Photograph by Anthony Pratt

STAFF Arlene Yu. Photograph © and courtesy Ryan Kenner Photography.

Cassie Mey in Dean Moss’s johnbrown. Photo by Ryutaro Mishima

Jerome Robbins Dance Division Annual Report 2015 Design after original design by Arlene Yu Printed by GHP (Gist Herlin Press) Printing costs graciously provided by The Committee for the Jerome Robbins Dance Division © 2015 The New York Public Library, Astor, Lenox and Tilden Foundations

JEROME ROBBINS DANCE DIVISION ANNUAL REPORT FY 2015 | 3

Table of Contents

Letter from the Curator ....................................................................................................................... 4

1 Profile of the Jerome Robbins Dance Division .............................................................................. 5

1.1 Staffing ....................................................................................................................................................................... 5 1.2 Mission Statement ..................................................................................................................................................... 5 1.3 Size of the Collection .................................................................................................................................................. 6

2 Activities ...................................................................................................................................... 7

2.1 Overview .................................................................................................................................................................... 7 2.2 Collection Development and Notable Acquisitions .................................................................................................... 9 2.3 Services to the Public ............................................................................................................................................... 15 2.4 Processing and Bibliographic Control ....................................................................................................................... 24 2.5 Preservation and Conservation ................................................................................................................................ 27 2.6 Exhibitions and Public Programs .............................................................................................................................. 34

3 Core Supporters of the Dance Division ....................................................................................... 42

3.1 The Committee for the Jerome Robbins Dance Division .......................................................................................... 42 3.2 Friends of the Jerome Robbins Dance Division ........................................................................................................ 44

4 Grants, Projects, and Initiatives ................................................................................................. 46

4.1 Dance Heritage Coalition .......................................................................................................................................... 46 4.2 The Mertz Gilmore Foundation ................................................................................................................................ 46 4.3 The New York State Council on the Arts ................................................................................................................... 51 4.4 The National Endowment for the Arts ..................................................................................................................... 51 4.5 Dance Historian Is In with David Vaughan ................................................................................................................ 51 4.6 Dance Prints and Designs Digitization Project .......................................................................................................... 52 4.7 Preserving Dance Division Obsolete U‐matic Tapes NHPRC Funding received ........................................................ 52 4.8 Cataloging Standards for Dance Works .................................................................................................................... 53

5 Staff News .................................................................................................................................. 54

5.1 Personnel Changes ................................................................................................................................................... 54 5.2 Staff Development and Activities ............................................................................................................................. 54 5.3 Committee Activities ................................................................................................................................................ 57 5.4 Publications, Press, and Social Media ...................................................................................................................... 57 5.5 Volunteers, Interns, and Fellows .............................................................................................................................. 58

6 Concerns, Goals, and Objectives ................................................................................................ 59

Appendix A. User Demographics ....................................................................................................... 61

Appendix B. Manuscript Collections Processed ................................................................................. 64

Appendix C. Original Documentations .............................................................................................. 69

4

Letter from the Curator

August 2015

Recently I found myself at two dance related events in which attendees were introducing themselves. At the Dance USA dinner, I didn’t know if people from other parts of the country would be aware of The New York Public Library’s Jerome Robbins Dance Division, so I said I was the curator and that we housed a national and international collection of dance materials. The two people next to me, from Miami City Ballet and Contemporary Miami, simultaneously stopped me before the words were out of my mouth. Prior to living in Miami they both said that they frequently used the Dance Division. In fact, they said, they used to live at the Dance Division. They loved watching the dance videos from the Moving Image Archive.

At the NYSCA panel, another panelist, Paul Scolieri said after my introduction, “Over the seven plus years of research for my project of writing a biography of the "Father of American Dance” Ted Shawn, I have asked many complicated questions (about provenance, organization, access, rights, logistics, etc.) — all of which were answered with timeliness, accuracy, and a great deal of collegiality. I truly appreciate the Dance Division staff, especially knowing the extraordinary demands placed on their time and expertise.”

It is with bittersweet feelings that I am announcing my retirement. My last day of work is September 25, 2015. I look forward to this day with joy, trepidation, and sadness. The sadness is that I will be leaving a place that has become a home and family to me. The jobs I have worked in the Jerome Robbins Dance Division have given me the opportunity to learn, to grow, and to use all my energy, resources, skills and talents. What a pleasure to have had the good fortune to find work that required and allowed me to be creative and committed. Therefore, when I heard people from all over the country talk about the importance of our work and the staff at the Dance Division I was filled with gratitude.

And hearing Paul Scolieri also talk about the staff let me know that others were aware of how much talent, knowledge, and generosity of spirit are in the staff at the Jerome Robbins Dance Division. It is the people, too, who make the job a joy. Their willingness to try new things, from new technologies to innovative public programs, their knowledge of dance, the collections, the Library resources, and their patience and skill in locating items for patron requests, or to help patrons understand how to find things themselves are the elements that make our staff members exceptional. They have the heart and awareness to be able to serve the needs of the materials, the Library, and the public. Our ability to work together as a team created an atmosphere of trust and faith in spite of the anxiety of the overwhelming amount of work and complex issues to care for the vast collections.

The search committee is in the process of finding a new curator and we look forward to hearing who has taken on this huge and rewarding job. I am grateful for these twenty‐eight years I have had at the Library and look forward to enjoying the Library and the Dance Division as a patron.

Jan Schmidt Curator Jerome Robbins Dance Division


1 Profile of the Jerome Robbins Dance Division

1.1 STAFFING

Executive

Curator: Jan Schmidt Assistant Curator: Danielle Castronovo Senior Administrative Associate: Amy Schwegel (shared with the Billy Rose Theatre Division) left the position

on February 13, 2015

Jerome Robbins Archive of the Recorded Moving Image (Film, Video, and Audio Archive)

Director: Tanisha Jones Original Documentation Producer: Daisy Pommer Moving Image Specialist: Arlene Yu Oral History Coordinator: Susan Kraft (PT) left the position on November 21, 2014 Oral History Coordinator and Reference: Cassie Mey, started the position on August 10, 2015

Paper‐Based Collections

Photo Orders: Alice Standin (PT) Circulating and Research Dance Library Technical Assistant III: Victor Van Etten Paper‐Based Collections Coordinator Librarian: VACANT Page staff member Mark Kavanaugh, left the position in August, 2015

Staff Providing Reference Desk Service

Danielle Castronovo; Tanisha Jones; Daisy Pommer; Arlene Yu; Susan Kraft (PT); Alice Standin (PT)

Temporary Staff

Oral History NYSCA processor, Jerome Robbins Audio Processor: Cassie Mey (temporary in this position) Mikhail Baryshnikov Archive Processor and Cataloger for Moving Image Archive: Tara Kelley (temporary 2.5

years full time) Tara Kelley left the position for new Library position on November 11, 2014 Cataloger/Processor, Merce Cunningham Archive Audio, Cassie Mey, (temporary two years, part time) Cataloger/Processor, Merce Cunningham Archive Video, Zach Chauvin (temporary, full time, up to three years)

left the position for full time job with the Library on May 1, 2015

Staff in Other Library Divisions Funded by Dance Division and Working on Dance Division Materials

Cataloger, Special Formats Processing: Crystal Rangel, Moving Image materials (originally funded by three‐year award from The Jerome Robbins Foundation, permanent as of January 2014)

Preservation of Audio & Moving Image, Preservation Administration Francis Dougherty Cataloger, Special Formats Processing: Phil Karg, moving image materials Processing, Special Formats Processing: Virginia Mullaney, moving image materials Cataloger, Special Formats Processing: Diana Chapman, audio materials

1.2 MISSION STATEMENT The Jerome Robbins Dance Division connects artists, scholars, and dance lovers to the world of movement. Our commitment is to preserve and provide free access to our unequaled collections of resources, ranging from multi‐camera recordings of dance performances to rare manuscripts. As the active memory of the dance community, the Dance Division honors the past and offers inspiration for the future.

The mission of The New York Public Library is to inspire lifelong learning, advance knowledge, and strengthen our communities.

6

1.3 SIZE OF THE COLLECTION

Format Total size FY 14 Added in FY 15 Total size FY 15

books 44,329 406 44,735

photographic prints and negatives 348,737 2,819 351,556

reels of film and videotape 71,522 5,074 76,596

linear feet of manuscripts 2,711.89 137.5 2,849.39

performance programs 115,134 1,307 116,441

lithographs and engravings 6,981 0 6,981

scenic and costume designs and artworks 3,748 797 4,545

linear feet of clippings 320.99 3.6 324.59

subscriptions to dance periodicals 95 95 95

indexed magazine articles/reviews 103,285 0 103,285

oral history titles 3,381 41 3,422

scrapbooks 1101 2 1103

microfilm/fiche 3,138 0 3,138


2 Activities

2.1 OVERVIEW Under the leadership of Curator Jan Schmidt, the Jerome Robbins Dance Division continues to collect, on a national and international level, paper‐based and moving image records of all forms of dance. With Assistant Curator Danielle Castronovo, the Division works to acquire, conserve, catalog, arrange, and often loan out paper‐based materials, such as manuscripts, photographs, programs, art works, and designs. The Jerome Robbins Archive of the Recorded Moving Image (Moving Image Archive), under the directorship of Tanisha Jones, collects, preserves, arranges, catalogs, and maintains film, audio, videotape, and digital video and audio files. The Moving Image Archive also includes the Oral History Project of audio recorded oral histories and interviews, which was led by Susan Kraft who left this position on November 21, 2014. This position was filled on August 10, 2015. Cassie Mey, who has long worked in temporary jobs with Dance Division audio materials has joined our permanent staff. The other major program for the Moving Image Archive is the original documentation of dance works, now recorded on digital files, led by Daisy Pommer. Many collections come in with both audiovisual and paper‐based materials. This fiscal year, one of the larger collections we received was donated by Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo. This gift from the company includes videotapes as well as some 80 boxes that contain business documents, financials, programs, publicity materials, photographs, and clippings. The Division also acquired many smaller collections comprising both audiovisual and paper‐based materials, which are listed below in section 2.2.

Jerome Robbins Dance Division – Paper‐Based Materials

The Dance Division has continued its ongoing commitment to collecting new paper‐based material, meeting with donors and accepting collections ranging in size from a few photographs to a hundred boxes from the national and international dance community. These collections consist of a diverse set of materials including correspondence, business records, choreographic notes, programs, photographs, prints, and designs. Through our collaboration with the Library’s Archives Unit, we are also beginning to collect electronic records and will soon be able to deliver these to the public.

Danielle Castronovo, Assistant Curator, manages all of the paper‐based materials for the Jerome Robbins Dance Division, including manuscripts, archives, prints, designs, rare books, photographs, programs, clippings, and ephemera. Part‐time staff member Alice Standin handles all of the photography research and processes digitization orders for paper‐based materials.

This year the Dance Division continued to coordinate with the Archives Unit to prioritize the processing of the backlog of manuscript material. While the processing itself is done by the Archives Unit, we select and prioritize collections, arrange transport to and from offsite facilities, and integrate the collections upon their return. This year 67 manuscript collections comprising 133.3 linear feet were processed and made available to the public. See section 2.4 for more detail.

The Dance Division has continued to work with Camille Dee and Elisabeth Elkind from Special Formats Processing to catalog our backlog of rare books, scrapbooks,

photographs and original designs. In the course of the last year, 36 collections were cataloged, making them available on the shelf for the first time. In addition, many items from the backlog have required conservation work before reaching the shelves. The Division has worked closely with the Conservation team to provide necessary treatment.

With the backlog of prints and designs completely cataloged, we proposed a project to digitize those that are in the public domain. The Digital Oversight Committee accepted our proposal, and two years ago we chose a test set of 175 prints. Last year we digitized 401 prints and this year we sent 716 prints offsite for digitization. Each item has its catalog record transferred into our Metadata Management System (MMS). Once the metadata is entered, registrar paperwork is created for the item to be transferred to the Digitization Imaging Unit (DIU). The DIU then makes high‐resolution, preservation‐quality digital photographs of each item. For this project, all items chosen are in the public domain, so once the item is digitized, it appears online and is available to the public. Finally, the physical items are returned to the Division, checked in, and returned to the shelves.

As noted in Section 2.2, Paper‐Based Acquisitions: Purchases, the Dance Division participated in a number of auctions during the past year. The Division is supported in this effort by The Committee for the Dance Division, in particular Hubert Goldschmidt. Suggested purchases are researched for value to the Division, noting importance of the work, whether it is already held

8

by the Library, the number of available local copies, and the price.

During the past year, the Division has loaned paper‐based materials to two institutions, costumes to one institution, and participated in NYPL exhibitions at the Library for the Performing Arts (LPA). Once curators select items for exhibition, the Division contacts Conservation to evaluate condition and determine any necessary treatments. For external loans, once the condition evaluation is complete, Assistant Curator Castronovo represents the Division to the Loan Committee for approval. Once approved, the Division assesses insurance values and writes paperwork for transfer to the registrar, who handles the remainder of the loan process. See section 2.3, Paper‐Based Materials Loaned to Outside Institutions for a description of specific loans.

The Division receives daily reference inquiries through email, phone, and in person. Patrons range from students, faculty, dancers, choreographers, designers, family members, authors, and the general public. Staff members assist patrons with searching the catalog, locating photographs, and navigating our wide range of materials.

Working with the Assistant Curator, Photographs Assistant Alice Standin handles reproduction orders for photographs, designs, and other graphics. If possible, the material is scanned here at the Performing Arts Library. If the material is original art work, lithographs, or bound material requiring the use of an overhead camera, it is sent to the Digital Imaging Unit. The Photographs Assistant is responsible for obtaining valuations for insurance purposes and filling out required paperwork for material to be transported. The Photographs Assistant is also responsible for entering metadata into the MMS for all new scanning of Dance Division material whether it is scanned here or at DIU. Finally, the Photographs Assistant does image research for clients on a limited basis, and more extensive research for Dance Division presentations as the need arises.

Jerome Robbins Archive of the Recorded Moving Image

The Jerome Robbins Archive of the Recorded Moving Image is led by Director Tanisha Jones and supervised by the Division’s curator. The globally recognized Moving Image Archive continues to acquire, preserve, and make accessible materials about dance from all over the world in all styles. With funding from Rockefeller Brothers Foundation, National Endowment for the Arts, New York

State Council on the Arts, The Jerome Robbins Foundation, and the endowment from Jerome Robbins, the Dance Division’s Moving Image Archive has also continued to create an impressive number of digital recordings of dance performances and oral history interviews. The Moving Image Archive continues to process, preserve, and catalog our rich and diverse acquisitions using archival best practices. Donors and the dance community at large depend on the Archive to preserve and make accessible dance moving image materials that will be sustained for the future, because of our reputation of handling the materials with great care and respect. Cataloging of the dance moving image materials is methodically done to facilitate better discoverability of these assets, and video content continues to be searchable on the Library’s online catalog in numerous ways, including by dance title, dancers, choreographers, and venue. Original and master recordings are securely stored and tracked so that donors, documentary filmmakers, exhibition curators, and others who request footage from the Archive can obtain high resolution materials for appropriate, cleared uses.

With Director Tanisha Jones, the permanent staff members of the Moving Image Archive are Daisy Pommer, producer of Original Documentation and Arlene Yu, Moving Image Specialist. The position of producer of the Oral History Project was filled in August 2015 by Cassie Mey. Susan Kraft left the position in November 2014. Tanisha Jones came to the Division in July 2007 after completing a master’s degree program in Moving Image Archiving and Preservation at New York University and post graduate research fellowship in the Barbara Goldsmith Preservation and Conservation Department at NYU Libraries. Daisy Pommer started in the Dance Division in January of 2007 after having spent several years as the archivist, librarian, and producer at Thirteen/WNET. She has a Masters in Library Science from Pratt Institute School of Information and Library Science. Susan Kraft was coordinator of the Oral History Project from 1993 to November 2014. Arlene Yu began with a three‐year grant for the Jerome Robbins Archive of the Recorded Moving Image, with funds from the Jerome Robbins Endowment. She began on July 19, 2010. She earned her Master’s degree in Information and Library Science from Pratt Institute, with certificates in Museums and Archives, and received a Bachelor's degree in Social Studies from Harvard College. Cassie Mey started in the Dance Division as the Oral History Archive Assistant in October 2009 through yearly NYSCA funding, while still maintaining a professional career as a modern dancer. She completed her Master’s degree in Information and Library Science from Pratt Institute, with


a certificate in Digital Management for Cultural Heritage Institutions, in May 2013, and holds a Bachelor of Arts in Dance from Mills College. She has been the project cataloger of the Merce Cunningham Collection Audio since July 2013. Once again we are indebted to Jerome Robbins for his vision in creating these endowment funds.

Moving Image Archive digitization workflow development for the preservation, processing, and cataloging of moving image records was implemented last fiscal year. Funded by the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, the Library created a new digital access portal for the playback of digital access files. The Library’s Repository will store the high resolution preservation files. Moving image digitization is a complex proposition, demanding the coordination of multiple divisions across the Library as they pass both materials and information back and forth to properly identify, track, digitize, store, catalog, curate, and serve up film and video which often arrive unlabeled, in either physical or virtual formats. The Moving Image Archive has worked with each of these divisions, including: Preservation Audio Moving Image Unit, which

preserves both physical and digital items and tracks and checks the integrity of the resulting files, links, and server locations

Special Formats Processing (SFP) staff who work with the Moving Image Archive to inventory, catalog, and track the processing of larger collections

Repository staff who administer the Library’s Digital Repository, where digital preservation files are securely held

Digital Labs staff who developed the new web interface and tools for digital video access

Metadata Management staff who develop and administer the database of information on digital files for the Repository and the new Digital Dance Video interface, including cataloging information from SFP and contractual and rights information from the Moving Image Archive

Rights Clearance Office staff who track rights information for the Metadata Management System and the Dance Division

Performing Arts Library Audiovisual Playback staff who provide the public with access to the Moving Image Archive

Information Technology Group, who maintain the Audiovisual Playback stations at the Performing Arts Library and ensure that the digital access tool is available on those stations

Performing Arts Library Administration, who coordinate all public services at the Performing Arts Library

2.2 COLLECTION DEVELOPMENT AND NOTABLE ACQUISITIONS

Jerome Robbins Dance Division Paper‐Based Materials Acquisitions

This year, under the supervision of Curator Jan Schmidt, with the direction of Assistant Curator Danielle Castronovo, acquisitions of manuscripts, books, programs, and photographs continued at a rapid rate. Most materials are donated, but a few are purchased, mostly with funds provided by The Committee for the Jerome Robbins Dance Division. The materials span the centuries, the continents, and the styles of dance, continuing the global reach of our collections.

Paper‐Based Acquisitions: Gifts

Clive Barnes scrapbooks. Donated by Valerie Taylor‐Barnes. 89 scrapbooks.

Susan Faludi prints and negatives of New York City Ballet, Juilliard School, Vienna Opera, and Alwin Nikolais.

Irene Fertik negatives and photographs of black dance from 1970‐1978. 2 boxes.

Barbara Karinska scrapbooks. 3 volumes. Donated by Alain Francois.

Norman Maen papers. Donated by Domy Reiter‐Soffer. 1 box.

Virginia Myers papers. Gift of Barry Downes.

Gary Lambert "Pete" Nugent papers donated by the estate of Thomas H. Wirth. 1 box.

Bettina Rosay scrapbook. Gift of Thomas Healy.

Terry Shutte’s dance photographs and negatives from 1960s Judson dance. 1 box.

Pieter Sommen photographs of the Electric Spagetti Festival.

Elaine Summers Archive. 20 boxes.

Traditional Dance of Mexico photographs from five photographers: Mario Aguirre Manzon, Roberto Aschentrupp Toldeo, Octavio Nava, Diego Huerta, and April Cabrera Aguilar. Coordinated by Juan Manuel D. Medina

Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo archive, 80 boxes. Gift of the company. Contains business documents, financials, programs, publicity materials, photographs, and clippings.

10

Les Ballets Trockaderos de Monte Carlo Swan Lake Photograph by John L. Murphy

Les Ballets Trockaderos de Monte Carlo Swan Lake Photograph by Sascha Vaughan

Paper‐Based Acquisitions: Purchases

With funds generously contributed by The Committee for the Jerome Robbins Dance Division, and in consultation with the Committee's Chair Elizabeth O’Brien and Committee member Hubert Goldschmidt, the Dance Division made the purchases listed below.

The extremely rare book by Guillaume Dumanoir, Le mariage de la musique avec la dance, contenant la réponse au livre des treize prétendus académistes touchant ces deux arts, Paris, G. de Luyne, 1664, was offered by the dealer Bruce McKittrick. There seem to be only 12 other known copies. The book was purchased in early July, 2015.

Paris dealer, Stéphane Clavreuil (Librairie Thomas‐Scheler), offered the JRDD a set of 8 libretti (7 of these are for ballets performed by Louis XIV for the period 1654 to 1669). With help from Hubert Goldschmidt the Dance Division purchased some of the ones we did not already have, the librettos of the ballets Les Nopces de Pelée et Thetis (1654) and Ballet royal d’Alcindiane (1658) from the dealer in October, 2014.

At the Antiquarian Book Fair in April 2015, the Dance Division purchased from Libreria Antiquaria Mediolanum the Carl Einstein book on Leon Bakst, [1927] Berlin, Ernst Wasmuth. A folio with 42 pages, 1 blank leaf, 19 pochoir plates and 29 colored plates, each plate with protection paper and subtitle. Original half vellum, a female figure tooled in gilt on the front cover, gilt title on spine. This is a special issue consisting of 330 numbered copies (copy # 316). The colored plates mostly depict costumes, scene and theatre designs, croquis and sketches realized by Bakst for plays like Phaedra, Judith, the Fire Bird, Daphnis et Chloe, Aladdin, and for the operas by B. Gudunov and others. The text was written by Carl Einstein (1885‐1940), author.

Hubert Goldschmidt (HG) reported that, after receiving quick approval from the Committee at its meeting of December 3, 2014 and the NYPL to bid the following day on two important notebooks containing 41 drawings by Valentine Hugo at an Ader auction in Paris, he was successful at 1,000 EU each. Unfortunately his winning bids were preempted by the Bibliotheque Nationale de France for the Bibliotheque de l'Opera.


Jerome Robbins Archive of the Recorded Moving Image and Audio Acquisitions

This past fiscal year, under the leadership of Tanisha Jones, Director of the Jerome Robbins Archive of the Recorded Moving Image, with the help of the Special Formats Processing Unit and the Library’s Preservation Unit, the Division processed 1,469 titles, with 5,074 reels of preservation and viewing copies. The Moving Image Archive now has nearly 26,000 titles and over 76,500 reels in its collection. Among the newly preserved materials are items from the National Dance Institute Archive, David Gordon Archive, video materials from New Chamber Ballet, choreographer Keith Lee, Merce Cunningham Archive, and Mikhail Baryshnikov Archive. The Division works with Collections Strategy and the Rights and Clearances Unit to write Curatorial Reviews prior to acquisition and to obtain Deeds of Gift for donations.

The following is a selection of moving image material acquired by the Jerome Robbins Moving Image Archive in Fiscal Year 2015, all of it donated:

David Gordon Archive. 137 archival videotapes and their digital preservation and access copies of documentation representing David Gordon’s two works, The Chair and The Matter.

David Gordon

Photograph by Andrew Eccles

Tamalyn Dallal Archive, available on Library’s website:

o Ethiopia Dances for Joy (Library call number *MGZIDF 5092)

o Zanzibar Dance Trance and Devotion (Library call number *MGZIDF 5093)

Elaine Summers Archive In April 2015, the Dance Division received the Elaine Summers Archive. Elaine Summers was an American choreographer, teacher, experimental filmmaker, intermedia pioneer and founding member of the legendary Judson Dance Theater, who passed away in December 2014 at the age of 89. Ms. Summers was also the developer and teacher of the movement approach Kinetic Awareness, which is studied globally by professionals and individuals and requires certification to teach it. Notable students of Kinetic Awareness include Meredith Monk and Trisha Brown. This mixed collection archive consists of 52 boxes of films, videos, and audio materials documenting over a 1/2 century of her career.

Elaine Summers,

MoMA gardens ‐ Energy Changes c. 1973, Estate of Elaine Summers, no photographer credit

Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo archive, 7 boxes of video materials. Gift of the company.

Domy Reiter‐Soffer videos, documenting Mr. Reiter‐Soffer’s career as a dancer, choreographer, director, and producer. Gift of Domy Reiter‐Soffer.

Norman Maen videos, additional materials to complement last year’s gift of the Norman Maen Video Archive that documents the career of Mr. Maen, Emmy Award‐winning, Irish choreographer and director. Gift of Domy Reiter‐Soffer.

African Dance Advisory Group videos available on Library’s website:

Kewulay Kamara, Ta Boh Mbareh, Visit My Home, Dankawalie (Library call number *MGZIDF 5007)

Ife Felix Archive, available on Library’s website: o Dances of the Sabar Orchestra with

instructor N’deye Gueye (Library call number *MGZIDF 4816)

o Dances of the Djembe Orchestra an introduction to Domba (Library call number *MGZIDF 4817)

o Dances of the Djembe Orchestra an introduction to Lamban (Library call number *MGZIDF 4818)

12

o Mikhail Baryshnikov added to his Archive with 63 8mm films of his dancing in the 1970s.

Mikhail Baryshnikov in Twyla Tharp’s Push Comes to Shove Photograph by Martha Swope

Video now available on the Library’s website: Dances, chants and drum rhythms of Haiti with Jean Leon Destine (Library call number *MGZIDF 1365)

. In the 2015 fiscal year approximately 5 items were added to the Oral History Archive, all gifts of Alastair Macaulay, consisting of a BBC Radio 4 broadcast program on Mark Morris in 2014 and the Merce Cunningham Focus Day at the Barbican Centre, London in Oct. 2000

Original Documentations of Dance Performances

As part of its Original Documentation program, led by Moving Image Archive producer Daisy Pommer, the Division documented 23 performances, 8 interviews, and 1 event in the Library’s Bruno Walter Auditorium, for a total of 32 recordings during Fiscal Year 2015. Since the Dance Division’s Original Documentation program began in 1967, 2,652 works and 126 (approximate) interviews or panel discussions have been recorded. Highlights from this year include:

THE WATERSHED. Choreography by Kyle Abraham in collaboration with Abraham.In.Motion. Lighting Design by Dan Scully. Set Design by Glenn Ligon. Costumes by Karen Young. Sound Design by Sam Crawford. Performed by Kyle Abraham, Matthew Baker, Winston Dynamite Brown, Tamisha Guy, Catherine Ellis Kirk, Penda N’diaye, Jeremy “Jae” Neal, Jordan Morley, and Connie Shiau. Music by Otis Redding, Fredric Chopin, Christopher Tignor, Hildur, Gudnadottir,BJ Nilsen, and Stilluppsteypa. This evening length work was recorded at New York Live Arts, NYC on September 26, 2014. Funding provided by the Rockefeller Brothers Fund

Kyle Abraham/Abraham.in.Motion. Photograph by Carrie Schneider

WHEN THE WOLVES CAME IN. Choreographed by Kyle Abraham in collaboration with Abraham.In.Motion. A stand alone, repertory‐based program. When The Wolves Came In ‐ Performed by Matthew Baker, Winston Dynamite Brown, Tamisha Guy, Catherine Ellis Kirk, Penda N’diaye, Connie Shiau. Music by Nico Muhly. Costumes by Reid Bartelme. Hallowed ‐ Performed by Tamisha Guy, Catherine Ellis Kirk, Jeremy “Jae” Neal. Music by Cleo Kennedy, Bertha Gober. Costumes by Reid Bartelme. The Gettin’ ‐ Performed by Matthew Baker, Winston Dynamite Brown, Tamisha Guy, Catherine Ellis Kirk,


Jeremy “Jae” Neal, Connie Shiau. Music Composed by Robert Glasper and Performed by Robert Glasper Trio: Vicente Archer, Otis Brown III, Robert Glasper, Charenee Wade. Costumes by Karen Young. Recorded at New York Live Arts, NYC on September 26, 2014. Funding provided by the Rockefeller Brothers Fund

g‐h‐o‐s‐t c‐r‐o‐w‐n (working title) Choreography by

RoseAnne Spradlin Photo by IanDouglas

ROSEANNE SPRADLIN DANCE: G‐H‐O‐S‐T C‐R‐O‐W‐N (WORKING TITLE) Choreographed by RoseAnne Spradlin. Music Composed by Jeffrey Young. Videorecorded in high‐definition with two cameras at New York Live Arts in New York City on October 10, 2014.

This choreographed by Neil Greenberg

Photo by Ian Douglas

NEIL GREENBERG DANCE: THIS Choreography by Neil Greenberg. This features four dancers, Molly Lieber, Omagbemi Omagbemi, Mina Nishimura and Connor Voss dancing to a score of drifting ambient noises by Steve Roden. Videorecorded in high‐definition with two cameras at New York Live Arts in New York City on December 4, 2014.

Flamenco Vivo screenshot from video recording

May 21, 2015

Carlota Santana,

Flamenco Vivo screenshot from video recording May 21, 2015

FLAMENCO VIVO A Solas choreography by Angel Muñoz. De Milonga, choreography by Antonio Hidalgo. Martinete‐Seguiriya, choreography by Enrique Vicent and Antonio López. Angeles, (World Premiere). Choreography by Angel Muñoz. Composer and Music Director,Gaspar Rodriguez. Videorecorded in high‐definition with two cameras at The BAM Fisher Fishman Space in Brooklyn, New York on May 21, 2015.

As part of the Original Documentation program, the Dance Division, when permissions allow, gives copies to the companies and choreographers for restaging and promotion. For the third year in a row, nearly all the documentations were recorded in high definition video, thereby increasing the production value of the Dance Division’s media assets. An increasing number of original documentations are now available on the open web, via the Library’s Digital Video webpage. A full list of this year’s recordings is presented below; for full descriptions, please see Appendix C.

14

Production Venue Date Funded By

Tap City Tap Awards Show Bruno Walter Auditorium July 8, 2014 Joseph D. Lewitan Endowment (Lewitan)

Abraham.In.Motion: The Watershed New York Live Arts Sept 26, 2015 Rockefeller Brothers Fund (Rockefeller)

Abraham.In.Motion: When The Wolves Came In New York Live Arts Sept 30, 2015 Rockefeller Brothers Fund (Rockefeller)

a canary torsi: Court/Garden Choreographer Yanira Castro

Danspace Project Oct 10, 2014 Rockefeller Brothers Fund (Rockefeller)

RoseAnne Spradlin New York Live Arts Oct 10, 2014 New York State Council on the Arts (NYSCA)

Lar Lubovitch Dance Company Joyce Theater Oct 17, 2014 NYSCA

American Dance Machine for the 21st Century Joyce Theater Nov 11, 2014

Jerome Robbins Foundation (Robbins)

Tango: Milonga With Gabriel Misse & Analia Centurion

Dardo Galletto Dance Studio Nov 14, 2014 Rockefeller

Doug Varone and Dancers Joyce Theater Dec 4, 2014 Rockefeller

Dance by Neil Greenberg New York Live Arts Dec. 5, 2014 NYSCA

Keely Garfield Danspace Project Dec. 13, 2014 National Endowment for the Arts (NEA)

Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo Joyce Theater Dec. 17, 2014 NEA

Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater City Center Dec. 18, 2014 NEA

Stephan Petronio Joyce Theater April 8, 2015 Rockefeller

Dance Theatre of Harlem City Center April 11, 2015 Lewitan and NYSCA

Flamenco Brooklyn Academy of Music May 21, 2015 Rockefeller

On the Town Lyric Theatre May 28, 2015 Robbins

Yvonne Rainier Museum of Modern Art June 15, 2015 Rockefeller

Oral History Project

The Dance Oral History Project, led by Susan Kraft until November 2014, has continued its work as the leading project of its kind in the nation. Cassie Mey was hired on August 10, 2015, to fill this position, vacated by Susan Kraft. Since there was no staff for this position for seven months of this fiscal year, the work of the archive was slowed. However, before Susan Kraft left, the Project recorded three oral history narrators, in five separate interview sessions. The interviews described below add invaluable new primary source material to the Division. Funding from the National Endowment for the Arts and New York State Council on the Arts (NYSCA) made these new interviews possible. The three oral histories recorded were with ballet dancer and teacher Barbara Cole, Director of Preservation at Jacob’s Pillow, Norton Owen, and, choreographer, dancer and dance writer, Gus Solomons jr. NYSCA funding also enabled Cassie Mey to continue working part‐time to process and prepare an unprecedented quantity of audio material for preservation, and to ensure the processing and cataloging of remainder Oral History Project interviews.


New Oral History Interviews

Barbara Cole. Conducted by Susan Kraft. August 13, 2014. Barbara Cole is a dancer, actress, and teacher who, over the course of her career, worked with the greats of the ballet world. Ms. Cole initially trained at the Washington School of Ballet and School of American Ballet. Invited by George Balanchine to join his cast of Song of Norway on Broadway for a year, Ms. Cole was then cast in Oklahoma by Agnes de Mille. Next, Antony Tudor invited her to join American Ballet Theatre where, among other roles, she was Lady Capulet to Nora Kaye’s Juliet, and Berthe to Alicia Alonso’s Giselle. After touring the US with ABT, a summer at Covent Garden in London, and many NY seasons, Barbara returned to Broadway in Ruth Page’s Music in My Heart. In the era of TV, she was a member of the weekly Sid Caesar Show ‐ dancing and appearing in comedy sketches. Ms. Cole has taught at the Washington Ballet, Harkness School, NYU, Adelphi University, Joffrey Ballet, for over 20 years at the Alvin Ailey School, and for 35 years at the Neighborhood Playhouse School of Theatre. For 10 years she volunteered in the Jerome Robbins Dance Division ‐ organizing collections of clippings, photographs, and programs, as well as conducting Oral History interviews with notables in the ballet field. She recently relocated to California with her husband, former Marine Corps fighter pilot Sam Folsom. They have a daughter Lindsey, a son Gerritt, and two granddaughters who love to dance.

Norton Owen. Conducted by Neil Baldwin. September 12, 15, and 19, 2014. As Director of Preservation at Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival, Norton Owen programs the PillowTalks series, directs all activities involving the extensive Archives, and serves as curator for several exhibitions each season. In 2011 he launched the Jacob’s Pillow Dance Interactive, an online resource of video clips from performances that have taken place at the festival from 1936 through today. He is a contributing author to numerous books and publications, Past Chair of the Dance Heritage Coalition, President of the O'Donnell‐Green Music and Dance Foundation, and was for many years the Institute Director of the José Limón Dance Foundation. In 2000, Dance/USA honored Owen with its Ernie Award for “unsung heroes who have led exemplary lives in dance,” and in 2012 he was awarded a “Dance in Focus” Award by the Dance on Camera Festival.

Gus Solomons jr Conducted by Patricia Beaman. October 22, November 5, and 12, 2014. Gus Solomons jr is a renown dancer, dance maker, teacher, and writer who co‐founded the performance ensemble for veteran performers, PARADIGM, with Carmen de Lavallade and Dudley Williams. In his early career, Mr. Solomons jr danced in the companies of Pearl Lang, Donald McKayle, Martha Graham, and Merce Cunningham before founding his own Solomons Company/Dance. He created the leading role in Donald Byrd/The Group’s nationally acclaimed The Harlem Nutcracker, has set work on the Ailey II company, and taught dance at NYU/Tisch School of the Arts until his retirement several years ago. Mr. Solomons jr received a 1999‐2000 New York Dance and Performance Award (a.k.a. “Bessie”) for Sustained Achievement in Choreography and in 2001, was the first recipient of the annual Robert A. Muh Award for a distinguished artist/alumnus of M.I.T. In 2004, he was honored by receiving the American Dance Festival’s Balasaraswati/Joy Ann Dewey Beinecke Endowed Chair for Distinguished Teaching, and during the 2006‐7 season, he was a Phi Beta Kappa Visiting Scholar. Mr. Solomons jr writes about dance for Dance Magazine, Gay City News, and DanceInsider.com. He continues to perform with PARADIGM, and, as a guest artist, with Martha Clarke, Complexions, and others.

2.3 SERVICES TO THE PUBLIC The Jerome Robbins Dance Division presents its public face in the Reading Rooms where Performing Arts Library staff answered reference queries for many of the 523,180 visitors to the Performing Arts Library's Lincoln Center facility. This number of visitors is a 7.96% increase over the last fiscal year. Of these, over 17,000 visitors accessed the Performing Arts Library's Research collections, which include the Dance Division, last year. The Dance Division’s reference staff served these researchers in the Reading Room, providing nearly 49,000 materials, including papers, manuscripts, books, programs, photographs, videos, and films. The Dance Division also handled thousands of reference, instruction, consultations, telephone answers, written responses, and email services inquiries. The Library continues its efforts to redevelop the statistics gathering methodology to capture the variety and depth of responses we provide the public. As a result, we will not have hard numbers for these activities until the new methodology is finalized and put into practice.

16

On‐site use of the Moving Image Archive materials included, for example, over 3,400 video and audio oral history users from 34 states and 31 countries in addition to the U.S., accessing over 4,500 analog audiovisual materials, with many other patrons using paper‐based items in both the main reading room and the Special Collections area. In the Special Collections Reading Room alone, the Dance Division’s reference staff served over 3,000 dance researchers who consulted over 5,600 items, including papers, manuscripts, books, programs, and photographs from the Dance Division. In our second year of serving digital video content in the Dance Division, our digital videos were accessed 7,708 times. Of these, 6,003 were viewed on the web, and 1,705 were viewed on site. Over 3,000 analog videos were viewed. Since the digitized video files represent less than 7% of the moving image materials in the Archive, it continues to be evident that digital service improves access even when it must be restricted to particular locations. Even recordings that, due to intellectual property restrictions, may only be viewed within the walls of the Library can be called up much more quickly than analog magnetic media. Further, a portion of our collections may be served on the open web, which dramatically increases the level of access for patrons who cannot afford to come to New York City. Researchers from afar usually precede their visits with email requests about access and availability of materials, which sometimes require retrieval of individual items or parts of archival collections from the library's off‐site facility. Patrons this past year came from across the United States as well as Argentina, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, China, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Mexico, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, Russia, South Africa, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, and the United Kingdom. Both paper and photographic collections were used in preparation for public lectures, exhibitions, university theses, dissertations, as well as publication in books and journals.

Classes and Tours for Students

On September 14, 2014, Tanisha Jones of the Jerome Robbins Dance Division gave a class presentation on the Jerome Robbins Archive of the Recorded Moving Image to Instructor Carey Stumm’s Museum Collection Management class from Queens College Graduate School of Library and Information Studies. Tanisha discussed in depth all aspects of the work of the Moving Image Archive including selection, collections scope,

acquisitions, accessioning, arranging, preservation, processing and cataloging, audio and moving image metadata management, and copyright. She also demonstrated for the class searching The New York Public Library’s online Classic Catalog and Digital Collections dance streaming video portal.

Photograph by Carey Stumm

On April 6, 2015, Arlene Yu of the Jerome Robbins Dance Division hosted a class of 16 10‐12 year old boys and 3 adult chaperones from the Building Educated Leaders for Life program hosted at the Eagle Academy of the Bronx. She discussed what we do at the Dance Division, gave a tour of the Library, and showed them one of our important dance videos: Pavement, choreographed by Kyle Abraham and recorded by the Dance Division at LPAC, Pearson‐Hall Theatre, Swarthmore College, Pa. on November 9, 2012. The students loved the work and were inspired by it.

Right to left on image: Shamar McKinney, David Nazario, Gian Baez, Hamlin Daley, Anthony Deas, Isaiah Cox, Sophia Domeville, Arlene Yu, Priscilla Marrero Photograph by Anthony Pratt


Staff also welcomed groups of visitors from schools, universities, dance companies, and other organizations. For each visit, staff members tailor the tour for the needs of the variety of groups who visit the Library, focusing on subjects and materials that would appeal to particular age categories and study interests. Staff used items from the collections to give an introduction to The New York Public Library, the online catalog, concepts in dance documentation, and the varied holdings of the Jerome Robbins Dance Division. They also provided advice on an array of topics. This year staff members gave tours to 14 classes for 234 people ranging from elementary school through graduate school, as well as dance studios. These tours for students included:

K‐12 groups from the Building Educated Leaders for Life program at the Eagle Academy of the Bronx (pictured above).

Undergraduate and graduate students from the Palmer School of Library & Information Science, New York University, Queens College, Florida State University, Dean College, Pratt Institute, University of North Carolina – Charlotte, Frost School of Music at the University of Florida

Dance company students from the Ballet Society of Colorado Springs and the Alvin Ailey American Dance Center

Notable Users

Please see Appendix A, User Demographics, for a complete list of organizations, countries, and states.

31 Countries Across 6 Continents

34 States Across the U.S.

18

Notable users of the Dance Division’s collections in Fiscal Year 2015 included:

● Principal dancers, soloists, and company members from various major performing companies, including Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, American Ballet Theatre, Miami City Ballet, Gelsey Kirkland Ballet, Pacific Northwest Ballet, Ballet Hispanico, Mark Morris Dance Group, and Suzanne Farrell Ballet. Some dancers were familiarizing themselves with upcoming repertory, others were preparing roles, and still others were watching for their own enjoyment.

● Mindy Aloff, dance critic and Adjunct Associate Professor of Dance at Barnard College,, spent much of the past two years researching two books at the Dance Division: "America Dancing," an anthology of dance writing from the 18th to the 21st century, which she is editing for The Library of America, and "Why Dance Matters," which she is writing for the "Why X Matters" series at Yale University Press. She also consulted books, manuscripts, films, clippings, and even medals and awards relating to the ballerina Maria Tallchief for an entry she wrote about Ms Tallchief for the American National Biography. "Neither the books nor the Tallchief entry could have been completed without the magnificent Dance Division," she said. "Its collections in all media constitute one of the irreplaceable treasures of New York."

● Ninotchka Bennahum, Professor of Theater & Dance, University of California, Santa Barbara

● Deborah Jowitt, dance writer and Master Teacher of Dance at the Tisch School of the Arts, New York University.Deborah Jowitt wrote, “ I have written two books relating to the field of dance and am at work on a third. None of them could have materialized without access to the superb collections at the New York Public Library of the Performing Arts. Much that I achieved also owes much to the curators who are knowledgeable in my field and delighted to share information and facilitate in‐depth research. In addition, for years, I have taken the students in my Graduate Seminar at New York University to the Jerome Robbins Dance Division, where curators have given their time and expertise to demonstrate the riches that are there for anyone to ponder—from eager young scholars to foreign visitors to authors like me.”

● Norton Owen, the Archivist for Jacob's Pillow Dance. Norton Owen wrote, “This past year, I have been thrilled to discover some new treasures among a newly‐processed collection of Ted Shawn papers. And I continue to explore the collections of

individuals whose careers intersect with Jacob’s Pillow history, including a 1941 daybook of Donald Saddler’s, and extensive correspondence in the Fern Helscher Papers in regard to Bronislava Nijinska’s Pillow connections.

● Alastair Macaulay, chief dance critic of The New York Times

● Wendy Perron, author of Through the Eyes of a Dancer, Editor at Large of Dance Magazine, and adjunct professor at NYU Tisch School of the Arts, who used the collection to research a catalog essay for a project with UC Santa Barbara.

● Paul Scolieri, Associate Professor, Barnard College, who is working on a biography of Ted Shawn, titled Ted Shawn and the Invention of American Dance. “I am deeply indebted to the librarians and archivists of the Dance Division for the different kinds of support they provided me throughout my process of writing a biography of the "Father of American Dance” Ted Shawn. Shawn was exceptionally proud that his extensive archive of papers, photographs, and motion pictures formed one of the founding collections of the Dance Division. I know he would be pleased to see the care and thoughtfulness with which the Ted Shawn Papers and many related collections are maintained and made accessible at the NYPL today. Over the 7+ years of research for this project, I have asked many complicated questions (about provenance, organization, access, rights, logistics, etc.) — all of which were answered with timeliness, accuracy, and a great deal of collegiality. I truly appreciate the Dance Division staff, especially knowing the extraordinary demands placed on their time and expertise. I’ve been a patron of the Dance Division for over twenty years — as an undergraduate dance major at Columbia University, a professional dancer, a critic, a graduate student at NYU, and now as a professor of dance history at Barnard College. I can’t imagine what my career might have been without access the Dance Division, whose very existence affirms the significance of dance and its legacy in American society. It’s deeply gratifying to see the Division come alive in recent years through innovative programming and most especially, its efforts to make parts of its extraordinary collection accessible through digital means.”

● Judith Zinsser, Professor Emerita at Miami University (Ohio), who is working on a book titled Dancing for Pennies: The Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo and the Creation of America's Ballet Culture. Zinsser wrote: “To work in such a completely new field would not be possible without the varied expertise at the


Dance Division. It could be said that many historians can only be as good as the curators and library staff who assist them.”

● Neil Baldwin, Professor, Department of Theatre & Dance, College of the Arts, Montclair State University, continues research on his forthcoming biography under contract with Alfred A. Knopf, Martha Graham: When Dance Became Modern. He wrote: “For the past three years, the Jerome Robbins Dance Division has been a second home to me, a haven where the solitude of the writer is respected and supported. I have spent countless hours and days delving into its incomparable riches in audiovisual recordings, oral history interviews, manuscripts, photographs, books and periodicals. The entire staff ‐‐ curators, librarians, pages ‐‐ has been welcoming and helpful. Some of the staff included Danielle Castronovo, Diana Chapman, Tanisha Jones, Susan Kraft, Cassie Mey and Arlene Yu.”

● Carrie Noland, a Fellow at the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, who is producing a book, After the Arbitrary: Merce Cunningham, Chance Operations, and “The Human Situation on Stage.” She is also a John Simon Guggenheim Fellow for 2014‐2015 and her home institution is the University of California, Irvine. She wrote: “It was a great pleasure working at the Jerome Robbins Dance Division this past year. I hope to do more research there during my Christmas‐New Year's break and then again next summer. I am truly grateful to all the librarians who took their time to assist me.”

● Sari Wilson, an author who researched her debut novel, Girl Through Glass. Sari Wilson wrote, “The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts’ Jerome Robbins Dance Division provided me with invaluable resources to research my debut novel Girl Through Glass, which is set partly in the 1970s and 1980s New York City ballet world. I returned again and again to the video archives to watch films and videos that helped me understand the historical milieu for the novel (especially for the portions that feature Balanchine and other luminaries at The School of American Ballet and New York City Ballet). The breadth and depth of the Jerome Robbins Dance Division archives are an incredible asset to all writers and scholars looking to understand the history of dance in America.”

● Kate Elswit, a Lecturer in Theatre and Performance at the University of Bristol, who researched Sol Hurok for her website project on visualizing international dance touring, Moving Bodies, Moving Culture (https://movingbodiesmovingculture.wordpress.com/a

bout/). She wrote, “My second book project focuses on infrastructures for transnational circulation, from 20th century impresarios, through 21st century festival circuits. I am looking explicitly at contracts, itineraries, modes of travel, budgets, etc, because my argument throughout this book is that such support structures need to be more readily accounted for in dance history as critical to what is ultimately seen onstage. The blog of exploratory visualizations (primarily mapping) has been a way for me to experiment with foregrounding such alternative perspectives on touring. It’s an absolute pleasure to use the NYPL materials. Every time I explore the finding aids, I discover unexpected materials. For example, for this particular 1941 tour, it turns out that there are quite a number of materials that were collected by the dancers themselves, and thus offer a very different perspective. This summer, I have not been able to travel to New York much, but I have a graduate research assistant in the city, and the finding aids are so clear that I have been able to work remotely with surprising ease.”

● Jane Pritchard, Curator of Dance at the Victoria & Albert Museum

● Lesley Collier, a répétiteur and former principal dancer at Royal Ballet, who researched Frederick Ashton’s The Two Pigeons for the Royal Ballet’s revival of the work.

● Keith Saunders, Ballet Master at Dance Theatre of Harlem, who helped edit the recording of Dance Theatre of Harlem’s performance at New York City Center on April 11, 2015, at 2pm. The What’s New/Family Matinee program, Dancing on the Front Porch of Heaven, Tschaikovsky Pas de Deux, Coming Together, and Vessels were recorded by the Dance Division. He said, “The Jerome Robbins Dance Division is an invaluable resource and the whole dance community is indebted to you.”

Research Fellowships for researchers using Dance Division materials in fiscal year 2015. These annual fellowships are intended to support visiting scholars from outside the New York metropolitan area who are engaged in graduate‐level, post‐doctoral, and independent research on projects in the humanities, and who need to gain access to collection material not readily available elsewhere. Fellows we hosted in the summer of 2014 and spring of 2015 were:

Ninoska M’bewe Escobar, a Ph.D candidate at the University of Texas , Austin, who is working her dissertation, Wrought with Light and Dreams: Auto/body/graphy and the Persistence of Pearl Primus.

20

Ms. Escobar is examining the work and legacy of Pearl Primus through the lens of African American dance and race relations in the U.S.

Megan Metcalf, a Ph.D candidate in Art History at the University of California, Los Angeles, who is researching an article, titled “Dancing is a Process that Never Stops”: Merce Cunningham’s Choreography of Spectatorship in the Contemporary Art Museum. Ms. Metcalf is researching Merce Cunningham’s Events to argue that his “presentation of dance in the art context

contributed to expanded understandings of the art object and of spectatorship in the contemporary art museum over the last century.”

Behind the scenes, Dance Division staff answered reference queries primarily by email and telephone. Requests covered collection content and availability, permission for use, and permission to cite and publish, as well as permission to copy oral history, film, video, manuscript, and photograph materials.

Some recently published books that used Dance Division materials include: Dancing Jewish: Jewish Identity in American Modern and Postmodern Dance Rebecca Rossen Published by Oxford University Press, Oxford, [2014] Acknowledgements xiii Many have helped me access essential archival materials or have provided vital information relevant to my research. To be thanked are Phil Karg, Tom Lisanti, Monica Moseley, Charles Perrier, Pat Rader, and Arlene Yu at the New York Public Library. Body stages : the metamorphosis of Loïe Fuller. Milano : Skira ; [Madrid] : La Casa Encendida, 2014. Acknowledgements: New York Public Library (The Dance Division has over 45 images in the book). Watching Weimar dance Kate Elswit New York, NY : Oxford University Press, [2014] Acknowledgements ix Thanks to the staff at. . . New York Public Library Dance Collection Valerie Steele Editor Dance & Fashion New Haven : Yale University Press ; New York : Fashion Institute of Technology, [2014] ©2013 Acknowledgements p 353 Thanks also to the many individuals and institutions providing assistance on this project including . . .New York Public Library for the Performing Arts Dance Division, especially Danielle Castronovo. . . Millicent Hodson and Kenneth Archer The Lost Rite: rediscovery of the 1913 Rite of spring London : KMS Press, 2014 Acknowledgements p 263 In the United States we thank two generations of staff at the Dance Collection, New York Public Library for the Performing Arts.

Margaret E. Walker India's kathak dance in historical perspective Farnham, Surrey, England: Ashgate Publishing Limited, c[2014] Acknowledgements xi I also thank the New York Public Library for access to images [p 112 used image of Ruth St. Denis in Radha, 1906]. Janice Ross Like a bomb going off : Leonid Yakobson and ballet as resistance in Soviet Russia New Haven ; London : Yale University Press, [2015] Acknowledgements p 502 I am very thankful to the … archivists of the Jerome Robbins Dance Division of the New York Public Library…for giving me access to their archives. Frank W.D. Ries The dance theatre of Jean Cocteau Binsted, Hampshire : Dance Books, 2014. Acknowledgements Institutions and libraries which have been helpful for research include the Dance Collection of the New York Public Library. Irina Baronova and the Ballets Russes de Monte Carlo By Victoria Tennant University of Chicago Press, Chicago Ill [2014] Acknowledgement My thanks to Jan Schmidt, Curator, New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, Jerome Robbins's Dance Division, for her most generous help, interest and advice. . . . My thanks to Alice Stan din, Photographs Assistant, Jerome Robbins Dance Division, New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, for her invaluable research assistance.


Uses of Audio/Visual Collections

In Fiscal Year 2015, the Dance Division fulfilled 23 audiovisual requests by providing copies of moving image items from 32 titles to researchers and rightsholders for their own archives, for screenings, or for use in documentaries, as well as to exhibitions, subject to permissions. This work meant that staff first assisted patrons with choosing materials for their project, then researched the catalog records to determine possible rightsholders for films and videotapes, including producer, company, choreographer, unions, and music rights, as well as contact information to provide to footage requesters. The staff kept track of permissions as they were received, and then created clips. Highlights of the requests staff fulfilled are below.

Requester Title Call Number Usage

Professor, Creative Writing, Department of English, University of Denver

Prometheus Bound *MGZIDVD 5‐3204

Use in performance piece

Merce Cunningham Trust Merce Cunningham, forward & reverse

MGZIDVD 5‐756

Replace their damaged copy

The Institute of Contemporary Art/Boston The Glyph , Invention for Camera [and] Thoughts out of season

*MGZIDF 2407*MGZHB 4‐2460

Exhibition Leap Before You Look: Black Mountain College, 1933‐1957. To open at the ICA/Boston in October 2015 and then travel to the Hammer Museum and the Museum of Fine Arts Houston.

Shirley Road Productions

Swan Lake: Excerpts *MGZHB 6‐2432

to select excerpts from for use in upcoming documentary, BLACK BALLERINA

The Jerome Robbins Foundation & The Robbins Rights Trust

Jerome Robbins interviewed by Deborah Jowitt

*MGZIDVD 5‐171

courtesy copy

Researcher Theatrical and Social Dancing in Film 1909‐1936, Pt. 1

*MGZIC 9‐4456

research copy

American Ballet Theatre Pillar of Fire *MGZIDF 4758 company copy (replacement) Department of Film The Museum of Modern Art

Windows in the Kitchen *MGZIDVD 5‐5219 / *MGZIDF 4762

to be screened in an upcoming film exhibition at MoMA celebrating the 20th anniversary of the Women’s Film Preservation Foundation

Professor, History of Art and Design, Pratt Institute

Inventions for camera [and] Thoughts out of season: Excerpts

*MGZHB 4‐2460 /*MGZIDF 4858

to be screened at event at Cabinet magazine on February 12, in connection with Diaz's recently published book The Experimenters: Chance and Design at Black Mountain College (University of Chicago Press, 2015)

Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater Come and get the beauty of it hot [and] Sarong Paramaribo

*MGZIDVD 5‐4797

study copy for restaging

Steeplechase Films, Inc American Ballet Theatre: Dancing for love

*MGZHB 12‐2510 / *MGZIDF 4883

excerpt of Lucia Chase interview to be used in upcoming film, American Ballet Theatre at 75, to be screened on PBS American Masters in May

Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater Dance for six [and] Congo Tango Palace

*MGZIDVD 5‐832

study copy for restaging

Weinberg College of Arts & Sciences, Associate Professor, Anthropology, Northwestern University

5 excerpts of Adham Hafez

Part of ARC.HIVE. Five of Adham Hafez's works

study purposes as she is co‐authoring a book where a segment of book focuses on Adham Hafez's work

Board of Directors, The Charles Weidman Dance Foundation, Inc.

Charles Weidman: On His Own

*MGZIC 9‐2472

used by Nebraska Public Television (NPT) for broadcast

IBC Productions, LLC Serenade New York City Ballet, 1952

*MGZIDF 1705; *MGZHB 4‐630; *MGZIA

to select footage excerpts for use in upcoming documentary In Balanchine’s Classroom

22

4‐3482 IBC Productions, LLC Robert Schumann's

Davidsbündlertänze: excerpts

*MGZIC 9‐1782 / *MGZIDF 5029*MGZIC 9‐1798 / *MGZIDF 5030

to select footage excerpts for use in your upcoming documentary In Balanchine’s Classroom

Researchers Words for music perhaps *MGZIA 4‐55 *MGZIDF 4884

research copy

Director, Core of Culture Darjeeling Dances excerpt from [Ceylon, Singapore and Darjeeling Dances]

*MGZIDVD 5‐175 / *MGZIDF 5091

video file to the Welcome Trust for use in their upcoming exhibition

Hedone Productions & Michelle the Film Pty Ltd.

Furioso! *MGZIDVD 5‐752

excerpt for inclusion in a documentary film being produced by Michelle the Film Pty Ltd. on Meryl Tankard

Wissenschaftliche Mitarbeiterin / Curator Hamburger Bahnhof – Museum Berlin

The Glyph Invention for Camera [and] Thoughts out of season [Merce Cunningham]

*MGZIDF 2407*MGZIDF 4858*MGZIDF 5041

screening in upcoming exhibition entitled “Black Mountain: An Interdisciplinary Experiment, 1933‐1957” scheduled to open at Berlin’s Nationalgalerie Im Hamburger Bahnhof on 4 June 2015 (duration of the exhibition: 5 June through 27 September 2015).

Research Librarian & Bibliographer for Business & Music O'Neill Library

Egypt Dances: Interview with Magda Saleh

*MGZIDF 5869/*MGZIC 9‐2117

To be added to the Boston College library collections, limited to students and faculty of Boston College.

Professor, Creative Writing, Department of English, University of Denver

Prometheus Bound *MGZIDVD 5‐3204

Use in performance piece

Merce Cunningham Trust Merce Cunningham, forward & reverse choreography by Merce Cunningham.

MGZIDVD 5‐756

Replace their damaged copy

The Institute of Contemporary Art/Boston The Glyph , Invention for Camera [and] Thoughts out of season

*MGZIDF 2407*MGZHB 4‐2460

major exhibition on the subject of Black Mountain College entitled Leap Before You Look: Black Mountain College, 1933‐1957 and to open at the ICA/Boston in October 2015 and then travel to the Hammer Museum and the Museum of Fine Arts Houston.

The Dance Division’s Moving Image Archive staff members also created these clip reel for exhibitions and public programs:

Swan Lake with Alastair Macaulay, Robert Greskovic, and David Vaughan

LIVE from the NYPL: Suzanne Farrell with Paul Holdengraber

Rare Royal Ballet Films with Alastair Macaulay

Uses of the Photographic and Design Collections

The photographic and design collections of the Dance Division were the source of scholarly and personal research as well as exhibitions with 703 images being reproduced in this fiscal year. Of the 703 only 14 were for previously digitized items. Items that required new scanning numbered 689, of which 2 were original Rouben Ter‐Arutunian set designs and 3 were original Karinska costume designs (all six from Balanchine’s The Nutcracker), 1 was a 19th century

lithograph, 1 was an original color drawing of Augusta Maywood, 1 was an exhibition photograph, 1 came from clippings files, 1 came from newspaper scrapbooks, 7 came from programs and souvenir programs, 2 came from announcements, 2 came from magazines, 556 came from the digitization of all 24 volumes of Jerome Robbins’ personal diaries, 1971‐1984, at the request of the Jerome Robbins Foundation, 16 came from various other manuscript collections, 61 were black and white photos from open files, 31 came photographic scrapbooks (12 of these from unprocessed Ted Shawn photographic scrapbooks). Among the previously scanned requests, 7


were of Vaslav Nijinsky, 1 was of Balanchine’s Serenade, and 1 was a set design previously digitized from a book in the collection. All of the black and white photos were scanned here at the Performing Arts Library by Alice Standin, the Dance Division’s part‐time photography staff member. Prints, original designs, and books that would not lie flat were sent to the Library’s Digital Imaging Unit via Registrar courier to be scanned with an overhead camera.

The Dance Division provided images to researchers, writers, museums, foundations, dance and production companies for use in 12 books, 4 exhibitions, 2 documentary films, 1 scholarly conference, 4 scholarly journals, promotional material, 1 newsletter and one mainstream non‐dance magazine.

Noteworthy this past year were uses in:

The documentary American Ballet Theatre: A History A range of exhibits: City of West Hollywood Arts and

Cultural Affairs Commission and the CA LGBT Arts Alliance’s Dancers We Lost; Museum of Fine Arts; St. Petersburg, FL’s Jamie Wyeth’s Portraits of Nureyev; Detroit Institute of Art’s The Art of American Dance; and Dartmouth College’s The Exception and The Rule: a Celebration of Christina Wolff.

Books ranging from Jessica. Zeller’s Shapes of American Ballet: Contexts and Pedagogies Before Balanchine to Elise. Archias’ The Concrete Body: Rainer, Schneeman and Acconci

In addition to images selected for use in 4 different scholarly journals and 1 conference presentation, 5 set and costume designs by Rouben Ter‐Arutunian and Barbara Karinska for George Balanchine’s production of The Nutcracker were digitized for consideration for use in a Vanity Fair article on the 60th anniversary of Balanchine’s Nutcracker.

Scanning material in‐house as much as possible is a significant advance for the Dance Division, as it improves turnaround time and eliminates the need for some materials to be transported to other buildings and possibly suffer the environmental and loss hazards involved. In addition, with the arrival of the Metadata Management System, we now input our own data directly into the digital archive, which increases our control over the content and format of the data, and also increases the speed of order processing. Alice Standin handles both in‐house scanning of Jerome Robbins Dance Division images as well as the input of metadata into the Metadata Management System.

_____________________________________________

Paper‐Based Materials Loaned to Outside Institutions

The Bruce Museum borrowed a photograph titled Ruth St. Denis in the Peacock by Ira L. Hill, call number*MGZEB (Denishawn, no. 340) for their exhibition The Seven Deadly Sins: Pride. The exhibition dates are June 27, 2015‐October 18, 2015.

The Museum of Modern Art borrowed a Simone Forti program for the exhibition Yoko Ono: One Woman Show, 1960–1971. The program was for a performance titled Five Dance Constructions & Some Other Things, 112 Chambers Street, New York, May 26–27, 1961.

The Jerome Robbins Dance Division recently lent some rarities to the Fashion Institute of Technology for their Dance & Fashion exhibition which ran from September 13, 2014‐ January 3, 2015.

Anna Pavlova’s pink satin pointe shoe (1920). Size 10. Gift of Lillian Moore.

24

Serge Lifar’s gold leather ballet slipper (1927). Worn by dancer Serge Lifar in the role of Apollo in the Ballets Russes de Diaghilev production of George Balanchine's Apollon musagète. Written on sole: Serge Lifar, Apollon musagète, Paris ‐ London, 1927/8.

Pair of ballet shoes worn by Margot Fonteyn.

2.4 PROCESSING AND BIBLIOGRAPHIC CONTROL Cataloging and processing of materials are handled by the Special Formats Processing Department and the Archives Unit.

Manuscripts Processing

The Library’s Archives Unit focused on processing and describing the Dance Division backlog and processed 67 collections comprising 133.3 linear feet. When the materials are processed by the Archives Unit in the Library’s facility in Long Island City, the finding aid and catalog record are created, and the materials are then shipped to the Dance Division. Often, members of the public have found catalog records for the materials and ask for them before staff members can get them off the shipping carts and onto the shelves! The Dance Division is happy to report that most of the manuscript collections that were donated to the Division before 2013 have been processed and are available to the public for research.

The complete list of manuscript collections now fully processed and made available to the public can be seen in Appendix B. A sampling of those include:

*MGZMD 127 Buzz Miller papers, 1.46 linear feet (3 boxes, 3 volumes). Buzz Miller was an American dancer who performed primarily in musical theater and ballets. The collection documents his career as a dancer and choreographer from 1948 through 1980, as well as his personal life and his service in the army in World War II.

*MGZMD 297 Anna Halprin papers, 1.42 linear feet (1 box, 1 volume). Anna Halprin, an

American dancer known for her innovative and experimental technique, is a leading figure of the postmodern dance movement. This collection documents the artist's career with print materials, press clippings, biographies, San Francisco Dancers' Workshop newsletters, award programs, and photographs.

*MGZMD 364 Felix Fibich papers, 1.55 linear feet (5 boxes). Felix Fibich (1917‐2014) was a Polish‐American classical and modern dancer, choreographer, actor, and instructor best known for his expertise in Jewish traditional dances. Fibich often danced with his wife Judith Berg Fibich (1912‐1992), who performed under her maiden name, Judith Berg. The collection documents the dance careers of Fibich and Berg, and Fibich's additional work as an actor and instructor.

*MGZMD 372 Sophie Maslow papers, 1.89 linear feet (5 boxes). Sophie Maslow was an American choreographer and dancer. The Sophie Maslow papers contain programs, photographs, flyers, scripts, choreographic notes, and clippings documenting Maslow's career as a dancer and choreographer.

*MGZMD 379 Janet Reed papers, 0.21 linear feet (1 box). Janet Reed was a ballet dancer and teacher. The Janet Reed papers date from 1934


to 1998 and contain correspondence, writings, photographs, and printed material.

*MGZMD 380 Walter Terry papers, Additions, 2.94 linear feet (7 boxes). Walter Terry was a dance critic and writer. He was dance editor for the New York Herald Tribune and published twenty‐two books on dance. The Walter Terry papers, Additions contain correspondence, research materials, promotional materials, and manuscripts of Terry's writings.

*MGZMD 401 Marcia B. Siegel papers, 4.62 linear feet (11 boxes). The Marcia B. Siegel papers document Siegel's career as a dance critic, teacher, and advocate for professional dance criticism. The papers contain her writings, correspondence with editors, publishers, and fellow critics, information about courses and workshops that she taught, and administrative records from organizations that she was involved with. The materials address subjects such as the status of dance criticism in American journalism, the role of the dance critic, and the observation and description of movement.

*MGZMD 402 Jerry Ames papers, 1.72 linear feet (5 boxes). Jerry Ames (1930‐2011) was an American tap dancer, choreographer, and teacher. The papers document Ames' career as a dancer and teacher, and consist of correspondence, photographs, programs, scores, and scrapbooks.

*MGZMD 404 Mata and Hari papers, 0.21 linear feet (1 box). Ruth Mata (Mata Krantz) and Eugene Hari (Otto Ulbricht) were Swiss‐born dance satirists. After touring Europe and the United States with the Trudi Schoop Comic Ballet in the 1930s, the couple formed their own company, Mata & Hari. They made their Broadway debut in The Straw Hat Revue in 1939 with Jerome Robbins and Imogene Coca. The Mata & Hari papers document their careers from 1946 to 1974, when they were fully engrossed in their school of dance and pantomime in New York City. The collection holds press releases, newspaper reviews, show announcements, and publicity photographs.

*MGZMD 407 Nicholas Cernovitch designs, 1.75 linear feet (3 boxes + 7 oversized folders). Nicholas Cernovitch is a lighting designer for dance and theater. The collection consist of lighting design drawings and documents for Les Grands Ballets Canadiens and other dance companies.

*MGZMD 408 Mura Dehn notebooks, 0.42 linear feet (1 box). Mura Dehn (1902‐1987) was

a dancer and dance historian known for her study and documentation of black social dances in the United States. The Mura Dehn notebooks contain early drafts of Dehn's writings, as well as original poetry, song lyrics, and notes to self.

*MGZMD 410 Richard Beard papers, 4.09 linear feet (3 boxes, 4 volumes). Richard "Dick" Beard was a ballet dancer and choreographer. The Richard Beard papers contain programs, photographs, correspondence, and scrapbooks.

*MGZMD 411 André Eglevsky papers, 2.41 linear feet (8 boxes). André Eglevsky (1917‐1977) was a Russian‐born ballet dancer and teacher. The collection dates from 1929 to 1989 and contains photographs, scrapbooks, choreography, and correspondence.

*MGZMD 412 Howarth Gurdjieff Archive, 23.85 linear feet (52 boxes, 3 volumes, 1 oversized folder), 14.5 Gigabytes (5,131 computer files). The Howarth Gurdjieff Archive holds Movement materials and writings collected by Dushka and Jessmin Howarth and the Gurdjieff Heritage Society to preserve the integrity of G. I. Gurdjieff's teachings. The archive also holds Dushka and Jessmin Howarth's personal papers and research for the book It's Up To Ourselves: A Mother, A Daughter, and G.I. Gurdjieff: A Shared Memoir and Family Photo Album.

*MGZMD 416 Ruth Page papers, Additions, 8.56 linear feet (22 boxes). The Ruth Page papers, Additions (1904‐1977) contain correspondence, business records, photographs, awards, programs, and other publicity materials relating to American dancer and choreographer Ruth Page.

*MGZMD 418 Lincoln Kirstein papers, Additions, 7.59 linear feet (18 boxes, 1 volume). Lincoln Kirstein was a ballet patron, writer, and general director of the New York City Ballet from 1948 to 1989. The Lincoln Kirstein papers, Additions (1907‐1989) contain writings, correspondence, photographs, financial records, and contracts. The material primarily relates to Kirstein's art collection and interest in art; his charitable contributions; and his writing career. The collection also contains material related to Pavel Tchelitchew and to Kirstein's father, Louis Kirstein.

26

Oral History Cataloging

118 titles in the Oral History Archive were cataloged as

well as seven transcripts relating to new Oral History

Project recordings. These titles include the seven new

Oral History Project interviews as well as a number of

Oral History Project interviews from the 1970s that, prior

to digitization, had been unavailable for auditing due to

their fragile condition. The former include interviews

with Norton Owen, Judy Kinberg, Gus Solomons jr, Lynn

Glauber, Valda Setterfield, David Gordon, and a joint

interview with Setterfield and Gordon conducted by their

son, Ain Gordon. The latter include in‐depth interviews

with Robert Irving, Annabelle Lyon, Jean Erdman,

Violette Verdy, Felia Doubrovska, Anton Dolin, Alicia

Markova, Bertram Ross, and Mary Hinkson. Also re‐

cataloged were radio program interviews broadcast on

Dance Focus with host Elinor Rogosin in the 1970s as well

as interviews conducted by Rogosin as research for her

book The Dance Makers (1980); interviews conducted by

John Gruen both as host, for broadcast on the Sound of

Dance and for articles in various print media, from the

mid‐1970s, including interviews with Antony Tudor,

Oliver Smith, Richard Cragun and Marcia Haydee, Rudolf

Nureyev, and Eliot Feld. Serendipitously, upon auditing,

an interview with Rebecca Wright conducted by Gruen

was found to have (an excerpt from) a previously

uncataloged interview with Margot Fonteyn. New titles

cataloged include approximately 25 radio program

interviews broadcast on World of Dance and Profiles with

host Marian Horosko, from the late 1960s. These

recordings include interviews with Hershey Kaye, Erick

Hawkins, Flemming Flindt, Asaf Messerer, and Ted Shawn.

Newly‐cataloged titles also include a series of interviews

conducted by Selma Jeanne Cohen for the journal Dance

Perspectives. Most remarkable among these titles is a

series of interviews totaling over 14 hours in the

aggregate, with Erik Bruhn who speaks extensively about

his roles in the ballets La Sylphide, Coppelia, and Giselle.

Service copies for all but 30 of the cataloged titles are in

streaming file format.

Original and Copy Cataloging for the Jerome Robbins Dance Division, Moving Image Archive

This includes items cataloged by the Special Formats Processing Department and Dance Division staff.

Titles Cataloged OCLC

Original Records OCLC

Copy Records Total

Sound Recordings, Diana Chapman, SFP 118 118

Sound Recordings Transcripts 7 7

Video Recordings, Phillip Karg, SFP 496 1 497

Video Recordings, Crystal Rangel, SFP 196

Sound Recordings, Cassie Mey, Cunningham ‐ SFP

536 536


Contributions to NACO and Cataloging Updates for all Dance Division materials (Name Authority Cooperative Program of the Program for Cooperative Cataloging)

NACO Name Authority

Records

Bibliographic Updates

Item Records Created

Reclassifications

Danielle Castronovo 0 467 1180 0

Diana Chapman, SFP 9 1377 53 77

Phillip Karg, SFP 81 8174 243 14

Crystal Rangel, SFP 1 747 236

Total

2.5 PRESERVATION AND CONSERVATION

Oral History Preservation

Outside Vendors

The MediaPreserve company of Cranford, Pennsylvania,

was selected as vendor for the OHA 2014‐2015 fiscal year

digital preservation project (funded by NYSCA and NEA

FY 2014 preservation grant money). Nine uncataloged

and 192 cataloged titles (consisting of 287 cassettes and

64 reel‐to‐reel audiotapes with an estimated total

duration of 390 hours) were selected for digital transfer,

based on their fragility, age, and unique content. After

completion of this vendor project, nearly all recordings

originally made on reel‐to‐reel audiotapes in the 1970s ‐

including in‐depth Oral History Project interviews ‐ from

the oral history archive backlog have now been

preserved at some level. The selected audio recordings

for this project include in‐depth Oral History Project

interviews from the mid‐late 1970s; radio program

interviews broadcast on the Sound of Dance with host

John Gruen, from the mid‐1970s; interviews conducted

by Nancy Reynolds in the early 1970s, part of a recent

gift of Deborah Jowitt that includes recordings of Jerome

Robbins and Tanaquil Le Clerq; interviews conducted by

John Gruen as research for his book Erik Bruhn, danseur

noble(1979); as well as interviews conducted by Walter

Terry in the late 1970s, including several as research for

his book Great Male Dancers of the Ballet (1978).

As of last year, the service copies for all titles (other than

those that are closed or permit‐required) have been

formatted as streaming files using the Brightcove media

platform. The dissemination level of the streaming files

for each title (ranging from most to least restrictive) was

selected based on the status of the intellectual property

rights associated with the relevant title.

Outside Vendors ‐ Special Project to Preserve Damaged Audio

George Blood Audio was selected as vendor for the preservation and conservation treatment of 278 damaged reel‐to‐reel audiotapes. The audiotapes were cleaned and rehoused, and 255 were digitally transferred to WAV file format. In addition, four badly damaged lacquer discs were preserved; of which three already had preservation copies that were used to create WAV preservation files by the Barbara Goldsmith Preservation Division. The uncataloged lacquer disc of which there was no additional copy contained the 1959 Dance Magazine Awards ceremony including speakers Dorothy Alexander, Fred Astaire, and George Balanchine. The Northeast Document Conservation Center was selected for their use of IRENE (optical scan technology) to reformat the extremely fragile disc in Boston. The Barbara Goldsmith

28

Preservation Division created special housing for the storage and shipment of this disc.

In‐House Audio Preservation (Barbara Goldsmith Preservation Division)

Twenty‐six uncataloged, and twenty‐two cataloged titles (consisting of 24 cassettes and 27 reel to reel audiotapes with an estimated total duration of 15 hours) were digitally transferred to WAV file format by the Barbara Goldsmith Preservation Division. These recordings include radio program interviews broadcast on World of Dance, Dance NY, and Profiles with host Marian Horosko, from the late‐1960’s; radio program interviews broadcast

on Dance Focus with host Elinor Rogosin, from the early 1970’s; radio program interviews broadcast on the Sound of Dance with host John Gruen, from the mid‐1970’s; several interviews conducted in the late 1970’s by Elinor Rogosin as research for her book, The Dance Makers (1980); notable interviews include those with Matteo, Erick Hawkins, Glen Tetley and Rudolf Nureyev; also included were audio recordings on the practice of Tai Chi that had been separated from the Sophia Delza Papers, recorded in the 1950’s, as well as an Oral History Project, Interview with Pearl Lang recorded in 1975 and 1979. The spring 2014 project consisted of eleven cataloged, and eight uncataloged titles (12 reels and 30 cassettes with an estimated total duration of 56 hours), which were digitally transferred to WAV file format by the Barbara Goldsmith Preservation Division in the fall of 2015. The titles included Oral History Project interviews from the 1970s including interviews with Annabelle Lyon, Phyllis Bedells, and Stuart Hodes, a 1974 interview with Mary Hinkson conducted by Agnes de Mille, and interviews with Erik Bruhn, Helgi Tomasson, and Violette Verdy conducted by Selma Jeanne Cohen for articles in Dance Perspectives; also included was a lecture‐demonstration given by Doris Humphrey in 1951.

Moving Image Preservation

Under the leadership of Tanisha Jones, the Jerome Robbins Archive of the Recorded Moving Image has, as part of its standard practice, continued to preserve video, film, and born digital materials. The Library’s Preservation Unit has preserved Dance Division videos that were processed by the Special Formats Processing Unit. Below are updates on two notable archives that require more than a year to fully catalog, Mikhail Baryshnikov and Merce Cunningham. This year also saw the completion of the Audio and Moving Image (AMI) Assessment.

The Mikhail Baryshnikov Archive Processing, Preservation, and Cataloging

One of the Jerome Robbins Dance Division’s most important projects, preserving and processing of the Mikhail Baryshnikov Archive, which was received in FY 2012 was completed this year. Last year the Library finished processing the papers, making available to the public 34 boxes under the title, Mikhail Baryshnikov Archive, 1960‐2010. This section of the Mikhail Baryshnikov Archive holds awards, choreographer files, contracts, correspondence, photographs, press clippings, programs, scripts, and other materials documenting Baryshnikov's 40‐plus year career, a career that is ongoing. The Archive contains video spanning much of Baryshnikov’s career, from when he was ten years old to performances and rehearsals that include collaborations

with choreographers such as George Balanchine, Jerome Robbins, and Merce Cunningham.

Contributions for the processing, preservation, and cataloging of the Mikhail Baryshnikov Video Archive have been received from Anne H. Bass Foundation, Louis B. Mayer Foundation, and Friends of the Jerome Robbins Dance Division, Ms. Agnes Gund, Mr. and Mrs. Gordon B. Pattee, and Ms. Louisa S. Sarofim.

Beginning in November 2012, the Special Formats Processing Unit began the massive undertaking of processing the Baryshnikov materials. Tara D. Kelley, the Audiovisual Specialist for the Archive, oversaw the materials as they were transferred to the Library’s Audio and Moving Image (AMI) Preservation labs for the videotapes to be preserved as digital files. Kelley is a graduate of Rutgers University and of the L. Jeffrey


Selznick School of Film Preservation, where she was awarded the 2011 Pordenone Fellowship. Because the condition of some materials in the collection was fragile or deteriorating, the transfer of this material to digital files was a time‐sensitive project. The preservation process of these video materials resulted in the creation of digital preservation master copies, as well as digital viewing copies that may be viewed by researchers in LPA’s reading room. The Library’s AMI Preservation labs, committed to the preservation of NYPL’s permanent audio and moving image collections, made this preservation possible.

Mikhail Baryshnikov in Russia

Mikhail Baryshnikov and Frederic Franklin Upon the completion of the preservation of all of the video material in the Baryshnikov Archive, and the creation of digital “master copies,” the Library began the second stage of the project, which is the cataloging of these materials. For each video recording, the Library

created bibliographic metadata and catalog records. The creation and cataloging of video metadata allows staff and researchers to understand what each recording consists of, and assists researchers in finding relevant materials 645 streaming videos have been cataloged by Library staff. The videos already cataloged include many significant early works from the Baryshnikov Archive, including a Prodigal Son rehearsal with George Balanchine from the 1970s; a Japanese television broadcast of Don Quixote from 1972; and Baryshnikov rehearsing American Document with Martha Graham in attendance from 1989. In June 2013, Kelley published several blog posts on the Library’s website, nypl.org, to publicize the content of the collection. The first, titled Secrets Revealed, introduces the public to the new collection, provides a brief explanation of how the videos were preserved, and links to Baryshnikov Archive records for further exploration. The second post, Baryshnikov, Translated, highlights Baryshnikov’s international influence and the linguistic challenges the Library’s catalogers often face when working with the Archive’s materials. Kelley wrote that decoding the names and the nuanced commentary that accompanies performances is a particularly engaging puzzle that can often yield valuable information. The Library’s team of multilingual catalogers has already begun the painstaking work of translating and recording the information contained in these recordings. To date, some of the materials translated and cataloged include French, Russian, and Japanese television broadcasts of Baryshnikov’s performances.

The 160 8mm films, the majority of which depict Baryshnikov and his peers in the theater and classrooms of the Vaganova Academy, in what was then Soviet Leningrad, have been compiled and cataloged into 67 titles.

Before Mikhail Baryshnikov decided to donate his collection to the Dance Division he had a long history with the Dance Division that included adding his using the collections for research. This use of the Dance Division has continued and this past year, Mikhail Baryshnikov came into the Dance Division to look at the original diaries of Vaslav Nijinsky. His wife, Lisa Rinehart, joined him and took pictures.

30

Mikhail Baryshnikov Photographs by Lisa Rinehart

The Merce Cunningham Archive Processing, Preservation, and Cataloging

For the last two years, the Merce Cunningham Trust awarded grants to The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, Dorothy and Lewis B. Cullman Center (LPA) to support the processing of the Merce Cunningham Archive. The activities of the grant project from May 2013 through July 30, 2015 include the complete processing of the choreographic notes, the creation of the Finding Aid for the papers, nearly finishing the audio and processing and cataloging, and two‐thirds finished with the film and video. As anticipated, the film and video materials will take approximately three years to finish. The Dance Division is grateful for the second year’s funding from the Trust to continue working with these materials.

Film and Video Processing The Merce Cunningham Archive contains over 3,600 film and video items in various formats and four LaCie hard drives containing video preservation files and Dance Capsules, which were provided by the Trust. A portion of the Trust’s grant for Year Two was budgeted to support a full‐time, temporary Librarian II in the Library’s Special Formats Processing (SFP) Unit dedicated solely to processing and cataloging these films and videos. With the second year of support for the Librarian II position, the Library, as anticipated, has now processed approximately two thirds of these items.

From July 1, 2014 until May 1, 2015, Zachary Chauvin worked to inventory items, pre‐process them, and evaluate digital video files in coordination with the Library’s Barbara Goldsmith Preservation Division. He

also continued to catalog and prepare the materials for storage. However, Zachary Chauvin applied for and was hired to become a permanent staff member of The New York Public Library so his last official day working on the Merce Cunningham Archive was May 1, 2015. The Library has advertised this last year for this position and has offered the job to John Migliore who will begin to continue work on the collection. His start date is August 24, 2015. In the past year, Mr. Chauvin has worked in coordination with the Library’s Barbara Goldsmith Preservation Division to copy 347 video preservation files provided by the Trust to the Library’s Repository Server. Links to streaming video files were then made and uploaded to Brightcove. Of these 347 digital files, Mr. Chauvin created catalog records for 122 and updated records for 192, for a total of 347 of them. These 347 records are comprised of 860 individual items. Audio Processing A portion of the Trust’s second‐year grant was budgeted to support a part‐time Librarian II dedicated to processing audio materials from the Archive. The Library hired Cassie Mey to process the audio portion of the Archive on September 1, 2013. Ms. Mey has completed most of the processing for the audio portion of the archive when her temporary employment status expired on July 30, 2015. Ms. Mey accepted a full time position at the Library to begin August 10, 2015. The Library is delighted to have Ms. Mey join the Jerome Robbins Dance Division as permanent staff member. During the first few months, she will continue to work on the Merce Cunningham Audio as she begins her new job. This will allow for continuity on this work. In her first year, Ms. Mey completed all of the pre‐processing for this


collection that included a master inventory of both analog items and digital files—approximately 1,506 total items—and the creation of 3,352 lines of metadata. After reviewing the collection inventory, Ms. Mey determined that a portion of the collection did not have corresponding digital files upon acquisition. Ms. Mey also discovered 281 born‐digital audio files that were not counted in the original acquisition. Audio Preservation After evaluating the collection, in her first year Ms. Mey oversaw the preservation and conservation work of 108 titles (approximately 91 hours in total duration) including 92 reel to reel audiotapes and 36 DAT cassettes that were digitally transferred to WAV file by NYPL’s Barbara Goldsmith Preservation Division. In her second year, Ms. Mey oversaw the preservation and conservation work of 37 titles (approximately 40 hours in total duration) including 23 reel to reel audiotapes, 9 DAT cassettes, 12 compact cassettes, and 6 compact discs that were digitally transferred to WAV file by NYPL’s Barbara Goldsmith Preservation Division. Additionally, of the audio originals that NYPL acquired with corresponding digital files, Ms. Mey oversaw the re‐housing and re‐spooling onto archival hubs of 36 reel to reel audiotapes by NYPL’s Barbara Goldsmith Preservation Division. With input and generous financing from the Trust, Ms. Mey and Library staff proposed and implemented a preservation project for items added to the collection from David Vaughan, with no previous preservation work and no corresponding digital files. In the spring of 2015, after evaluation and selection by Ms. Mey, 198 cassettes and 3 DA8’s (approximately 201 hours in total duration) were digitally transferred to WAV file by vendor George Blood Audio of Philadelphia, PA. Audio Cataloging While the crucial preservation processing and legal components for providing streaming files were being implemented in the first year, Ms. Mey created original catalog records for 121 titles—125 items with an estimated total duration of 80 hours—including most of the collection’s open reels from the 1960s‐1970s, as well as the DAT cassettes that were preserved in‐house. Many of the reels required additional cataloging research, as some consisted of spoken word content and their original labeling contained very little, or misleading, description of the contents. The first digital streaming files for these reels became available for public research access in May 2014, and in the first year of the project, 130 digital files were uploaded to the Library’s delivery system (Brightcove). Highlights of these processed titles include several lecture demonstration programs and

university lectures given by Merce Cunningham and John Cage in the 1970s; an interview with Merce Cunningham taken in 1976; a WNCN radio interview with David Vaughan 1973 to describe MCDC performances of Events #65‐68 at the Brooklyn Academy of Music; and a rare audio track of English commentary for the German documentary, John Cage (1966). Also cataloged were recordings of live performances including, How to Pass, Kick, Fall and Run, Second Hand (premiere), Winterbranch, Crises, Walkaround Time, and Rainforest; as well as performances of unique Events from the 1990s and 2000s. In her second year, Ms. Mey created original catalog records for 536 titles—907 items with corresponding digital files uploaded to the Brightcove streaming delivery system—including all of the compact cassettes and DAT cassettes with digital files provided by the Trust in the original acquisition; the reel to reels, cassettes, DAT cassettes and CDs that were preserved by NYPL’s Barbara Goldsmith Preservation Division; and 121 of the cassettes preserved by vendor George Blood Audio. Highlights of these processed titles include over 20 in‐depth interviews of Merce Cunningham and his collaborators taken by David Vaughan in the late 1970s‐early 1980s as research for his book Merce Cunningham: Fifty years; radio interviews with Merce Cunningham, John Cage, David Vaughan, and Company dancers and musicians from the 1980s‐1990s; an in‐depth symposium on Merce Cunningham at the Southern Methodist University in 1987 with speakers including Cunningham, David Vaughan, Elliot Caplan, Carolyn Brown, and Marianne Preger‐Simon; a panel discussion with Susan Sontag, Mikhail Baryshnikov, and Merce Cunningham at the 2002 re‐opening of the American Express building in the World Trade Center area; the inaugural Artist Alphabets event in 1999 at the University of California, Los Angeles, which featured a reading of John Cage's play James Joyce, Marcel Duchamp, Erik Satie: an alphabet, and a live interview with Merce Cunningham. Also cataloged were recordings of live performances including, the only known recordings of John Cage’s music for Quartet, Roaratorio, Five Stone Wind, August Pace, Enter, Beach Birds, CRWDSPCR, Ocean, Ground Level Overlay, and Rondo; as well as performances of unique Events from the 1980s and 1990s. At the conclusion of Ms. Mey’s tenure, the remaining items to be cataloged are 77 cassettes and 3 DA8’s from the GBA vendor project. Ms. Mey worked with NYPL’s Barbara Goldsmith Preservation Division to ensure that the 281 born digital files (consisting of an estimated 139 titles, mainly performances from 2005‐2010) have been copied onto redundant Library servers. Practices for

32

cataloging and service delivery of these born digital files are currently under further review by Curators from the Rodgers and Hammerstein Archive of Recorded Sound, in consultation with NYPL’s Electronic Records teams and the new NYPL Digital Archivist, Susan Malsbury. Paper Materials

The Merce Cunningham Archive of papers includes 129 boxes of manuscript materials, comprising 194.5 linear feet, 230 computer disks, and a hard drive. In January 2014, the Library received 60 additional computer disks and .3 linear feet of additional material. The Trust’s grant to support the processing of these materials, were used to support a portion of the salary of Lea Jordan, a Specialist II in the Library’s Archival Processing Unit, for one year. Ms. Jordan worked in the Manuscripts and Archives Division, and she is being supervised by Lea Osborne, Head of Archival Processing. As of 2014, the Manuscripts and Archives Division has processed all paper materials in the Archive. This includes 315 boxes, 41 tubes and 11,663 computer files. Word processing files and other documents on floppy disks were also processed and are available by appointment. Floppy disks containing computer software (such as AOL startup disks) or payroll files (which hold sensitive social security information) were not processed. The Finding Aid Merce Cunningham Dance Foundation, Inc. records, Additions 1890‐2012 [bulk 1964‐2011] at this link: http://archives.nypl.org/dan/18602. The older Finding Aide for The Merce Cunningham Dance Foundation, Inc. records, 1938‐2003. Is located at this link: http://archives.nypl.org/dan/19852

Barbara Goldsmith Preservation Division – Paper

The Dance Division has been greatly aided by consulting staff Associate Conservator for Book and Paper Grace Owen‐Weiss. She has assessed the condition of new purchases and gifts, and evaluated materials identified as in need of conservation by patrons using the collections or by cataloging staff reviewing the materials. The conservator also evaluates and treats items selected for all internal and external loans and exhibitions. This year,

Grace Owen‐Weiss treated and housed two single ballet slippers and 1 pair of ballet slippers for the Fashion Institute of Technology loan. She also treated and house 34 rare dance posters and three rare books:

(S) *MGRZ‐RES. 77‐4076. Voirol, S. Le sacre du printemps. Paris, J. Nyeynial [1917?]

*MGRL‐Res. 13‐802. Szentpal, Olga. Tánc : a mozgásművészet könyve / Szentpál Olga és Rabinovszky Márius ; [photographs by Pál Funk] Angelo, Hugo Erfurth (Dresden) és Máté Olga felvételeivel. Budapest: Altalános Nyomda, 1928.

Skal'kovskii, Konstantin Apollonovich. Balet", ego istoriia i miesto v" riadu iziashchnykh" iskusstv. [Ballet its history and role in the fine arts]. St. Petersburg: Tipografiia A. S. Suvorina, 1882.

Conservation treatments range from typical tasks such as surface cleaning, humidification to flatten, fixing tears, mending books, and consolidation of photographs, to more unusual tasks like separating blocks of water damaged photographs. All treatments are non‐invasive and reversible at a later date.

Barbara Goldsmith Preservation Division – Moving Image

Fran Dougherty, Moving Image Preservation Specialist Jonah Volk, Moving Image Preservation Specialist Gregory Lisi, Moving Image Preservation Library Technical Assistant IV

All preservation is handled through the Barbara Goldsmith Preservation Division. The preservation projects for the Dance Division handled this year through the Preservation Unit included cleaning and reformatting U‐matic and ½” open reel tapes as part of acquisitions and/or preservation of existing materials. As demonstrated in the breakdown below, the Library’s Moving Image Preservation studio can accommodate, recover, restore, and reformat a broad range of formats historically employed by dance companies and choreographers to document their work. Each year is more challenging as tape formats and their playback units obsolesce, becoming scarce and difficult to maintain. Additional formats handled in‐house include: Betamax, Betacam SP PAL, CV skip frame ½” open reel, U‐matic PAL and SECAM, VHS PAL and SECAM, and Hi 8mm PAL.


In House Preservation/Conservation by Format, FY 2015 Jerome Robbins Archive of the Recorded Moving Image

Handled by Barbara Goldsmith Preservation Division

Physical Media Preservation

VIDEO

Format

Items Preserved

Running Time(hours)

Preservation Masters Created

Access Copies Created

3/4" U‐matic 895 528 900 1151 Betacam SP 37 27 37 37 Betamax 2 1 2 2 D2 1 1 1 1 Digital Betacam 27 21 27 28 DVCam/MiniDV/DVCpro 42 42 42 42 DVD 37 18 37 44 Open Reel 1” Type C 2 2 2 2 Open Reel – 1/2" 70 38 70 70 VHS/SVHS 563 516 519 566 Total 1676 1194 1637 1943

AUDIO

Format

Items Preserve

d Running Time

(hours)

Preservation Masters Created

Access Copies Created

Audio CD 5 4 5 0 Audio cassette 363 465 642 625 DAT 1 1 1 1 Disc Lacquer 1 1 2 0 Microcassette 7 6 12 12 Open‐reel audio 504 602 638 813

Total 881 1079 1300 1451

Born Digital Projects

Files Preserved/Managed 123

Access Copies Created 109

Additional Statistics

Film inspected, cleaned, repaired, prepared for transfer (feet) 2090

Files uploaded to Brightcove 2177

Data Created (TB) 144

34

2.6 EXHIBITIONS AND PUBLIC PROGRAMS

Batsheva Dance Company at 50: American Concepts and the Israeli Spirit

Monday, November 10, 2014 through Monday, January 5, 2015 New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, Dorothy and Lewis B. Cullman Center, Plaza Level Lobby The exhibition offered a glance into two different representations of the juxtaposition of American choreographers and Israeli dance: known choreographies performed by Batsheva's dancers and original choreographies that were specially created for the company. Beginning with Martha Graham, they include Jerome Robbins, Anna Sokolow, Donald McKayle, Jose Limon, Robert Cohan, and, more recently, Elizabeth Streb, Douglas Varone, and Danny Ezralow. These two kinds of meetings carry out an artistic dialogue between American concepts and Israeli culture. Through the choreographies one can see the company's local and global characteristics, which places Batsheva Dance Company as a microcosm of Israeli culture. This exhibition was a project of the Israeli Dance Archive at the Beit Ariela Library, Tel Aviv – Yafo, The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, and the Israel's Office of Cultural Affairs, Consulate General of Israel in New York. Curator: Iris Lana, Batsheva Dance Company Archive Project

Lucia Chase: A Legacy of Dance

May 13, 2015 through July 4, 2015 New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, Dorothy and Lewis B. Cullman Center, Plaza Level Lobby For three quarters of a century, American Ballet Theatre has been recognized as one of the great dance companies in the world, showcasing many of the finest dancers and choreographers of the 20th and 21st centuries. Recognized by an act of Congress as America’s National Ballet Company, ABT has performed in all 50 states and serves as a cultural ambassador on its many international tours. For 75 years, ABT has stood as a pioneer in American dance. American Ballet Theatre's 2015 Spring Season at the Metropolitan Opera House, May 11‐July 4, 2015, celebrates the Company's 75 glorious years with programs that showcase its rich heritage. ABT owes its very existence to the vision and determination of American dancer Lucia Chase, co‐founder with Richard Pleasant. Chase was a member and

principal financial backer of the Mordkin Ballet, a Russian ballet company formed in 1937 by Mikhail Mordkin. Wanting to provide America with a first class ballet company, she expanded the Mordkin Ballet, ABT was the result. Chase’s impact on American ballet is immeasurable. As co‐founder, Chase would introduce British choreographer Antony Tudor to America, as well as commission the first works of Americans Jerome Robbins, Michael Kidd, Eugene Loring, Michael Smuin, and Eliot Feld. In 1945, Chase and Oliver Smith would become co‐directors of Ballet Theatre, a tenure that would last 35 years, one of the longest in American dance history. The Company became known for attracting the finest dancers in the world and went on to produce not only the work of 19th and 20th century choreographers, but the great full‐evening Russian classics. During her realm, ABT would undertake several successful international tours, establishing itself as an American cultural ambassador and adopting the name American Ballet Theatre in 1957. In speaking of Chase’s legacy, Jerome Robbins declared, “Without her, the development of dance in America would be unimaginably poorer.'' The Jerome Robbins Dance Division, The New York Public Library for the Performing has a long‐standing relationship with American Ballet Theatre to preserve and make their materials accessible to the public. Included in the archive are the American Ballet Theatre Records, 1936‐ca. 1967 (Library classmark (s) *MGZMD 49), which includes 188 boxes and contains some 450,000 items. in 1986, Lucia Chase donated her papers that document her personal and professional life. There are also a number of audio recordings of her interviewed by John Gruen. The Dance Division has more than 475 recordings of ABT, including documentaries, performances, rehearsals, and interviews. Of those, the Dance Division, in its project to record dance, has actually taped ABT 25 times, creating records of 48 dances since we first started recording dance in 1967. The Dance Division also has oral histories with many members of ABT, including two recent interviews, with Kevin McKenzie and Julie Kent, which are now accessible worldwide via Library's website at Digital Collections Dance Video. These two interviews were conducted as part of the Library's Speaking of Dancing Project funded by Anne Bass.


Lucia Chase, ca. 1930. Photograph, probably for the Theatre Guild School by G. Maillard Kesslere. Gift of Lucia Chase, Jerome Robbins Dance Division

Pillar of Fire (choreographed by Antony Tudor) Lucia Chase as The Eldest Sister, with a shadow profile of choreographer Antony Tudor. Promotional photograph by Annemarie Heinrich, Buenos Aires, 1942. Gift of Hugh Laing, Jerome Robbins Dance Division

The Judgement of Paris (choreographed by Antony Tudor) Maria Karnilova (Juno), Agnes de Mille (Venus), Lucia Chase (Minerva), Hugh Laing (Waiter), and Antony Tudor (Customer). No photographer credit Gift of Lillian Moore, Jerome Robbins Dance Division

The Judgement of Paris (choreographed by Antony Tudor). Maria Karnilova, Agnes de Mille and Lucia Chase recreating their roles at the 1972 Gala for the Dance Collection No photographer credit. Jerome Robbins Dance Division

36

Sinatra An American Icon

The exhibition will remain on view in the Donald and Mary Oenslager Gallery from March 4 through September 4, 2105.

Opening for the exhibition Sinatra An American Icon was held on March 3, 2015. Robert Santelli, Executive Director of the GRAMMY Museum, hosted an evening celebrating the opening of the Library’s new Blockbuster exhibition, Sinatra: An American Icon. Sinatra family members Nancy Sinatra and Amanda Erlinger join Santelli and Sinatra historians Charles Pignone and Charles L. Granata for a conversation examining Ol' Blue Eyes’ signature songs, film performances, and enduring influence on American popular culture. This year we celebrate the Frank Sinatra Centennial with Sinatra: An American Icon, an exhibition curated by the GRAMMY Museum in Los Angeles. It examines one hundred years of Sinatra's legacy. Never‐before‐seen photos, family mementos, rare correspondence, personal items, artwork, and, of course, music make up the exhibit. Most of the pieces come directly from the Sinatra family and have never been on public display before. Ken Veeder/ © Capitol Photo Archives

Reading Room Exhibitions

A LOOK INSIDE THE CHOREOGRAPHER’S NOTEBOOK, Curated by Sophia Dougherty. Dance Division, Third floor reading room, Summer 2014.

Translating motion into a written language has been a daunting task that has resulted in numerous notational systems, such as Labanotation and Benesh movement notation. While many choreographers rely on these invented languages as a more concrete script for future renovations of a dance, they can be time‐consuming for everyday use. Choreographic notes, therefore, come in all shapes and sizes, formal and informal. This exhibition took the viewer inside various choreographers’ notebooks and samples all types of choreographic notes, from casual scribbles to highly revised and detailed outlines. Sometimes notes may make no sense at all to anyone but the choreographer, and sometimes, they are astounding enough to stand on their own, as separate works of art from the dance.

Materials in the exhibition were from the Eugene Loring papers, Ruth St. Denis papers, Pauline Lawrence Limón collection, Vic Stornant papers, Doris Humphrey papers, Jerome Robbins Personal papers,

Valerie Bettis papers, and the Hanya Holm papers.

MEXICO PROFUNDO “LIGHT AND SHADOWS”: Traditional Dance of Mexico Photographs Curated by Juan Manuel D. Medina, Roberto Aschentrupp, and Danielle Castronovo Dance Division, Third floor reading room, September 17, 2014

This exhibit displayed a selection of the photographs that were recently donated to the Dance Division. This acquisition was made possible through a series of new partnerships with dance companies, artists, schools and libraries. The five talented photographers from Mexico are: Octavio Nava, Diego Huerta, Roberto Aschentrupp, Avril Cabrera Aguilar, and Mario Aguirre Mazón. This acquisition was arranged by the Americas Exchange Program for Dance (AEPD), coordinated by Juan Manuel D. Medina, a Fulbright fellow working in exchange of dance materials between the United States and Mexico for more than twenty years.

These photographers joined the initiative with the following Mexican institutions, The Centro de Estudios Sosiales y Opinon Publica (CESOP) and the Cámara de Diputados de México. The international value of cooperation between government and academic institutions fits within the framework of the World Conference of Indigenous Peoples held in New York City in September 2014. The CESOP is part of the Mexican Congress and the Directorate of Regional Development (Dirección de Desarrollo Regional).


Photographer: Diego Huerta

Danza de la Pluma ‐ Feathers Dance Oaxaca State, Mexico 2013

Irina Baronova and the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo: First U.S. Tour, December 1933 to April 1934 Curated by Arlene Yu

This exhibition on Irina Baronova coincided with the public program, Irina Baronova and the Ballets Russes de Monte Carlo: Victoria Tennant Celebrates Her Mother, the Baby Ballerina. The exhibition focused on the first tour of the U.S. by the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo in 1933‐1934, including photographs, performance programs, press releases, and a journal maintained by the company’s régisseur, Sergei Grigoriev, documenting the company’s travels. Among the features of the exhibit was a map Arlene plotted illustrating the cities visited during the tour.

38

Public Programs

Swan Lake with Alastair Macaulay, Robert Greskovic, and David Vaughan

Originally held as the private program for the Friends of the Jerome Robbins Dance Division on April 23, 2014, this program on Swan Lake was reprised for the public on December 8, 2014, with Alastair Macaulay, Robert Greskovic, and David Vaughan. Once again it was a great success, and the public filled the auditorium. Video excerpts were compiled from the Jerome Robbins Dance Division by Alastair Macaulay, edited by François Bernadi, and produced by Daisy Pommer, of the Jerome Archive of the Recorded Moving Image, Dance Division. The program also included a slideshow of photographs and designs from the Jerome Robbins Dance Division, researched and produced by Arlene Yu, who with Evan Leslie also acted as production manager for the event.

Photos by Evan Leslie of Alastair Macaulay, David Vaughan, and Robert Greskovic.


Irina Baronova and the Ballets Russes de Monte Carlo: Victoria Tennant Celebrates Her Mother, the Baby Ballerina

This program with Victoria Tennant was held at the Bruno Walter Auditorium on April 30, 2015, at 6pm.

In 1932 George Balanchine chose the fourteen year old “baby ballerina,” Irina Baronova, to star in The Ballets Russes de Monte Carlo’s landmark production of Swan Lake. Baronova went on to enjoy an incredible career that helped establish the enduring image of the ballerina as an embodiment of feminine grace and sophistication throughout the world. The Library for the Performing Arts proudly welcomes acclaimed actress Victoria Tennant to share a presentation based on her new book, Irina Baronova. Irina Baronova in Les Sylphides (1932), Courtesy of the estate of Irina Baronova

Victoria Tennant in the Bruno Walter Auditorium, April 30, 2015

Jan Schmidt, Jackie Davis, Kate Lear, Beverly D’Anne, Victoria Tennant, Madeleine Nichols, Elizabeth O’Brien, Hubert and Mireille Goldschmidt

Green Room, April 30, 2015

40

Rare Royal Ballet Films with Alastair Macaulay

Monday, June 22, 2015, 7 p.m. New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, Dorothy and Lewis B. Cullman Center, Bruno Walter Auditorium. As a prelude to the Royal Ballet's season at the David H. Koch Theater (June 23‐29, 2015), Alastair Macaulay, chief dance critic of The New York Times, presented a selection of rare or unique films of the company, showing what an extraordinary trove of film material there is in the Dance Division of the NYPL. Many members and former members of the Royal Ballet attended including Monica Mason, Lesley Collier, and Valerie Taylor‐Barnes. Among Alastair Macaulay’s comments about the films, he added:

“This critic is a very grateful critic; and what I’m doing tonight is paying my dues, twice over. ‐ I'm paying them to the Royal Ballet and I'm paying them to the Dance Division here. The Royal Ballet is the first company I had the chance to watch over and over and over. The Dance Division is where I began to spend time on my very first morning in New York in 1979. I hope I learnt from both. And I'm dedicating this evening to four women. they're women who have given long‐term service to causes larger than themselves; three of them are British.

Mary Clarke, the dance critic and editor, who died in March. Soon after I was born she completed "The Sadler's Wells Ballet", the most beloved of the company's four main prose histories to date; she was my editor for many years at "Dancing Times", and even my landlady at one period;

Lesley Collier, who for fifteen or more years was the ballerina I saw the most; when I think of a wide span of the Royal repertory ‐ Petipa, ivanov, Ashton, MacMillan ‐ my mind flies to her.

Monica Mason, my first Odette‐Odile in "Swan Lake" forty years ago this year and for ten years the artistic director of the Royal Ballet; we got to know each other when we worked on committees to prepare conferences on Ashton, Fonteyn, and

MacMillan ‐ and it was always a privilege to have contact with all the wisdom and history she represents.

Jan Schmidt, who is director of the Library's Dance Division but retires this September; she's made it a delight for me and many others to work here.

This evening is a sequel to "Sleeping Beauty" and "Swan Lake" sessions that I co‐presented here with my beloved colleagues David Vaughan. Robert’s here tonight; and those of you are wondering about David should know that today he is traveling back from Montreal where, at age 91, he’s been performing on the fringe in a show that’s been nominated for three awards. He and Robert would want me to thank Jan for making us feel so welcome.”

The Dance Division is grateful to Alastair Macaulay for creating these programs that so strikingly display some of the rare treasures in the Jerome Robbins Dance Division.

LIVE from the NYPL: Suzanne Farrell | Paul Holdengraber co‐presented by Friends of Jerome Robbins Dance Division and Center for Ballet in the Arts

Tuesday, May 12, 2015, 7 ‐ 9 p.m. Stephen A.

Schwarzman Building, Celeste Bartos Forum

For this NYPL Live event on May 12, 2015, Suzanne Farrell joined Paul Holdengraber to reflect on Balanchine, ballet, and her influence on both. Suzanne Farrell inspired some of George Balanchine's finest choreography; today, she helps maintain his legacy as founder of the Balanchine Preservation Initiative and her own ballet company at The Kennedy Center. The event was co‐presented with the Center for Ballet and the Arts at New York University and the Friends of the Jerome Robbins Dance Division at The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts. Broadway World at Danceworld.com reported on May 14, 2015, “Suzanne Farrell, one of the greatest ballerinas of her generation, proved herself to be a charming and thoroughly engaging raconteur when she appeared on the evening of May 12th 2015 as a guest of LIVE from NYPL.”


Programs at Café

On Pointe: Brunch with the New York City Ballet Shoe Supervisor Saturday, December 6, 10:30 a.m. Cafe at LPA The pointe shoe is essential to the art of ballet, and a well‐fitted, well‐maintained pointe shoe is essential to the health of a ballerina. New York City Ballet Shoe Supervisor Dara Faust, discussed her work maintaining and organizing the precious footwear of world’s greatest dancers. The audience watched a live pointe shoe fitting, tableside in the Cafe at LPA.

Programs at Stephen A. Schwarzman Building

Fred Herko: Warhol’s First Superstar | Jean‐Claude van Itallie, Michael Townsend Smith, Gerard Forde | An Artist Dialogue Series Event

October 29, 2014, Stephen A. Schwarzman Building, South Court Auditorium. As part of a week long program of events to mark the fiftieth anniversary of the death of Fred Herko, his biographer Gerard Forde talks with Herko's friends Jean‐Claude van Itallie and Michael Townsend Smith about Herko's role in Judson Dance Theater, Off‐Off‐Broadway theater and Warhol's Factory.

Gerard Forde, Elaine Summers, Tanisha Jones

Fred Herko (1936‐1964) was a central figure in New York’s downtown avant‐garde around 1960. A musical prodigy, he studied piano at the Juilliard School of Music before switching to ballet at the age of twenty. In 1956 he won a scholarship to study at American Ballet Theatre School and within a few years was dancing with established choreographers including John Butler, Katherine Litz, Buzz Miller, Glen Tetley and James Waring. He was a founder member of Judson Dance Theater, presenting six of his own works in the group’s concerts between 1962 and 1964 and dancing in works by Al Hansen, Deborah Hay, Arlene Rothlein, and Elaine Summers. He was a co‐founder of the New York Poets Theatre, which staged one‐act plays by poets and provided a podium for happenings by Ray Johnson, Allan Kaprow and Robert Whitman; dances by Yvonne Rainer and Trisha Brown; music by La Monte Young, John Herbert McDowell and Philip Corner; and films by Brian De Palma, Stan VanDerBeek and Andy Warhol. Herko starred in seven of Warhol’s earliest cinematic experiments in 1963, including Jill and Freddy Dancing, Rollerskate/Dance Movie, and Salome and Delilah. His untimely death in 1964, at the age of 28, robbed New York’s underground scene of one of its most exuberant and versatile performers, equally at home performing Comb Music by Fluxus composer George Brecht or camping it up in Rosalyn Drexler’s musical comedy Home Movies.

42

3 Core Supporters of the Dance Division

3.1 THE COMMITTEE FOR THE JEROME ROBBINS DANCE DIVISION The Committee for the Jerome Robbins Dance Division was very active in the last fiscal year, holding four meetings in the Library. With funds from The Committee, the Dance Division acquired the items listed in the Acquisition section. This year The Committee for the Jerome Robbins Dance Division reelected its slate of officers: Elizabeth O’Brien, Chair, Perry Granoff, and Bill Wright, Vice‐Chairs, Peter Kayafas, Secretary, and Allen Greenberg, Treasurer.

Members of the Committee for the Jerome Robbins Dance Division

Elizabeth O’Brien, Chairman Perry Granoff, Vice Chairman William H. Wright, II, Vice Chairman Peter Kayafas, Secretary Allen Greenberg, Treasurer

Dr. Jeffrey S. Borer Beverly D’Anne James Duffy Hubert Goldschmidt Lane Harwell Caroline Hyman Nancy N. Lassalle Kate Lear Marion W. Martin Madeleine M. Nichols Helen Wright

Advisory Council Danielle Castronovo Jacqueline Z. Davis Genevieve Oswald Jan Schmidt Alexander Schouvaloff Miranda Shutte

The Committee is saddened by the passing of two of its long‐term members, Ted Bartwink and Sallie Blumenthal.

Ted Bartwink was an important member of the Committee for the Jerome Robbins Dance Division since he joined in 1999. He served the Committee and the dance community well for decades. Executive Director and Trustee for The Harkness Foundation for Dance, Ted Bartwink was a graduate of Long Island University and Brooklyn Law School. He accepted a position as business manager for Rebekah Harkness and assisted in establishing the Foundation, which he led from 1968 until his retirement last year. During his tenure, he oversaw operations of the Harkness Ballet, the Harkness Theatre, and Harkness House for Ballet Arts, and initiated programs such as the Harkness Center for Dance Injuries at NYU Hospital for Joint Diseases, and the 92Y Harkness Dance Festival. He was a board member of the Joyce Theater Foundation and board president of the Early Stages Program for Children of the Mayor's Office of Film, Theatre and Broadcasting; held numerous dance organization advisory board positions; and was a member of the National Association of Schools of Dance and the League of American Theaters and Producers. Mr. Bartwink received honors from Ballet Hispanico, the Brooklyn Academy of Music, Career Transition for Dancers, the Dance Library of Israel, the 92nd Street Y, and

NYU Hospital for Joint Diseases. He was honored by Dance Theatre of Harlem in February.

For many years, under Ted Bartwink’s leadership, the Harkness Foundation for Dance donated funds to the Jerome Robbins Dance Division as part of their annual giving. The Dance Division is indebted to Ted Bartwink for his support and vision. Sallie Blumenthal, dedicated member of the Committee for the Jerome Robbins Dance Division since 1982, served in many ways. She donated materials, acted as advisor, and was an active participant. She supported preservation of a number of items including Tap Happening (Library call number *MGZIDVD 5‐262) a 16mm film from May 12, 1969, that was filmed for the Dance Division. Some of the participants were Chuck Green, Howard “Sandman” Sims, Lon Chaney, Jerry Ames, Jimmy Slyde and Bert Gibson. She also supported the preservation of Uncle Tom’s Cabin, (Library call number *MGZIDVD 5‐268 from 1903. This film from the Library of Congress’ Paper Print Collection was made by Thomas Edison in 1903. This drama of the novel includes early examples of the time step, breaks, the strut, and cakewalk. She also served as


Coordinator for Public Programs for the Dance Collection, as the Division was then called. As Coordinator for Public Programs Sallie Blumenthal arranged for a number of essential programs including:

Balanchine Symposia Balanchine and The Nutcracker *MGZIC 9‐3400, 1992, Balanchine’s Apollo, *MGZIC 9‐3401, 1993 Balanchine the musician, *MGZIC 9‐3402, 1993 The music of Apollo, *MGZIC 9‐3403, 1993 Balanchine: Reconceiving choreography for television, *MGZIC 9‐3404, 1993 Allegra Kent and Mindy Aloff: a conversation, *MGZIC 9‐3405, 1993 Working with Balanchine, *MGZIC 9‐3949, 1993, *MGZIC 9‐3405, 1993 Conversations about Balanchine with Suzanne Farrell and David Daniel: The vision, *MGZIC 9‐3949, 1993 Conversations about Balanchine with Suzanne Farrell and David Daniel: The stage, *MGZIC 9‐3947, 1993

Sallie Blumenthal also conducted Interviews with members of the Dance community for the Jerome Robbins Dance Division including interviews with, Robert Maiorano, Victoria Simon, Karen O'Sullivan, Marlene Mesavage (DeSavino) and Joysanne Sidimus, Bethsabée de Rothschild and Jeannette Ordman, Irina Evstigneeva, director of the Leningrad State Institute of Theatre, Music and Cinematography.

Jean Sulzberger joined the Committee for the Jerome Robbins Dance Division in 1974, Meg Stillman joined in 1982, and Arlene Cooper joined in 2009. For personal reasons all three gave notice that they were leaving their positions on the Committee for the Jerome Robbins Dance Division. They will be missed. The Committee is delighted to have these three new members who joined last year, 2014, Beverly D’Anne, Lane Harwell, and Marion Martin. Some of the projects and purchases supported by The Committee, besides the purchases of rare books and art works noted earlier, are: Dance Division’s memberships in other professional groups such as the Dance Heritage Coalition, Dance/USA, and the Society of American Archivists; the printing and mailing of the Dance Division Annual Report; support for the Victoria Tennant event; correspondence files cleanup project with retired staff member Else Peck; purchase of a laptop MAC computer for Dance Division; and curator travel to conferences and board meetings.

A major project, begun by the Committee for the Jerome

Robbins Dance Division is its Fellows Project. The New

York Public Library for the Performing Arts and the

Committee for the Jerome Robbins Dance Division

recently invited six researchers to explore the Dance

Division's exceptional collections during an intensive

year‐long fellowship. The inaugural class of six Fellows

were chosen by the Committee for the Jerome Robbins

Dance Division and granted an honorarium to support

their research and writing during six months of

immersion in the collections of the Division. The resulting

works—texts illustrated with materials from the

collection—will be the basis for Library programming and

publication in a variety of platforms that will

demonstrate the breadth of the Division's holdings while

celebrating the unique perspective of each Fellow. Such

scholarship will serve the Library’s community by

providing new, informed perspectives on its unmatched

holdings while showcasing the relevance of these

collections to a broad audience.

The six Fellows and their research focus areas are:

Malaika Adero: created a narrative outline on African and American contributions to culture and dance from the autobiographical point‐of‐view of a Black female student/practitioner of dance in the 21st Century.

Yoshiko Chuma: wrote a short memoir of Edwin Denby and dance as seen from the perspective of the performer.

Silas Farley: compared two ballet masters, George Balanchine and August Bournonville

Joseph Houseal: wrote about representations of Asian dance forms in the visual arts as researched from reading Gods Who Dance, written by American dancer Ted Shawn (1891‐1972).

Gus Solomons jr: wrote about the intersection of dance, architecture and his own site‐specific work

Victoria Tennant: discussed her mother, Irina Baronova, one of George Balanchine’s baby ballerinas of the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo, and what it means to have your collection acquired by the Library.

44

Peter Kayafas, secretary of the Dance Committee, celebrated the publication by Eakins Press of their new book ‘O, Write My Name': American Portraits, Harlem Heroes, photographs by Carl Van Vecten, with introduction by Darryl Pinckney with a party held at Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture on January 29, 2015. The New York Review of Books featured this book on their blog. And, the Wall Street Journal used the book’s Langston Hughes portrait and mentioned the book in the context for an article about new Hughes publications.

Jan Schmidt, Tanisha Jones, Arthur Rivers

Photograph by Jack Llewellyn‐Karski

Peter Kayafas and Dr. Khalil Gibran Muhammad

Photograph by Jack Llewellyn‐Karski. Allen Greenberg, treasurer of the Dance Committee, and one of the Directors of the Jerome Robbins Foundation, donated to the Dance Division the first two issues of JEROME ROBBINS, a 20‐24 page newsletter that includes articles, interviews, photographs, and other information to readers interested in theater, dance and the arts.

.

3.2 FRIENDS OF THE JEROME ROBBINS DANCE DIVISION

Friends of the Jerome Robbins Dance Division

Anne H. Bass, Co‐Chair Caroline Cronson, Co‐Chair

Friends of Dance Honorary Members Merrill Ashley Mikhail Baryshnikov Peter Boal Holly Brubach Darcey Bussell Angel Corella Merce Cunningham* Jacques d’Amboise Suzanne Farrell Alessandra Ferri William Forsythe Cynthia Gregory Paloma Herrera

Barbara Horgan Allegra Kent Julie Kent Lourdes Lopez Natalia Makarova Patricia McBride Kevin McKenzie Benjamin Millepied Arthur Mitchell Mark Morris Gillian Murphy Kyra Nichols Robert Rauschenberg* Nancy Reynolds

Francia Russell Suki Schorer Ethan Stiefel Kent Stowell Paul Taylor Helgi Tomasson Violette Verdy Edward Villella Karin von Aroldingen Heather Watts Robert Weiss Christopher Wheeldon Wendy Whelan Damian Woetzel

*deceased as of 9/16/2014

The Friends of the Jerome Robbins Dance Division is a group committed to supporting the vital work of the Division through their monetary contributions and their creative ideas. Members serve as important advocates for the Division, assisting in identifying other sources of private support that may help maintain and enrich the work of the Division. Friends include supporters, outstanding dancers, choreographers, and scholars of present and past generations. In this eighth year of the Friends of Jerome Robbins Dance Division, the Friends continued to grow and develop its network of supporters.


With funds from Friends of the Jerome Robbins Dance Division, the Dance Division hosted the annual Friends evening event, continued to process and catalog the Mikhail Baryshnikov Archive, and purchased a computer for the preservation lab. Funds were also used to hire a short time staff member to work on a barcoding project to connect individual items to their corresponding catalog records. A barcode is placed, for example, on a box containing programs for a particular company, and a record of the box item is created and linked to the main catalog record for all of the programs for that company. This project is critical in that it will help users better understand the scope of the materials and will create better access to those materials. It will also allow the Library to better track the usage of our materials and keep more exact statistics.

Contributions for the processing, preservation, and cataloging of the Mikhail Baryshnikov Video Archive have been received from Anne H. Bass Foundation, Louis B.

Mayer Foundation, Ms. Agnes Gund, Mr. and Mrs. Gordon B. Pattee, and Ms. Louisa S. Sarofim. The papers and the over 600 videotapes from the Mikhail Baryshnikov Archive have been preserved, cataloged and are now available to the public thanks to this support.

The Friends of the Jerome Robbins Dance Division, co‐chaired by Anne H. Bass and Caroline Cronson, hosted the annual Friends evening event on May 12, 2015, this year at the Celeste Bartos Forum at the Stephen A. Schwarzman Building. This LIVE from the NYPL: Suzanne Farrell event hosted by Paul Holdengraber was co‐presented by Friends of Jerome Robbins Dance Division and Center for Ballet in the Arts. Suzanne Farrell joined Paul Holdengraber to reflect on George Balanchine, ballet, and her influence on both. Suzanne Farrell inspired some of George Balanchine's finest choreography; today, she helps maintain his legacy as founder of the Balanchine Preservation Initiative and her own ballet company at The Kennedy Center.

Suzanne Farrell and Paul Holdengrabber at NYPL Live May 12, 2015 Stephen A. Schwarzman Building, Celeste Bartos Forum

46

4 Grants, Projects, and Initiatives

4.1 DANCE HERITAGE COALITION Jan Schmidt attended the board meeting for the Dance Heritage Coalition (DHC) in San Francisco, CA, September 26 to October 1, 2014 at the Museum of Performance + Design. The DHC Board in attendance were: Jan Schmidt/NYPL, Dawn Lille/Dance Notation Bureau, Genie Guerard/UCLA Library, Nena Couch/Ohio State University, Dean Jeffrey/American Dance Festival, Muriel Maffre/Museum of Performance + Design, Norton Owen/Jacob’s Pillow, Susan Pyzynski/Harvard University Houghton Library; and DHC staff: Libby Smigel, Executive Director; Imogen Smith, Project Manager. New Chair Genie Guerard and new Secretary Dean Jeffrey were nominated and elected for two years. Not in attendance were: Martha Briggs/Newberry Library and Betsy Peterson/Library of Congress‐American Folklife Center. Tanisha Jones was elected to serve for the NYPL Dance Division’s membership for three years from 2015 through 2017.

4.2 THE MERTZ GILMORE FOUNDATION The Mertz Gilmore Foundation generously donated to the Jerome Robbins Dance Division a second grant of $20,000 to fund the African Dance Interview Project. The project, which will run from April 1, 2015 to March 31, 2016, is to videotape six more interviews with traditional dancers, teachers and choreographers of the African diaspora in New York City for inclusion in our archive and to produce a panel discussion for the public with the interviewees from last year, to be held in the Bruno Walter Auditorium at LPA on September 17, 2015. The African Dance Advisory Group, created by last year’s grant, will continue, with its next meeting scheduled for June 29, 2015. This Advisory Group is comprised of experienced professionals with expertise in multiple aspects of African Dance culture in NYC including dancers, choreographers, company directors, educators, visual artists, writers, historians, storytellers, entrepreneurs, presenters. The first meeting of the African Dance Advisory Group was held on June 16, 2014, the second on October 16, 2014.

This past fiscal year the Jerome Robbins Dance Division finalized The Mertz Gilmore Foundation grant of $15,000 that launched the African Dance Interview Project. The first year ran from April 4, 2014 to April 3, 2015. In that time, the Division videotaped five interviews with

traditional dancers, teachers, and choreographers of the African diaspora in New York City for inclusion in our archive, and formed an African Dance Advisory Group. This Advisory Group is comprised of experienced professionals with expertise in multiple aspects of African Dance culture in New York City, including dancers, choreographers, company directors, educators, visual artists, writers, historians, storytellers, entrepreneurs, and presenters. The goals of this group are to advise on the selection of interview candidates teaching and performing in this under‐documented dance form, how to involve the community in the Dance Division’s programs (including donations), and how the Dance Division may deepen relationships with this community over time.

Photo by C. Daniel Dawson

Carolyn Webb was hired as Project Director on May 19, 2014 and rehired for the second year on April 4, 2015. Carolyn Webb is a dancer/choreographer/musician who has performed internationally with some of the foremost dance companies and musicians of the African Diaspora. They include Papa Ladji Camara West African Dance and Drum Ensemble, the Jean Leon Destine Afro‐Haitian Dance Company, La Troupe Makandal, Roots of Brazil, Eddie Torres, Tito Puente, and Retumba, a women’s Afro‐Caribbean music and dance ensemble. She currently works with Feet of Rhythm, a Haitian roots Dance Company. Professor Webb has an MFA in Dance from The University of Michigan. She serves on the dance faculties of New York University (Steinhardt School of Education), Queens College, and The Fashion Institute of Technology. Carolyn Webb is a native of Detroit, Michigan.


All five interviews from the first year, April 1, 2014 to April 1, 2015, have been recorded, taking place onsite at The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts with Francois Bernadi serving as the videographer for the project. The interviews are:

Maguette Camara interviewed by Ife Felix (*MGZIDF 4093) August 6, 2014

Marie Basse Wiles interviewed by Carolyn Webb (*MGZIDF 4094) August 26, 2014

Mouminatou Camara interviewed by Malaika Adero (*MGZIDF 4095) August 27, 2014

Youssouf Koumbassa interviewed by Dionne Kamara (*MGZIDF 4096) August 28, 2014

N'Deye Gueye interviewed by Malaika Adero (*MGZIDF 4097) September 18, 2014

These are now all available on the Library’s website at our Digital Collections page.

Maguette Camara interviewed by Ife Felix

Maguette Camara learned his cultural dances growing up in his native Senegal, West Africa and performed with Ballet Bougarabou Dance Company as a young adult. He is a widely recognized choreographer, teacher and performer whose specialties include Kutiro, Djembe, and Sabar. Maguette currently teaches at New York City locations including The Alvin Ailey Dance School and Barnard University. Maguette is founder and director of Mane Kadang West African Dance Company in New York City. Ife Felix is a fiber, mixed media artist and writer. Her art has been exhibited nationally and internationally. Ife has been an active member of the New York City African dance community for the last thirty years. A founding member of Harlem Girls Productions, she has produced three West African dance videos.

Marie Basse Wiles interviewed by Carolyn Webb Marie Basse Wiles is a native of Senegal with family ties in Mali. Her grandmother taught her the traditional culture, dances and songs of the Bambara people. Marie's international touring experience includes performing with The Ballet National of Senegal where she learned the dances of many other ethnic groups of Senegal and began her teaching career. She has lived in New York City for over 30 years and is one of the African Dance communities most beloved icons. She is devoted to preserving and sharing the dances of her homeland. She has maintained her dance company, Maimouna Keita, in New York City for over 30 years. Carolyn Webb is the Project Director for this program.

Mouminatou Camara interviewed by Malaika Adero Mouminatou Camara is from Guinea, West Africa. Moumi states that she started dancing in her Mother's womb. Since that time she has become internationally recognized as a brilliant performer and principal dancer with Les Ballet African and Les Ballet Djoliba. She brought her dynamic dance style to New York City in the 1990s. Moumi has worked consistently and generously as a teacher to share her skills, passion, and cultural knowledge pertaining to the dances. She founded Seewe African Dance Company in 2005. Malaika Adero is a seasoned publishing professional with a history as rich and intricately woven together as a patchwork quilt. She has more than 25 years of

48

experience in Corporate Publishing. She is an accomplished author who considers her most important book to date, Up South: Stories, Studies and Letters of this Century's African American Migrations (The New Press 1992/93. Malaika is Executive Producer of the Up South International Book Festival and currently holds the position of Vice President and Senior Editor at Atria Books, Simon & Schuster.

Youssouf Koumbassa interviewed by Dionne Kamara

Youssouf Koumbassa, from Guinea, West Africa began dancing before age 6 by emulating both community and professional dancers. He later toured the world with The National Ballet of Guinea and Ballet Djoliba and earned his reputation as a phenomenal dancer and musician. Youssouf relocated to New York City in the 1990s and established a dance company, Les Ballets Bagata. He is a much beloved teacher and ambassador of cultural dance here. Youssouf brings energy and excitement as well as cultural information. He continues to be in high demand internationally as master dance teacher and choreographer.

Dionne Kamara started learning traditional Kumina dances as a little girl in Jamaica under her great‐grandmother's guidance. After moving to the United States she graduated from Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School for the Performing Arts and received the Helen Tamiris Award for excellence in dance from the Alvin Ailey American Dance Center where she was a merit scholarship student. Her professional career includes work with the world renowned Urban Bush Women with whom she has toured internationally.

N'Deye Gueye interviewed by Malaika Adero

N'Deye Gueye interviewed by Malaika Adero

Ndeye Gueye was born in Senegal, West Africa. She is a charismatic, dynamic and highly sought after performer and teacher. Ndeye's expertise is Senegalese Sabar dance, and she brings incredible spice and grace to each movement. She has performed for former president Abdou Diouf of Senegal and at the United Nations Peace Conference. Her choreographic merits include the First Place Award at San Francisco's Ethnic Dance Festival. Ndeye, who founded her company Chosaanu African Dance, is committed to sharing her culture and raising the self‐esteem of women and children through the arts. Although she travels nationally and internationally, she currently lives in New York City where she is a beloved teacher in the African Dance community. Malaika Adero’s information is above. The African Dance Advisory Group has now met three times:June 16, 2014, October 16, 2014, and June 29, 2015. The first African Advisory Group meeting attendees were: Choreographers and Teachers of Traditional African and Pan African Dance Maguette Camara, West African dance teacher from

Senegal; began his career there with Ballet Bougarabou Dance Company; Founder and Director of Mane Kadang in NYC

Mouminatou Camara, West African dance teacher from Guinea; former principal dancer for Les Ballet Africains of Guinea; Artistic Director/Choreographer and Founder of Seewe African Dance Company NYC


Sewaa Codrington, Brooklyn‐born, studied extensively in the Sene‐Gambia region of West Africa under the National Ballet of Senegal; dancer, choreographer, and Co‐Founder and Director of KowTeff African Dance Company NYC

Nadia Dieudonné, Haitian traditional dance teacher choreographer from Haiti; Founder of Feet of Rhythm Afro‐Haitian Dance Company NYC and its Kids Cultural Program and Dance Company

Pat Hall, U.S., internationally acclaimed dancer/choreographer and teacher of African, Caribbean, and contemporary American dance; Artistic Director and Co‐Founder of Cumbe, Center for African and Diaspora Dance; teaching artist in the Brooklyn Academy of Music’s Education and Humanities Department; and an adjunct professor at the Tisch School of the Arts at New York University

Dyane Harvey‐Salaam, U.S., Co‐Founder of Forces of Nature Dance Theatre Company; world renowned dancer and principal soloist, choreographer, educator, performing artist, and certified Pilates instructor; performed with the dance companies of Eleo Pomare, Joan Miller, Chuck Davis, Walter Nicks, and Fred Benjamin, as well as DanceBrazil

Djoniba Mouflet, West African dance teacher, born in Martinique and raised in Senegal; studied and danced with tribes in villages as well as professional schools such as Mudra Afrique and Les Ballets Africains of Guinea; Founder/Director of Djoniba Dance and Drum Centre NYC

Abdel Salaam, U.S., Executive Artistic Director/Co‐Founder and Choreographer of Forces of Nature Dance Theatre, established in 1981; appointed incoming director of DanceAfrica at Brooklyn Academy of Music; a director of the Harlem Children’s Zone/Forces of Nature Youth Academy, numerous awards for lifetime achievements in dance

Lamine Thiam, West African world renowned dancer, choreographer, drummer, and actor; teaches dances from his native Senegal including Sabar, Djembe, and Bougarabou; Founder of Bousso African Dance Company in NYC (1996)

Edward (Ajaibo) Walrond, U.S., studied at the Katherine Dunham School of Dance and Theatre in the 1950s; dancer and choreographer; danced with Dinizulu African Dance Company and Jean‐Léon

Destiné Afro‐Haitian Dance Company from the mid‐1950s to late 1990s; Artistic Director of Jazzy Randolph Dancers, whose members are age 60 and above

Jawole Willa Jo Zollar, U.S., dancer and choreographer; Founder and Director of Urban Bush Women (1984); commissioned to choreograph for Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater and Philadanco; collaborator with Jant‐bi; featured in the PBS documentary Free to Dance

Writers, Presenters

Malaika Adero, Vice President and Senior Editor at Atria Books, Simon & Schuster; accomplished author and dancer; performed with Babatunde Olatunji Dance Company for 12 years

Charles Daniel Dawson, with curatorial experience at Museum for African Art, Museum of Natural History, Studio Museum in Harlem, and Caribbean Cultural Center; arts administrator, educator, photographer, and filmmaker with research focus on the African diaspora and its culture, with expertise in the Congo and Brazil

Simone Eccleston, Assistant Director of Programming at Harlem Stage

Ife Felix, fiber artist, quilter, mixed media artist, African dancer, and writer on African and Caribbean Arts

Kewulay Kamara, educator, multimedia artist, development pioneer and lecturer, and storyteller in the traditional vein of his native Sierra Leone; presenter of Niani Badenya and Badenya '98; recipient of numerous grants including from the Ford Foundation and The New York State Council on the Arts

New York Public Library Staff

Tanisha Jones, Director, Jerome Robbins Archive of the Recorded Moving Image

Jan Schmidt, Curator, Jerome Robbins Dance Division

Carolyn Webb, Project Director, teacher of dances of the African diaspora

50

The second African Dance Advisory Group was held on October 16, 2014. The participants were: Malaika Adero, Sewaa Codrington, C. Daniel Dawson, Ife Felix, Kewulay Kamara, Djoniba Mouflet, Abdel Salaam. The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, Jerome Robbins Dance Division Staff were: Tanisha Jones, Jan Schmidt and Project Director, Carolyn Webb.

Kewulay Kamara, Ife Felix, Sewaa Codrington, Abdel Salaam, Dyane Harvey‐Salaam, Djoniba Mouflet, Charles Daniel

Dawson. Sitting Malaika Adero, Jan Schmidt

The third African Dance Advisory Group was held on June 29, 2015. Leah Krauss of The Mertz Gilmore Foundation joined the group.

Sitting: C. Daniel Dawson, Abdel Salaam, Dyane Harvey‐Salaam

Standing: Kewulay Kamara, Ife Felix, Malaika Adero, Tanisha Jones, Carolyn Webb, Leah Krauss, Jan Schmidt, Maguette Camara


4.3 THE NEW YORK STATE COUNCIL ON THE ARTS

The New York State Council on the Arts (NYSCA) awarded the Jerome Robbins Archive of the Recorded Moving Image a grant of $31,000 this year for original documentation, oral history, and audio preservation, in year two of a total three‐year period of support. In Fiscal Year 2015, the Jerome Robbins Dance Division videotaped five dance performances of significant artistry and choreography with NYSCA funding. With the loss of the Oral History staff no oral histories were recorded, but the fifth dance performance was added. Additionally, the Dance Division preserved 390 hours of existing and recently acquired oral history recordings. Of these, approximately 257 hours were supported with funding from NYSCA.

Performances recorded with NYSCA funding are: and Dance Theatre of Harlem triumphant return to New York City Center; Roseanne Spradlin’s new evening‐length work g‐h‐o‐s‐t c‐r‐o‐w‐n (working title); Lar Lubovitch Dance Company evening of new works featuring Alessandra Ferri; Neil Greenberg Dance’s new work This, inspired by his dancers’ earlier improvisations; Pam Tanowitz’s work A Dance in a Day (A Dance Adrift in the Cosmos), part of Platform 2015: Dancers, Buildings and People in the Streets, curated by Claudia La Rocco. This seven hour recording documented the creation of the final work before an audience from beginning to end, with a cast of ballet and modern dancers.

4.4 THE NATIONAL ENDOWMENT FOR THE ARTS

The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) awarded the Dance Division $15,142 for original documentations of dance. In Fiscal Year 2015, through its original documentation program, the Jerome Robbins Archive of the Recorded Moving Image videotaped a total of 23 performances and 9 non‐performance recordings, for a

total of 32 original dance productions. See Appendix C for a complete list. One dance oral history was recorded and 390 hours of irreplaceable audio materials were preserved. Approximately 133 of these hours were funded through the NEA.

With funding provided by NEA, the Dance Division recorded two programs:

Keely Garfield Dance’s WOW. Described by Brian Siebert of The New York Times as “[A] bizarre, hilarious, enthralling, confounding and cathartic new work…” (December 17, 2014) Recorded in high‐definition with two cameras at Danspace Project, St. Marks Church in‐the‐Bowery in New York City, on December 11, 2014

Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater including the premiere of Odetta, choreographed by by Matthew Rushing and danced to the music and words of Odetta. Recorded in high‐definition with three cameras at New York City Center on December 18, 2014.

NEA funds were instrumental in the recording of one oral history interview with Barbara Cole.

4.5 DANCE HISTORIAN IS IN WITH DAVID VAUGHAN

David Vaughan, archivist of the Merce Cunningham Dance Company and author of Merce Cunningham/65 Years and Frederick Ashton and His Ballets, was present on Wednesday afternoons in The Jerome Robbins Dance Division of The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts at Lincoln Center for conversations with dance researchers. The Library has books, the Library has video and film recordings, the Library has reference materials, and now, besides our valued and knowledgeable staff, the Library has an extraordinary human resource to answer questions regarding 20th century ballet, post‐modern dance, and the Merce Cunningham Dance Company.

David Vaughan is in on Wednesdays from 1pm to 5 pm. Appointments are not necessary, but can be made by emailing [email protected]. Patrons can also request meetings by signing in at the Special Collections desk on the third floor of the Performing Arts Library. In addition, on the last Wednesday of the month, David Vaughan introduces and screens film and/or video of dance.

Un jour ou deux, by Merce Cunningham September 24 at 1:00pm David Vaughan introduced and screened a 2012 revival of Cunningham’s Un jour ou deux, which he originally choreographed for the Paris Opera Ballet in 1974, with music by John Cage, and design by Jasper Johns. The 2012 revival was reconstructed by Robert Swinston and Jennifer Goggans, and performed again by the Paris Opera Ballet.

Photo by David Vaughan

52

Ashton’s Tchaikovsky October 29 at 1:00pm Ashton’s Tchaikovsky Interpolations by Frederick Ashton into Swan Lake and The Sleeping Beauty, introduced by David Vaughan. Choreography by August Bournonville November 26 at 1:00pm David Vaughan introduced and screened Konservatoriet, plus historic films of other ballets and of Bournonville classes. La Mort du Cygne (1937) December 31 (New Year’s Eve) at 1:00pm David Vaughan introduced and screened La Mort du Cygne, (released in the U.S. as Ballerina, starring Janine Charrat, Mia Slavenska, and Yvette Chauviré, directed by Jean Benoît‐Lévy. In French, with English subtitles. Choreography by Bronislava Nijinska January 28 at 1:00pm David Vaughan introduced and screened two of Nijinska’s ballets, Les Biches and Les Noces. The Ballets Russes in Australia 1936‐1940, a documentary by Michelle Potter February 25 at 1:00pm David Vaughan introduced and screened this video, which includes performance footage from these Australian tours as well as interviews with Irina Baronova and others. Ashton Rarities March 25 at 1:00pm David Vaughan introduced and screened rare films of ballets and divertissements by Frederick Ashton. Early Twyla Tharp April 29 at 1:00pm David Vaughan introduced and screened films and videos of early work by Twyla Tharp for her own company, including Tank Dive, The Bix Pieces, and Eight Jelly Rolls. Cunningham Rarities May 27 at 1:00pm David Vaughan introduced and screened early films of work by Merce Cunningham, including the solos Variation and Changeling, the duet from Suite for Five, and the group dance Springweather and People. Bolt, a ballet by Alexei Ratmansky to a score by Dmitri Shostakovitch June 24 at 1:00pm David Vaughan introduced and screened a performance by the Bolshoi Ballet (September 2006) of Ratmansky’s new version of this work, originally choreographed by Fyodor Lopukhov in 1931.

4.6 DANCE PRINTS AND DESIGNS DIGITIZATION PROJECT

Two years ago the Dance Division digitized a test portion of 175 public domain prints from the collection. Last year we digitized an additional 401 prints. This year the project continued with the assistance of Stephen Bowie, the Digital Curatorial Assistant for the Library for the Performing Arts. Stephen has continued to work on the prints digitization project, focused on creating digital images of public domain prints depicting dance. These works, which originally appeared in newspapers, books, sheet music covers, or as individual prints, portray a range of performances, set designs, and dancers, both notable and lesser‐known, from the 17th century through the early 20th century. This year we sent 716 prints offsite for digitization.

4.7 PRESERVING DANCE DIVISION OBSOLETE U‐MATIC TAPES NHPRC FUNDING RECEIVED

One of the priorities of the Moving Image Archive is to migrate and preserve the nearly 5,000 U‐matic ¾‐inch tapes in the Dance Division. The Dance Division has received partial funding from NHPRC – National Archives and Records Administration. NHPRC awarded NYPL $121,410 over two years. This project will take some 5,000 reels of deteriorating, obsolete ¾” U‐matic videotape dance viewing copies that need their masters, in various formats, to be cleaned, restored, and migrated to digital files. To complete this grant the Dance Division is now searching for the funds to hire a temporary staff member for those two years to do the work of pulling the materials from off‐site storage, sending them to the lab, filling out the lengthy metadata spreadsheets, checking the returns from the lab, and updating the catalog records with the links and information about the new digital files. This work to preserve and track these items, which now are not viewable by the public, will allow them to be easily viewed as streaming video files. This two‐year project to digitize and make accessible 4,258 videotapes of unique and original dance videos in the Jerome Robbins Archive of the Recorded Moving Image, whose content at present is accessible to the public for viewing on the obsolete ¾” U‐matic videotape format only. The videotapes contain rare recordings, mostly from the 1970s and 1980s, of performances, rehearsals, and interviews with major modern, post‐modern, and ethnic dance companies, and choreographers in the United States.


In March of 2014, due to the breakdown of some of our last remaining U‐matic videotape playback machines, the Library was forced to stop serving this media format in our reading rooms. As a result, today patrons must make a request to have the U‐matic videotapes they want to see digitized, because the Library can no longer playback the original videotape viewing copy due to format and equipment obsolescence. These on demand digitization requests can take up to several weeks to complete. In many cases the patrons that we serve have traveled a great distance to the Library to access these high demand materials, with the day of their visit being their sole opportunity to be on‐site and no possibility of a return visit. To be given the opportunity through this proposed project to digitally preserve and make accessible the entirety of content now only accessible through our U‐matic videotape viewing copy holdings will be an invaluable resource to the public as the digital migration of this content is essential to ensure continued access to these important records of American history and culture. America’s rich dance history serves as both a reflection and a record of our nation’s increasingly diverse, dynamic culture. The explosion in the last forty years of American choreography has influenced dance throughout the world. Dance reflects the social context in which it is created and performed. Dance in 20th century America, and particularly from the 1960s to the present, has undergone tremendous growth and change, just as the country experienced significant social and cultural change. Because every dance performance is

unique and irreplaceable, the ability to experience a dance that has already taken place depends entirely upon one’s ability to access documentation of the work. This need to migrate these video recordings to new formats was not unexpected, and we have done our best to mitigate the problem. Since 2004, the Dance Division has been migrating this material, initially to digital tape, then digital drives and, in the fall of 2013, through the launch of the Library’s digital delivery system, which allows us to stream our digital videos as broadly as copyright law allows. We have already digitized over 1,000 U‐matic tapes which are now served daily in our reading rooms, but many more remain inaccessible until they can be digitized. The remaining U‐matic tapes have all been cataloged and could be easily added to our digital collections once digitized.

4.8 CATALOGING STANDARDS FOR DANCE WORKS

In response to a request for comments from the American Library Association (ALA) Committee on Cataloguing: Description and Access (CC:DA), Arlene Yu drafted the Dance Division’s response to proposed changes by the Library of Congress in the rules for cataloging choreographic works. The recent rule change reflects efforts by the Dance Division since our founding in 1944 to gain recognition for choreography as an independent work, and codifies how choreographic work titles should be formally identified in library catalogs.

54

5 Staff News

5.1 PERSONNEL CHANGES Susan Kraft left the Library to pursue a new career as yoga instructor and writer. Her last day was Friday November 21, 2104. Since 1993, Susan has been the coordinator of the Oral History Project and Archive. Through that time she has built what was an unorganized area of the Dance Division into the world‐class, magnificent, Oral History Archive. She has also given many presentations at conferences and published broadly on Oral History. She oversaw the vast improvements in our audio preservation program and the new digital preservation. She also saw that the Oral History Channel on the Dance Division’s website was developed. The Oral History Project came alive with Susan’s dedicated work. I want to add my thanks and that of the Dance Division for all her accomplishments. In August, the Dance Division was pleased to offer the position to Cassie Mey who started work as permanent member of the Dance Division on August 20, 2015. Amy Schwegel, Dance Division’s part time Administrative Assistant, also left the Library to pursue her dreams in the theater world. She began her new work as Assistant Director of Sweeney Todd in London.

5.2 STAFF DEVELOPMENT AND ACTIVITIES

A number of the Dance Division’s permanent staff members across all levels of seniority benefited from conference participation and other leadership opportunities. All staff members participated in other training initiatives, and many were members of committees both internal and external to the Library.

Conferences and representation and training opportunities attended include:

On October 10, 2014, Arlene Yu attended a one‐day symposium at the Kernochan Center for Law, Media, and the Arts at Columbia Law School, titled Creation is Not Its Own Reward: Making Copyright Work for Authors and Performers. The symposium explored current developments in the ongoing review of the Copyright Act, and focused on the concerns of authors, artists, and performers.

Tanisha Jones presented on a panel at the State of Black Research Collections: Collaborating to Shape the Future of Collecting the Past conference at the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture on October 30, 2014. The title of the panel was “Sight and Sound: Black Audiovisual History and the Archival Paradigm,” and Tanisha’s presentation topic was on archiving and making accessible black dance moving image documentation in the Jerome Robbins Archive of the Recorded Moving Image. The panel discussion focused on the significance of audio and moving image assets as primary sources for research, and copyright and other legal issues that librarians and archivists must navigate in order to make these materials accessible. The panel was moderated by Sandra Aya Enimil, Ohio State University and included presenters Nadia Ghasedi, Washington University, St. Louis, and Leah M. Kerr, Revolt TV (in absentia).

From November 13 to 16, 2014, Arlene Yu represented the Dance Division at the Society of Dance History Scholars/Congress on Research in Dance annual conference in Iowa City, continuing our outreach to the academic community and keeping abreast of developments and trends in dance scholarship. She moderated a breakout session comprising four paper presentations, and attended a meeting of the SDHS board.

Jan Schmidt, Danielle Castronovo, Tanisha Jones, and Arlene Yu represented the Dance Division at the Dance/NYC annual symposium on February 22, 2015. The Dance Division set up an exhibit table to display samples from our collection and discussed our services for the dance community with symposium attendees.

Tanisha Jones and Cassie Mey co‐presented on the Division’s moving image and audio collections, specifically on the Oral History Archive’s preservation processes, for Instructor Marcos Sueiro Bal’s Audio Preservation class at the Palmer School of Library and Information Science on March 28, 2015.


Arlene Yu and her dancing partner Arkady Rabinovich are currently the USA Dance National Senior II Latin Champions and the USA Dance National Senior I Latin Vice Champions. As one of the top two couples in each age category, Arlene and Arkady are eligible represent the U.S. in two separate World DanceSport Federation World Championships this fall. Congratulations Arlene and Arkady!

Arlene Yu

Photos © and courtesy Ryan Kenner Photography.

Cassie Mey performed in the premiere of Dean Moss’s johnbrown at the Kitchen Center from Oct. 16‐25, 2014. Her solo in the work ‐ “vacancies” ‐ was called “riveting” by New York Times critic Siobhan Burke. The company also performed johnbrown at DiverseWorks gallery in Houston, TX in April 2015.

Cassie Mey in Dean Moss’ johnbrown

Photo by Ryutaro Mishima

Cassie Mey in Dean Moss’ johnbrown

Photo by Paula Court

Cassie Mey performed with Troy Schumacher and Jillian Peña in Danspace Project’s 2015 Platform: Dancers, Buildings and People in the Street, curated by Claudia La Rocco, from March 19‐21, 2015.

Cassie Mey attended a roundtable discussion in Sept. 2014 at NYU’s Hemispheric Institute of Performance and Politics on Decolonial Gesture: A Round Table with Julie Mehretu, Joaquin Barriendos, Gina Ulysse, and emisferica 11.1 Editors.

56

At this Bigelow Tea, on May 5, 2015, Jackie Davis gave a talk on the Performing Arts Library.

Bigelow Tea, May 5, 2015

Back: George Boziwick, Don Baldini, Doug Reside, Caitlin Witthington, Jackie Davis, Mike Diekman,

David Callahan, Patrick Hoffman. Front: Tanisha Jones, Jan Schmidt

Dancers Over 40 hosted a symposium Ruth Page:

A World Apart, on Monday evening, March 23, from 7‐9:30 PM, at St. Luke's Theater, 308 West 46th Street. Jan Schmidt was on one of the three panels

Joellen Meglin, Dance Scholar/Ruth Page biographer; Jan Schmidt, Curator, Jerome Robbins Dance Division, NYPL at Lincoln Center; Andrew Wentink (moderator) Nancy Watrous, Archivist, Chicago Film Archives; Dakin Hart, Curator, Isamu Noguchi Museum

2014 LOUIS RACHOW DISTINGUISHED SERVICE AWARD WINNER Jacqueline Z. Davis, Barbara G. and Lawrence A. Fleischman Executive Director, The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts

As Executive Director of The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts at Lincoln Center, Jacqueline Z. Davis has general supervisory responsibilities for the Music, Dance, Theatre, and Recorded Sound research divisions, and the complementary circulating division. She oversees exhibitions in the Center’s three galleries and more than 200 public programs annually, including performances and lectures. Formerly, Ms. Davis was Director of the Lied Center of Kansas at the University of Kansas. Serving a dual role of Artistic Producer and Executive Director, she had general supervisory responsibility for the facility as well as booking performances including national and international theatre, fund‐raising, caretaking of artists, and supervising staff. She recently completed a two‐year term as President of the University of Kansas Theatre Advisory Board. Prior to her activities in the artistic sector, Ms. Davis served as a staff assistant in the Office of Senator Edward Kennedy. In 2003, 2007, and 2012, Ms. Davis was appointed to three‐year terms as a Tony Award nominator. In 2013, she chaired the Tony Awards nominating committee. She serves as a member of the American Theatre Wing Advisory Board. In 2004, she assisted in the creation of the Imagine ’04 Festival of Arts, Issues and Ideas, designed to support civic engagement through the arts, for which she received an Obie Award. In May, 2004, Ms. Davis was named a Chevalier of Arts and Letters by the Minister of Culture of France. She is the recipient of the New York Women’s Agenda’s Galaxy Award and received the Distinguished Service Award from the University of Kansas. In 2011, she received the Global Interdependence Prize in New York for her work in engendering communication across cultures through the performing arts, from Dr. Benjamin Barber, the Founder of the Interdependence movement. In 2012, she received the H.T. Chen Dance Company Award for her commitment to the field of Dance. In May 2012, she became a graduate of Harvard Kennedy School’s Executive Leadership Program. 2014 Professional Awards Committee: Francesca Marini, Chair; Susan Brady; Phyllis Dircks; Abigail Garnett; Karen Nickeson; Kevin Winkler


5.3 COMMITTEE ACTIVITIES

External

Tanisha Jones to join DHC Board

Jan Schmidt continued to Chair the Dance Heritage Coalition until December 31, 2014. Tanisha Jones was selected to be the person representing the Dance Division's membership in the Board of the Dance Heritage Coalition from calendar year 2015 through 2017.

Arlene Yu continued as Board Member of the Society of Dance History Scholars

Arlene Yu continued to serve on the Board of the Society of Dance History Scholars, helping to plan an upcoming special conference in Baltimore to celebrate the 100th anniversary of Peabody Dance, a part of the Peabody Institute at Johns Hopkins University. She also acted as host for the combined board meetings of SDHS and the Congress on Research in Dance (CORD) on May 31, 2014. She is a member of the SDHS working groups on Popular, Social, and Vernacular Dance and Latin American, Latino, and Caribbean Dance Studies. Ms. Yu is focused on deepening the Dance Division’s relationships with the academic community, and has successfully increased participation among dance scholars in NYPL’s Short‐Term Research Fellowships for the past two years. Board membership ensures the Dance Division’s visibility among dance scholars and allows us to keep abreast of and have a voice in developments in dance research.

Martin E. Segal Awards

On Monday, March 2, 2015, The Martin E. Segal Awards held an evening‐length program honoring young artists designated by Lincoln Center campus’s 11 constituent organizations. These awards provide an opportunity to unite the campus in celebrating the emerging artists nurtured by Lincoln Center. This program was held at Alice Tully Hall. Artists from 11 constituent organizations were recognized and received a monetary award of $7,500. The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts selected Silas Farley, as its young artist who was honored.

Internal

Tanisha Jones continues her role as member of the AMI Working Group (WG), which was founded last April 2013 by Evelyn Frangakis, Aaron and Clara Greenhut Rabinowitz Assistant Director for Preservation for The New York Public

Library, in conjunction with the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation grant awarded to the Library in March 2013 to support a survey of the content and preservation needs of the Library’s archival audiovisual collections. In Fiscal Year 2014, the WG assisted with the Mellon AMI survey project, which was conducted by consulting company AVPreserve. The project was completed in April 2014, and a formal report of the survey’s findings was submitted to the Mellon Foundation and the Library. Additional accomplishments of the WG last year include composing and publishing on the Library’s website a charge for the group and guiding principles for the sustainability and ongoing support for the preservation and access of our audiovisual collections employing best practices. Ann Thornton, Andrew W. Mellon Director of The New York Public Library, continues to serve as the Chair of the WG.

Tanisha Jones was asked to join the Open Platform (formerly Create an Open Future) Team as part of Phase 2 of Roadmapping, NYPL’s project to create a draft five‐year strategic plan for the institution. During Phase 2 teams were organized around strategic and operational priorities. Team members were comprised of staff from across the Library and largely upper management, and meetings took place weekly. Activities included developing objectives and actions for each team’s designated priority, convening workshops with NYPL staff to discuss proposed strategic and operational priorities, and gathering suggestions and feedback offered at the workshops for revising strategic planning goals and creating new goals. Phase 2 began in March 2014 and concluded in June. Phase 3 commenced in fiscal year 2015.

Danielle Castronovo was asked to join the Research Content and Collections Working Group that is focusing on creating better access to the Library’s research collections. This group has several initiatives and the one Ms. Castronovo is working on focuses on making hidden collections more discoverable to the public.

Danielle Castronovo and Arlene Yu acted as liaisons to the Library’s Short‐Term Fellowship program, vetting and evaluating researcher proposals, advocating for the allocation of fellowships to dance scholarship, and hosting the Fellows during their time at the Library.

5.4 PUBLICATIONS, PRESS, AND SOCIAL MEDIA

Newspapers, Magazines, and Radio

During September 2014, on Informador.com.mx, an article announced the photo exhibit for the Exchange

58

Program for Dance in the Americas. The article noted that the photographs of the work of five photographers dedicated to documenting Mexican traditional dances were donated to the Jerome Robbins Dance Division. On the December 14, 2014, Leonard Lopate Show, Irina Baronova, Victoria Tennant discussed her book about her mother Irina Baronova. She mentioned that the archive is now with the Jerome Robbins Dance Division.

In the March 26, 2015, Rutgers Today online magazine published an interview with Tara D. Kelley, staff member who worked on the Mikhail Baryshnikov Archive for the Dance Division. She talked about getting to meet Mr. Baryshnikov. “Kelley says such face‐to‐face meetings are a rarity among archivists. “You’re very lucky if the person whose collection you’re working on comes to meet you. Most of the time you receive the items after the person has moved on,” she says. On May 14, Broadway World, Danceworld.com published a review of the NYPL Live event co‐presented by Friends of the Jerome Robbins Dance Division and Center for Ballet and the Arts. This interview of Suzanne Farrell was conducted by Paul Holdengräber. The article noted: “A final delightfully enigmatic note: Holdengräber, as he always does before meeting with his guests, had asked Farrell to give him her biography in a mere seven words. She sent him this tantalizing answer: "Balanchine, Stravinsky, 1,2,3,4,5." Holdengräber read that aloud, to chuckles from the crowd, and then asked her to elaborate. She said politely, "Not at this time."” On June 4, 2015, Alastair Macaulay wrote in The New York Times in Behind Picasso’s Curtain, the Ballet That Got Away, “A video shows a 1994 Paris account of Massine’s ballet, though in a performance tamer than the best I used to see. (Electrifying silent footage of Massine and Tamara Toumanova, performing this work in the 1940s, can be found at the New York Public Library Dance Division.) In the June 5, 2015 article in The New York Times, Alastair Macaulay noted in the article “A Lesson for New York City Ballet: The Past is Always Present”, that “La Valse,” whose heroine is forever associated with its creator, Tanaquil Le Clercq, was again performed in May. . . “A complete silent film of the original cast is in the Dance Division of the New York Public Library (with multiple takes from successive performances). No more riveting record of Le Clercq exists. At the dramatically crucial moment of plunging one hand and arm into

Death’s black glove, then the other into the other, she first looks fixedly into the glove, then throws back her head, as if in glory.

Jerome Robbins Dance Division and Archive of the Recorded Moving Image on Facebook and Twitter

To increase its online presence and outreach efforts, on May 1, 2012 Arlene Yu created and currently maintains a Facebook page for the Dance Division. Ms. Yu also added a Twitter feed on July 10, 2013. Featuring daily posts on Dance Division activities, dance in the news, and important dance history events, the Dance Division now has 682 followers on Facebook and 316 on Twitter from around the world. Daisy Pommer also tweets on behalf of the Dance Division.

To become a Facebook fan of the Dance Division, from the Facebook home page type “Jerome Robbins Dance Division” (without quotes) in the Facebook search box at the top of the page. Select “Jerome Robbins Dance Division and Archive of the Recorded Moving Image” from the results. To navigate directly to the Facebook page, in your browser address bar type “www.facebook.com/JeromeRobbinsDanceDivision.” Once on the Dance Division page, click on the “Like” button towards the upper right of the screen to become a fan and follow our posts. To follow the Twitter feed, search for and follow @nypldance.

5.5 VOLUNTEERS, INTERNS, AND FELLOWS

The Dance Division relies on the goodwill of volunteers to assist with many ongoing processing tasks. In fiscal year 2014 the Division was fortunate to have assistance from five volunteers:

Sophie Dougherty a Columbia University student, who organized unprocessed Ted Shawn material

John Goodman, an avid dance lover, translator and art historian, who assisted the Dance Division with its Dance Historian Is In programs

Bernard Resnick, a dance aficionado recently retired from a law office

David Vaughan, retired archivist of Merce Cunningham Dance Company and historian and author

Barbara Cole, a former dancer and longtime volunteer in the Division left the Library to move to Los Angeles in August 2014


6 Concerns, Goals, and Objectives

Staffing

This year, with two part‐time staff members leaving the Jerome Robbins Dance Division, the enormous amount of work the staff handled became more difficult. The number of people using the collections, the number of patrons needing appointments for longer reference questions and issues, and the number of emails and telephone calls increase with each leap forward of acquisitions and technological communication innovations. From acquisitions, to processing, to preserving, from producing original documentations to blogging and grant writing, from exhibitions and loans, rights, and clearances to collection maintenance, from emails to in‐person desk reference work, the Dance Division staff members performs at an exceptional level.

If the Curator position were endowed, then more Dance Division funds could be freed up for other staff. The main position that should be filled is the Papers Librarian. This would be the first position to fill, since currently the Assistant Curator, with only one part‐time photo staff member, does all the work of managing all the paper‐based materials from the huge number of newly processed manuscripts, to all the photographs, books, rare books, prints and designs, programs, clippings files and more.

September 25, 2015, will be curator Jan Schmidt's last day before retirement. The Library has advertised the position and a search committee is interviewing for her replacement.

Paper‐Based Materials

With the assistance of the Archives Unit, the Jerome Robbins Dance Division’s entire backlog of manuscript materials has nearly entirely been processed and made available. Assistant Curator Danielle Castronovo arranged for these unprocessed boxes of manuscript materials onto carts to be shipped to the Archives Unit in Long Island City; as materials are returned she then checked the online finding aids created by the Archives Unit and found space to store the newly processed collections. It is a huge jump forward for the Dance Division to now have these materials, which have been waiting to be processed, some for over forty years, accessible.

The next critical paper collection to process and catalog is the nearly 400 feet of ballet photographs and modern

photographs. The ballet photos include the recent acquisition of the Caroline George Collection of photos, donated by her husband Jacques d’Amboise. These contain photographs from her years at New York City Ballet and National Dance Institute. Additional ballet collections to process include photographers Fred Fehl, Arnold Eagle, George Platt Lynes, Carl van Vechten, Charles Payne and Herbert Migdoll. Also included are photograph collections from dancers and choreographers Agnes de Mille, Mikhail Mordkin, and Michel Fokine, as well as Robert Gable’s Rudolf Nureyev photograph collection. The photographs, slides, and negatives range in date from the early 1900s through the 2000s, and include photographs from prominent companies including the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo, American Ballet Theatre, New York City Ballet, Royal Danish Ballet, and Joffrey Ballet.

Photographs, slides, and negatives that are not specifically ballet which have also been identified to be processed include the at‐risk negatives from photographers Soichi Sunami and Claire Holt and negatives from the Lincoln Kirstein collection, as well as glass plate negatives of African and Native American dance. Also included are photograph collections from dancers, choreographers, and companies Ted Shawn, Martha Graham, José Limón, Denishawn, Bessie Schönberg, Charles Weidman, La Meri, Angna Enters, and the Clark Center.

To process and catalog the approximately 400 linear feet of the Division’s dance photo collections backlog, the Library would need to hire a temporary cataloger for two years. This would allow the dance photo collections backlog to be completely cataloged. It would also mean that these processed collections could be stored at the Library’s ReCAP facility in Princeton, NJ. Having these photographs properly stored offsite would be advantageous to the lives of these important collections.

Another important target is to have the Dance Division’s 447 linear feet of scrapbooks rehoused, barcoded, and shipped to ReCAP. These scrapbooks have been microfilmed and cataloged, so this would be a maintenance measure for these materials. The Dance Division would greatly benefit if the Library could hire staff for six months to work on this and assist Danielle Castronovo with similar work for that time.

60

Moving Image and Audio Materials

The Jerome Robbins Archive of the Recorded Moving Image and the Oral History Project continue to acquire collections that need to be processed and cataloged. The video materials of the Mikhail Baryshnikov Archive were finished this year. The cataloging and processing of the Merce Cunningham Collection is now in its third year, with the papers finished, audio almost completely preserved and cataloged, and almost two‐thirds of the video preserved, processed, and cataloged. Zach Chauvin, hired to work on this collection applied for and was hired for another permanent position with the Library’s Special Format Processing Unit that works with Audio/Moving Image materials. With the Preservation Unit, the Moving Image Archive, including the Oral History Project, would like to continue to preserve the backlog of materials and to transfer obsolete format materials to digital preservation files and digital delivery files. Urgent Need to add funding to NHPRC grant for U‐matic Digitization

As noted in Section 4.9, the Moving Image Archive also has some 5,000 reels of deteriorating, obsolete ¾” U‐matic videotape dance viewing copies that need their masters, in various formats, to be cleaned, restored, and migrated to digital files. This is a two‐year project and the Dance Division received a portion of the needed $200,000 from a generous grant from NHPRC. The Division needs to find the funds to hire someone to do the work of pulling the materials from offi‐site storage, sending them to the lab, filling out the lengthy metadata spreadsheets, checking the returns from the lab and updating the catalog records with the links and information about the new digital files. This work will about these items, which now are no longer be viewable by the public, to be easily viewed as streaming video files.

Other Moving Image and Audio Backlog Needs

Over 5,800 audio records of the Oral History Archive should be preserved to broadcast digital files.

The Dance Division would like to purchase a Kinetta Archival Scanner, a film‐to‐digital file scanner that could transfer 8mm dance films, for $140,000‐$180,000. This would allow the Dance Division to preserve and make our nearly 1,400 8mm and Super

8mm films, including 800 in the Lucia Wayne Collection, 210 in Gerald Fitzgerald, and 80 in the Violette Verdy collection, viewable by the public.

The Oral History Archive’s audio masters, comprising 150 linear feet of cataloged audio, need rehousing, barcoding, and item level record creation so that they may be shipped to ReCAP.

Cataloged Oral History Archive transcripts, comprising 50 linear feet, need rehousing, barcoding, and item level record creation to be shipped to ReCAP. These transcripts are all preservation copies, some in boxes and envelopes and others in a variety of bindings.

Though the concerns, goals, and objectives noted above are specific areas of need, the overarching objective – to acquire, preserve and make accessible to the public materials about dance – is what the Jerome Robbins Dance Division does well. We are now fulfilling these objectives at an even greater rate of speed, with more materials, and for a wider audience of patrons, with our online digital collections.

The Dance Division remains free and open to the public. We continue to acquire materials and to get more and more of our materials preserved and made available to all. We continue to be able to do this because the Division has great support from the Friends of the Jerome Robbins Dance Division, the Committee for the Jerome Robbins Dance Division, individual supporters, and grants and endowments. We also are indebted to the support we receive from the Library’s other divisions, including Preservation, Special Formats Processing, Archives Unit, Human Resources, Development, Counsel’s Office, Accounting, and more. But most of all, the Dance Division is the internationally recognized center for dance thanks to the work of our dedicated, loyal, hard‐working, knowledgeable, willing, personable, and extraordinary staff: Danielle Castronovo, Tanisha Jones, Daisy Pommer, Arlene Yu, Alice Standin, Victor Van Etten, and Cassie Mey. This is not to forget the staff in other divisions working on dance materials, including: Francis Dougherty, Greg Lisi, Phil Karg, Crystal Rangel, Virginia Mullaney, and Diana Chapman. A great deal of gratitude goes out to them all.

JEROME ROBBINS DANCE DIVISION ANNUAL REPORT FY 2015 / 61

Appendix A. User Demographics

Countries

Argentina Australia Austria Belgium Brazil Canada China Czech Republic Denmark Finland France

Germany India Indonesia Ireland Israel Italy Japan Mexico New Zealand Norway Portugal

Russia South Africa South Korea Spain Sweden Switzerland Taiwan United Kingdom United States

States

Alaska Arizona California Colorado Connecticut District of Columbia Florida Georgia Hawaii Illinois Indiana Kansas

Kentucky Maine Maryland Massachusetts Michigan Minnesota Missouri New Jersey New Mexico New York North Carolina Ohio

Oregon Pennsylvania South Carolina Tennessee Texas Utah Vermont Virginia Washington Wisconsin

Academic Institutions

American Musical and Dramatic Academy, College of the Performing Arts

Aoyama Gakuin University (Tokyo) Bard Graduate Center Barnard College Baruch College Bennington College Bloomfield College Boston University Bridgewater State University Brown University Bucknell University California State University Carnegie Mellon University Chinese National Academy of Arts City College of New York CUNY Graduate Center Colgate University College of New Jersey, The College of Saint Rose Columbia University Deakin University Denison University Emerson College Empire State College Fashion Institute of Technology

Florida Atlantic University Florida State University Fordham University Freie Universität Berlin Harvard University Hebrew University Hochschule für Musik und Tanz Hamburg Hochschule für Musik und Tanz Köln Hofstra University Hope College Humboldt University of Berlin Hunter College Indiana University, Bloomington Long Island University Jawaharlal Nehru University (New Delhi) Kansas State University Manhattan College Manhattan School of Music Mannes College The New School for Music Marymount Manhattan College Masaryk University (Brno) Miami University (Ohio) Middlesex University Mills College Montclair State University New School for Social Research, The

62

New York University Queens College Pace University Portland State University Pratt Institute Princeton University Rice University Royal Holloway, University of London Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT University) Rutgers University St. John's University Sarah Lawrence College Southern Methodist University State University of New York at Purchase Stony Brook University Temple University Texas Christian University Tufts University Union Seminary Universidad de Puerto Rico Universidade Federal do Estado do Rio de Janeiro Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul (Porto Alegre) Université Paris 8 Université Sorbonne Nouvelle ‐ Paris 3 University of Auckland University Basel University of Bristol University of California, Berkeley University of California, Irvine University of California, Los Angeles University of California, Riverside University of California, San Francisco University of California, Santa Barbara University of Cincinnati University College London

University of Denver University of Georgia University of Hartford University of Hawaii University of Helsinki University of Houston University of Illnois at Urbana‐Champaign University of Kansas University of Kentucky University of Lincoln University of Massachusetts, Amherst University of Minnesota Twin Cities University of New Mexico University of North Carolina Chapel Hill University of North Carolina Charlotte University of North Carolina Greensboro University of Padua University of Pennsylvania University of Pittsburgh University of Roehampton University of Salzburg University of Saskatchewan University of South Carolina University of Sussex University of Texas, Austin University of Toronto University of Wisconsin ‐ Milwaukee University of Wisconsin ‐ Stevens Point University of Wolverhampton Washington University Wayne State University Wesleyan University Yale University York College

Performing Companies and Schools

Ailey School, The Alonzo King LINES Ballet Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater American Ballet Theatre American Dance Machine 21 American Tap Dance Foundation Ballet Academy of Texas Ballet Arts Ballet Hispanico Bolshoi Ballet Academy Boston Ballet Broadway Dance Center Cats Paying Dues (CPD PLUS) Collaborative Arts Project (CAP21) Connecticut Ballet Dance Theatre of Harlem Dance Theatre of Harlem School Festival Ballet Providence FreeDanceSong (Paris) Garden State Ballet Gelsey Kirkland Academy of Classical Ballet Gelsey Kirkland Ballet

Hooferzclub School for Tap Jennifer Muller/The Works JoDe Romano Joffrey Ballet School Juilliard School, The Kansas City Ballet Limon School, The Los Angeles Ballet Mark Morris Dance Group Martha Graham School for Contemporary Dance Miami City Ballet Nashville Ballet New York City Ballet Norwegian National Ballet NYC Dance Arts Omega Dance Company Pacific Northwest Ballet Ronald K. Brown/Evidence, A Dance Company Royal Ballet San Francisco Opera Sandra Rivera Projects Sarasota Ballet


School for Classical and Contemporary Dance at Texas Christian University, The

School of American Ballet Steps on Broadway Suzanne Farrell Ballet, The

Takarazuka Revue Company Tap Team Two & Company Tom Todoroff Studio & Conservatory, The UP Studio

K‐12 Education

Brooklyn Friends School Brooklyn Prospect Charter School Eagle Academy of the Bronx, Building Educated Leaders for Life

program Family Life Academy Charter School

Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts

Magee Secondary School (Vancouver, BC) Professional Children's School Urban Assembly High School

Other Organizations

Actor's Equity Association American Dance Festival American National Biography Artforum Asakura Concert Management Asian Arts Theater (Korea) Asian Cultural Council Ballet Review Centre National de Danse Contemporaine (CNDC) Charles Weidman Dance Foundation Clark Center NYC Contrology Co. Ltd. Crown Publishers Dance Notation Bureau Diller Scofidio + Renfro Douglas/Steinman Productions Garden State Ballet George Balanchine Trust HBO IBC Productions Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston, The Isadora Duncan International Institute

Jacob's Pillow Joyce Theater, The Maysles Documentary Center Merce Cunningham Trust New Victory Theater New York City Board of Education New York Times, The Pew Center for the Arts and Heritage, The Philadelphia Museum of Art Robert Rauschenberg Foundation Scholastic Sleep No More SpectorDance Stage Directors and Choreographers Society Steeplechase Films Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute Vanity Fair Victoria and Albert Museum Walker Art Center Weinstein Company, The William Esper Studio

64

Appendix B. Manuscript Collections Processed

Manuscript collections now fully processed and available to the public this fiscal year 2015 include:

*MGZMD 127 Buzz Miller papers, 1.46 linear feet (3 boxes, 3 volumes). Buzz Miller was an American dancer who performed primarily in musical theater and ballets. The collection documents his career as a dancer and choreographer from 1948 through 1980, as well as his personal life and his service in the army in World War II.

*MGZMD 226 Collection on Louis Horst, 0.33 linear feet (1 box). Includes photocopies of handwritten scores by Louis Horst, composer and teacher of dance composition, for dances choreographed by Gertrude Lippincott with some of her annotations; a typescript of Lippincott's personal reminiscences of Horst published in Focus‐on‐Dance in 1969; and two programs.

*MGZMD 259 Yvonne Patterson and William Dollar papers, 8.06 linear feet (20 boxes). William Dollar was an American ballet dancer, choreographer, and ballet master associated with numerous American companies for more than 30 years. Yvonne Patterson, was an original Balanchine ballerina and dance teacher. The collection documents their work as dancers, educators, and choreographers.

*MGZMD 297 Anna Halprin papers, 1.42 linear feet (1 box, 1 volume). Anna Halprin, an American dancer known for her innovative and experimental technique, is a leading figure of the postmodern dance movement. This collection documents the artist's career with print materials, press clippings, biographies, San Francisco Dancers' Workshop newsletters, award programs, and photographs.

*MGZMD 355 Edith Segal papers, Additions, 3.91 linear feet (10 boxes, 2 oversized folders). Edith Segal (1902‐1997) was an American choreographer, song writer, and poet. Her work examined issues such as workers' rights and racial equality through a socialist lens. The Edith Segal papers (1915‐1991) document her involvement in progressive dance, with the Works Progress Administration's (WPA) Federal Theatre Project, and her work as instructor at recreational resorts in New York and New England, particularly Camp Kinderland. The collection consists of teaching files, Camp Kinderland files, Federal Theatre Project files, photographs, and tribute albums.

*MGZMD 356 Abraham Walkowitz collection of Isadora Duncan materials, .21 linear foot (1 box). Abraham Walkowitz (1878‐1965) was an American early Modern artist who was well known for his drawings of Modern dancer Isadora Duncan. The collection (1929‐1944) holds an exhibition announcement, a script, a list of dances and songs, and photographs of Walkowitz's drawings of Duncan.

*MGZMD 357 Richard James Allen and Karen Pearlman papers, 1.95 linear feet (6 boxes). Richard James Allen is an Australian poet, dancer, and filmmaker. Dr. Karen Pearlman is an Australian writer, filmmaker, educator, and dancer. They are the founders and present artistic directors of the Australian performing arts production company, The Physical TV Company. The Richard James Allen and Karen Pearlman papers date from 1991 to 2006 and document the careers of Richard James Allen and Karen Pearlman, particularly their dance companies That Was Fast, Tasdance, and The Physical TV Company. The collection holds Tasdance company files; clippings and articles; programs and publicity materials; and writings.

*MGZMD 358 Jelko Yuresha papers, 5.13 linear feet (12 boxes +6 folders). The Jelko Yuresha papers date from 1938 to 2010 and document the career of Croatian dancer, choreographer, and artist Jelko Yuresha through correspondence, programs, articles, costume and set designs, sketches, and photographs.

*MGZMD 359 Job Sanders papers, 4.9 linear feet (13 boxes + 2 folders). The Job Sanders papers date from 1946 to 2008 and document the ballet dancer and choreographer's career through photographs, programs, articles, and choreographic notes.

*MGZMD 360 Rieke Maria Love papers, 0.21 linear feet (1 box). Rieke Maria Love was a dancer who founded the Ballet Denver Academy. The papers contain clippings, letters, and photographs relating to Love and her work at the Ballet Denver Academy.

*MGZMD 361 Sophie Maslow research materials, 1.76 linear feet (5 boxes). Sophie Maslow was a choreographer and dancer. The Sophie Maslow research materials were compiled by William Korff in preparation of a biography of Maslow. The collection contains clippings, photographs, programs, promotional material, a scrapbook, and transcripts of oral history interviews.

*MGZMD 362 Georgia Hiden collection of Mathilde Kshessinska materials, 0.21 linear feet (1 box). Mathilde Kshessinska was a Russian ballet dancer and teacher. This collection contains letters to Hiden from or concerning Kshessinska, photographs of Kshessinska, and clippings relating to her career.


*MGZMD 363 Audree Ismailoff papers, 1.13 linear feet (4 boxes). Audree Ismailoff was a ballet dancer and teacher; she danced under the stage name Anna Istomina. The papers document Ismailoff's dancing and teaching career through clippings, programs, photographs, and contracts.

*MGZMD 364 Felix Fibich papers, 1.55 linear feet (5 boxes). Felix Fibich (1917‐2014) was a Polish‐American classical and modern dancer, choreographer, actor, and instructor best known for his expertise in Jewish traditional dances. Fibich often danced with his wife Judith Berg Fibich (1912‐1992), who performed under her maiden name, Judith Berg. The collection documents the dance careers of Fibich and Berg, and Fibich's additional work as an actor and instructor.

*MGZMD 365 Kirk Peterson paper, 1.8 linear feet (6 boxes). Kirk Peterson is an American dancer, teacher, and choreographer. The Kirk Peterson papers hold awards; correspondence; press releases; writings; and ballet company, theater, and workshop files. There are also family papers detailing Peterson's early dance training and the career of his aunt, Honey Wagner.

*MGZMD 366 Irene Dowd papers, 1.68 linear feet (4 boxes). Irene Dowd is a kinesthetic anatomist, author, and dancer. The Irene Dowd papers hold published and unpublished writings, and notes and data from her work on an imagery and exercise study. There is also material from a course that Dowd taught at Columbia University.

*MGZMD 367 Deborah Grace Winer research materials on Sally Rand, 0.5 linear feet (2 boxes). Sally Rand (1904‐1979, born Helen Harriet Gould Beck) was a burlesque dancer and actor, famous for her fan dance. The papers were assembled by Deborah Grace Winer in preparation of her show, "Fans! A Sally Rand Centennial Celebration."

*MGZMD 368 Mary Bywaters collection of Texas Arts material, 1.47 linear feet (4 boxes). Mary Bywaters was a pianist and supporter of the arts from Dallas. The collection contains files from Dallas arts booster groups and companies, as well as programs and photographs documenting the careers of Jerry Bywaters Cochran and Mary Cochran.

*MGZMD 369 Gelsey Kirkland papers, 0.42 linear feet (1 box). Gelsey Kirkland is an American dancer, teacher, and author. The Gelsey Kirkland papers hold photocopied correspondence and writings, some of which detail her trip to Moscow in 1972 with the New York City Ballet.

*MGZMD 370 Lucy Lehmann‐Barclay research materials, .42 linear foot (1 box), 4.93 Megabytes (168 computer files). Lucie Lehmann‐Barclay is a soprano and dance scholar who compiled "The Bournonville Operas: A Bibliographic Guide" in 1998. The Lucie Lehmann‐Barclay research collection holds files used to compile the database, as well as printouts of the database and metadata used in its creation.

*MGZMD 371 New School ChoreoConcerts records, 0.63 linear feet (2 boxes). The New School ChoreoConcerts were dance presentations designed to offer audiences a cross‐section of modern dance approaches and styles. The New School ChoreoConcerts records hold flyers, programs, correspondence, and clippings documenting the events presentation in various venues.

*MGZMD 372 Sophie Maslow papers, 1.89 linear feet (5 boxes). Sophie Maslow was an American choreographer and dancer. The Sophie Maslow papers contain programs, photographs, flyers, scripts, choreographic notes, and clippings documenting Maslow's career as a dancer and choreographer.

*MGZMD 373 Thalia Mara papers, 0.63 linear feet (2 boxes). Thalia Mara was a ballet dancer and educator. The Thalia Mara papers contain administrative records from the Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival and University of the Dance in 1947, and several versions of Mara's book, The Language of Ballet (1966).

*MGZMD 374 Marion Morgan papers, .52 linear foot (1 box, 1 oversized folder). Marion Morgan was a choreographer, dancer, and writer. The Marion Morgan papers (1909‐1930s) contain Morgan's writings, including articles about dance and film, and scenarios and scripts for dances, films, and plays. The collection also contains a small amount of promotional material and personal records such as photographs.

*MGZMD 375 Hazel Lockwood Muller papers, Additions, 2.1 linear feet (5 boxes). Hazel Lockwood Muller was the supervisor of dance and lecture programs for the American Museum of Natural History, New York from 1945 to 1952. The additions hold correspondence, programs, notes, and performer files which document her presentation of Around the World with Dance and Song and the illustrative music program at the Museum. There are also scripts from her radio show, Dance Horizons.

*MGZMD 376 Jeanne Hays Beaman papers, 1.34 linear feet (4 boxes). The papers hold computer dance research material, arts organization files, photographs, programs, awards, correspondence, and scrapbooks.

*MGZMD 377 Kayla Zalk papers, Additions, 2.1 linear feet (5 boxes). Kayla Zalk (1931‐2001) was a dancer, choreographer, teacher, and author. The Kayla Zalk papers, Additions hold organizational files; course material; and notes, research, and writings on Rudolf Laban.

66

*MGZMD 378 Ralph Gilbert papers, .67 linear foot (2 boxes). Ralph Gilbert was an American pianist and composer. The Ralph Gilbert papers hold scores, lecture and course notes, and writings. There is also a note from Iris Mabry, along with some photographs and clippings documenting her career.

*MGZMD 379 Janet Reed papers, 0.21 linear feet (1 box). Janet Reed was a ballet dancer and teacher. The Janet Reed papers date from 1934 to 1998 and contain correspondence, writings, photographs, and printed material.

*MGZMD 380 Walter Terry papers, Additions, 2.94 linear feet (7 boxes). Walter Terry was a dance critic and writer. He was dance editor for the New York Herald Tribune and published twenty‐two books on dance. The Walter Terry papers, Additions contain correspondence, research materials, promotional materials, and manuscripts of Terry's writings.

*MGZMD 381 New York Enthusiasts dance files, .42 linear foot (1 box). The New York Enthusiasts was an adult continuing education group led by Hans Hacker. The New York Enthusiasts dance files contain Hacker's correspondence with various dance groups, schools, and presenters arranging for performance tickets, backstage tours and class visits, and advertisement in the group's magazine ZIG ZAG.

*MGZMD 382 Dianne Woodruff research papers on Juana de Laban, .21 linear foot (1 box). Dianne Woodruff is a certified movement analyst and educator. The Dianne Woodruff research papers on Juana de Laban (1980‐1981) contain correspondence, writings, and a bibliography documenting the creation of a 1981 tribute to Juana de Laban published in the Dance Research Journal.

*MGZMD 383 Bruce King papers. .21 linear foot (1 box). Bruce King was a modern dancer, choreographer, and teacher. The Bruce King papers hold correspondence, annotated scores, choreographic notes, book reviews, class notes, and other material documenting King's career.

*MGZMD 384 Marian Horosko writings and research files, .67 linear foot (2 boxes). Marian Horosko was a dance historian and author. The Marian Horosko writings and research files hold correspondence, research notes, drafts, and photographs used to write her articles Alicia Alonso: The Flower of Cuba (1970) and Teachers in the Russian Tradition (1979).

*MGZMD 385 Stuart Hodes papers, 1.05 linear feet (3 boxes). Stuart Hodes was a dancer, teacher, and a dance panelist for the National Endowment of the Arts. The Stuart Hodes papers hold his National Endowment of the Arts dance panel books for the years 1974 to 1976.

*MGZMD 386 Kenneth Rinker papers, 0.42 linear feet (1 box). Kenneth Rinker is an American choreographer and dancer. The Kenneth Rinker papers document Rinker's career from 1965 to 1988 through programs, fliers, clippings, and publicity photographs.

*MGZMD 387 Virginia Tanner papers, 0.21 linear feet (1 box). Virginia Tanner was a dance educator and founder and director of the University of Utah Children's Dance Theatre. The papers document Tanner's work teaching dance to children from 1953 to 1979.

*MGZMD 388 Seymour Milbert papers, .42 linear foot (1 box). Seymour Milbert was a stage manager for Ballet Theatre. The Seymour Milbert papers hold his stage management files for Ballet Theatre's European and South American tours, 1950 to 1952.

*MGZMD 389 Helen Priest Rogers dance files, .42 linear foot (1 box). Helen Priest Rogers was an authority on dance notation, a co‐founder of the Dance Notation Bureau and a pioneer in the use of film to preserve choreography. The Helen Priest Rogers dance files consist of photographs; correspondence; and programs about dancers, dance companies, and preservation research.

*MGZMD 390 Paul David Magriel papers, .63 linear foot (2 boxes). Paul David Magriel was a dance historian and author. The Paul David Magriel papers hold correspondence, notes, and bibliographic cards, used to compile A Bibliography of Dancing; along with clippings and reviews of his works Duncan, Nijinsky and Pavlova.

*MGZMD 391 Hazel Wallack papers, 0.67 linear feet (2 boxes). Hazel Wallack was an American dancer and dance teacher. The papers document Wallack's career and her relationship with Ted Shawn.

*MGZMD 392 Rosamond Pierce papers, 1.09 linear feet (3 boxes). Rosamond Pierce was a dancer and dance teacher working in Massachusetts in the 1930s. The Rosamond Pierce papers (1927‐1943) hold choreographic notes, class notes, technique files, scores, and programs documenting Pierce's career as a teacher, performer, and student.

*MGZMD 393 Muriel Stuart papers, 2.2 linear feet (5 boxes and 1 folder). Muriel Stuart was a ballet dancer and teacher who taught at the American School of Ballet from 1935 until the 1980s. The Muriel Stuart papers (1930s‐1982) contain her lesson plans and other material related to her teaching career.


*MGZMD 394 Tana de Gámez papers, .21 linear foot (1 box). Tana de Gámez was a Spanish‐American author, editor, musician, actress, and radio host. The Tana de Gámez papers hold correspondence regarding the publication and reception of her book Alicia Alonso: At Home and Abroad (1971).

*MGZMD 395 Brother Matthew Shanley collection of Carla Fracci material, .42 linear foot (1 box). Brother Matthew Shanley was a Christian Brother and ballet enthusiast. The Brother Matthew Shanley collection of Carla Fracci material (1967‐1982) holds correspondence, photographs, clippings, and other materials documenting the career of ballerina Carla Fracci.

*MGZMD 396 Nina Wiener papers, .46 linear foot (2 boxes). Nina Wiener is an American dancer and choreographer. The Nina Wiener papers contain design materials, scores, photographs and clippings documenting Wiener's works Wind Devil (1983), Fierce Attachments (1987), In Closed Time (1985), Integers (1980), and Transatlantic Light (1987).

*MGZMD 397 Erika Thimey papers, 3.93 linear feet (6 boxes, 3 volumes). Erika Thimey (1910‐2006) was a modern dancer, choreographer, and founder of the Children's Dance Theatre touring group, which presented modern dance in a child‐friendly format. The Erika Thimey papers hold correspondence, photographs, scrapbooks, programs, and Children's Dance Theatre tour files.

*MGZMD 398 Monica Moseley papers, 1.51 linear feet (4 boxes), 25.92 Megabytes (24 computer files). Monica Moseley (1942‐2010) was an American dancer, dance scholar, and former assistant curator for the Jerome Robbins Dance Division at the New York Public Library. The Monica Moseley papers date from 1886 to 2010 and consist of professional files and family history files. The collection holds correspondence, lectures, notes, promotional material for dance companies and organizations, genealogy notes, and family photographs.

*MGZMD 399 Sergei Denham papers, Additions, .25 linear foot (1 box). Sergei Denham was a businessman and ballet enthusiast who became the director of the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo. The collection holds a handwritten biography of Denham by Michael Subotin, as well as Denham's own writings on ballet history and records from the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo. There is also manuscript and published sheet music with annotations from Denham's personal collection.

*MGZMD 400 Maureen Needham‐Aldrich papers, 3.78 linear feet (9 boxes + 7 computer files). Maureen Needham‐Aldrich is an American dance historian. She began her career as a professional ballet dancer in New Orleans. Her contributions to dance scholarship include extensive research on dance therapy, dance education, European and American ballet history, and the dance traditions of Latin America, the Caribbean, and the Pueblo tribes in New Mexico. The collection (1946‐2003) documents her career as a dancer and dance historian through essays, articles, encyclopedia and dictionary entries, notes, programs, photographs, and other material she gathered for her research.

*MGZMD 401 Marcia B. Siegel papers, 4.62 linear feet (11 boxes). The Marcia B. Siegel papers document Siegel's career as a dance critic, teacher, and advocate for professional dance criticism. The papers contain her writings, correspondence with editors, publishers, and fellow critics, information about courses and workshops that she taught, and administrative records from organizations that she was involved with. The materials address subjects such as the status of dance criticism in American journalism, the role of the dance critic, and the observation and description of movement.

*MGZMD 402 Jerry Ames papers, 1.72 linear feet (5 boxes). Jerry Ames (1930‐2011) was an American tap dancer, choreographer, and teacher. The papers document Ames' career as a dancer and teacher, and consist of correspondence, photographs, programs, scores, and scrapbooks.

*MGZMD 403 Patricia (Lehrman) Dunn papers, 1.05 linear feet (3 boxes). The papers document her career as a dancer and her graduate research on modern dancers through correspondence, articles, notes, and programs.

*MGZMD 404 Mata and Hari papers, 0.21 linear feet (1 box). Ruth Mata (Mata Krantz) and Eugene Hari (Otto Ulbricht) were Swiss‐born dance satirists. After touring Europe and the United States with the Trudi Schoop Comic Ballet in the 1930s, the couple formed their own company, Mata & Hari. They made their Broadway debut in The Straw Hat Revue in 1939 with Jerome Robbins and Imogene Coca. The Mata & Hari papers document their careers from 1946 to 1974, when they were fully engrossed in their school of dance and pantomime in New York City. The collection holds press releases, newspaper reviews, show announcements, and publicity photographs.

*MGZMD 405 Robert Lindgren and Sonja Tyven papers, 0.31 linear feet (1 box + 1 folder). Robert Lindgren (1923‐2013) and his wife Sonja Tyven (b. 1928) were dancers with the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo during the 1940s and 1950s. Their papers consist of contract agreements they signed with various dramatic and musical production companies from 1944 to 1958.

68

*MGZMD 407 Nicholas Cernovitch designs, 1.75 linear feet (3 boxes + 7 oversized folders). Nicholas Cernovitch is a lighting designer for dance and theater. The collection consist of lighting design drawings and documents for Les Grands Ballets Canadiens and other dance companies.

*MGZMD 408 Mura Dehn notebooks, 0.42 linear feet (1 box). Mura Dehn (1902‐1987) was a dancer and dance historian known for her study and documentation of black social dances in the United States. The Mura Dehn notebooks contain early drafts of Dehn's writings, as well as original poetry, song lyrics, and notes to self.

*MGZMD 409 Suki Schorer Balanchine Essays materials, .42 linear foot (1 box). Suki Schorer is a ballet dancer, teacher, writer, and producer. The Suki Schorer Balanchine Essays materials contain scripts and shooting schedules used when making the educational videos, which detailed Balanchine's approach to classical technique.

*MGZMD 410 Richard Beard papers, 4.09 linear feet (3 boxes, 4 volumes). Richard "Dick" Beard was a ballet dancer and choreographer. The Richard Beard papers contain programs, photographs, correspondence, and scrapbooks.

*MGZMD 411 André Eglevsky papers, 2.41 linear feet (8 boxes). André Eglevsky (1917‐1977) was a Russian‐born ballet dancer and teacher. The collection dates from 1929 to 1989 and contains photographs, scrapbooks, choreography, and correspondence.

*MGZMD 412 Howarth Gurdjieff Archive, 23.85 linear feet (52 boxes, 3 volumes, 1 oversized folder), 14.5 Gigabytes (5,131 computer files). The Howarth Gurdjieff Archive holds Movement materials and writings collected by Dushka and Jessmin Howarth and the Gurdjieff Heritage Society to preserve the integrity of G. I. Gurdjieff's teachings. The archive also holds Dushka and Jessmin Howarth's personal papers and research for the book It's Up To Ourselves: A Mother, A Daughter, and G.I. Gurdjieff: A Shared Memoir and Family Photo Album.

*MGZMD 413 Bettina Rosay papers, 1.13 linear feet (4 boxes). Bettina Rosay (1918‐1999) was a ballerina and choreographer. She danced with Leonide Massine's Ballet Russe Highlights, the Markova‐Dolin Company, and the Chicago Opera Company, and was a dancer and choreographer for Melody Fair in Toronto. The Bettina Rosay papers (1921‐1990, bulk 1921‐1955) document Rosay's career through photographs, clippings, programs, and a small amount of correspondence. Much of the material is in scrapbooks.

*MGZMD 414 Evelyn Sabin papers, .84 linear foot (2 boxes, 1 volume). Evelyn Sabin was a dancer who performed with Martha Graham's dance company in the 1920s. The Evelyn Sabin papers (1902‐1960) contain scrapbooks and photographs documenting Sabin's dance career in the 1920s and 1930s. The collection also contains scrapbooks concerning her husband, pianist and inventor Leopold Mannes, and her parents, singers Stewart B. Sabin and Evelyn Coleman Sabin.

*MGZMD 415 Igor Schwezoff papers, 1.26 linear feet (3 boxes). Igor Schwezoff was a ballet dancer, teacher, and choreographer. The Igor Schwezoff papers date from 1931 to 1983 and contain correspondence, ballet scenarios, articles, resumes, and contracts. The collection includes material concerning Schwezoff's time in the United States army in 1942 and his work in Rio de Janeiro in the 1940s, where he was artistic director of the Theatro Municipal and founded the Ballet da Juventude. The collection also contains personal memorabilia and official documents such as citizenship papers.

*MGZMD 416 Ruth Page papers, Additions, 8.56 linear feet (22 boxes). The Ruth Page papers, Additions (1904‐1977) contain correspondence, business records, photographs, awards, programs, and other publicity materials relating to American dancer and choreographer Ruth Page.

*MGZMD 417 Lola Menzeli and Senia Solomonoff papers, 2.34 linear feet (5 boxes, 3 volumes). Lola Menzeli and her husband Senia Solomonoff were ballet dancers and teachers. The Lola Menzeli and Senia Solomonoff papers (1873‐1954, bulk 1910s‐1940) contain scrapbooks, photographs, and other papers documenting their careers. The collection includes scrapbooks concerning Menzeli's career on the vaudeville circuit in the 1910s; Menzeli and Solomonoff's world tour in the 1920s; and the Festival of States in St. Petersburg, Florida, which Solomonoff directed from 1933 to 1935. The collection also contains materials related to Menzeli's patented invention of heeled toe shoes, and a scrapbook about Menzeli's teacher, Elizabetta Menzeli.

*MGZMD 418 Lincoln Kirstein papers, Additions, 7.59 linear feet (18 boxes, 1 volume). Lincoln Kirstein was a ballet patron, writer, and general director of the New York City Ballet from 1948 to 1989. The Lincoln Kirstein papers, Additions (1907‐1989) contain writings, correspondence, photographs, financial records, and contracts. The material primarily relates to Kirstein's art collection and interest in art; his charitable contributions; and his writing career. The collection also contains material related to Pavel Tchelitchew and to Kirstein's father, Louis Kirstein.


Appendix C. Original Documentations

1. TAP CITY TAP DANCE FESTIVAL 2015: TAP AWARDS SHOW Hoofer Award to Michelle Dorrance. 2014 Tap Preservation Award to George T. Nierenberg. 2014 Tap Dance Hall of Fame Awards to Gene Kelly (accepted by his widow, Patricia Ward Kelly), and to Carnell Lyons. Performances by Kurt Albert, Megan Bartula, Klaus Bleis, Elizabeth Burke, Ali Dietz, Karida Griffith, Carson Murphy, Max Pollak, Demi Remick, Tamii Sakurai & Caleb Teicher. Videorecorded in high‐definition with one camera in the Bruno Walter Auditorium at The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts on July 8, 2014.

2. TAP CITY TAP DANCE FESTIVAL 2015: TAP & SONG

Emcee Tony Waag. Special appearances and new work by Chloe Arnold’s Apt #33, Ryan Casey, Felipe Galganni & Company, Janille Hill & Momentum Step Company, Kazu Kumagai, Lisa La Touche & Company, Max Pollak & Friends, Claudia Rahardjanoto, Leonardo Sandoval & Street Feet, Lynn Schwab, Tap & Tray, Tap City Youth Ensemble Alumni, and Caleb Teicher. Videorecorded in high‐definition with two cameras at the Peter Jay Sharp Theatre, Peter Norton Symphony Space in New York City on July 10, 2014.

3. AFRICAN DANCE INTERVIEW PROJECT: MAGUETTE CAMARA

Ife Felix, Interviewer. Maguette Camara learned his cultural dances growing up in his native Senegal, West Africa. He is a widely recognized choreographer, teacher and performer whose specialties include Kutiro, Djembe, and Sabar. Videorecorded in high‐definition with one camera at The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, on August 6, 2014.

4. ORAL HISTORY PROJECT: INTERVIEW WITH BARBARA COLE

Susan Kraft, Interviewer. Barbara Cole danced with American Ballet Theatre in the 1940s, was a Sid Caesar Show regular in the early days of television, and appeared in the original productions of Oklahoma and Song of Norway. Cole went on to perform and teach ballet in Washington, DC and New York City for several decades. Interview audiorecorded at The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts on August 13, 2014.

5. AFRICAN DANCE INTERVIEW PROJECT: MARIE BASSE WILES

Carolyn Webb, Interviewer. Marie Basse Wiles is a native of Senegal with family ties in Mali. Wiles performed with The Ballet National of Senegal and continues to teach West African Dance and Senegalese Sabar in the United States. Founder and Artistic Director, Maimouna Keita. Videorecorded in high‐definition with one camera at The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts on August 26, 2014.

6. AFRICAN DANCE INTERVIEW PROJECT: MOUMINATOU CAMARA

Malaika Adero, Interviewer. Mouminatou “Moumi” Camara is from Guinea, West Africa. Moumi was a principal dancer with Les Ballet African and Les Ballet Djoliba. After moving to the United States, Moumi has taught African Dance for over two decades. She founded Seewe African Dance Company in 2005. Videorecorded in high‐definition with one camera at The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts on August 27, 2014.

7. AFRICAN DANCE INTERVIEW PROJECT: YOUSSOUF KOUMBASSA

Dionne Kamara, Interviewer. Youssouf Koumbassa is a choreographer, musician, and teacher from Guinea, West Africa. He toured the world as a performer and then relocated to New York City in the 1990s where he established a dance company, Les Ballet Bagata. Videorecorded in high‐definition with one camera at The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts on August 28, 2014.

8. AFRICAN DANCE INTERVIEW PROJECT: NDEYE GUEYE

Malaika Adero, Interviewer. Ndeye Gueye is an award‐winning choreographer, performer, and teacher from Senegal, West Africa. Videorecorded high‐definition with one camera at The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts on September 18, 2014.

70

9. ABRAHAM.IN.MOTION: THE WATERSHED Choreography by Kyle Abraham in collaboration with Abraham.In.Motion. In The Watershed, Abraham sets out to reflect on the anniversaries of two civil rights milestones, juxtaposing intense changes of music, sounds, vocalizations and dancing bodies to probe connections between violence and freedom. Videorecorded in high‐definition with two cameras at New York Live Arts in New York City on September 26, 2014.

10. ABRAHAM.IN.MOTION: WHEN THE WOLVES CAME IN

Choreographed by Kyle Abraham in collaboration with Abraham.In.Motion. A stand alone, repertory‐based program, When The Wolves Came In features seven dancers. Videorecorded in high‐definition with two cameras at New York Live Arts in New York City on September 26, 2014.

11. A CANARY TORSI: COURT/GARDEN

Choreography and text by Yanira Castro. Performance and additional choreography by Simon Courchel, Tess Dworman, Luke Miller, and Pamela Vail. Baroque Instructor/Mentor, Catherine Turocy. Performer Jennifer Goodhart. Composer and Musician, Stephan Moore. Recorded in high‐definition with two cameras Danspace Project, St. Mark’s Church in‐the‐Bowery in New York City, on October 10, 2014.

12. ROSEANNE SPRADLIN DANCE: G‐H‐O‐S‐T C‐R‐O‐W‐N (WORKING TITLE)

Choreography by RoseAnne Spradlin. Music Composed by Jeffrey Young. Videorecorded in high‐definition with two cameras at New York Live Arts in New York City on October 10, 2014.

13. LAR LUBOVITCH DANCE COMPANY

Artemis in Athens, (Premiere). Choreography by Lar Lubovitch. Music by Christopher Theofanidis. With Le Train Bleu Music Ensemble. Starring Alessandra Ferri as Artemis and Tobin Del Cuore as Akteon, with dancers from The Juilliard School. The Black Rose, (Premiere). Choreography by Lar Lubovitch. Music by Scott Marshall. Danced by The Company. Videorecorded in high‐definition with two cameras The Joyce Theater in New York City on October 17, 2014.

14. MILONGA WITH GABRIEL MISSE & ANALIA CENTURION

A dance party devoted the dance and music of Argentinean Tango. The night started with Tango practitioners of all ages and levels taking the dance floor, and culminated in a mesmerizing demonstration by Tango masters Gabriel Misse and Analia Centurion. Recorded in high‐definition with five cameras at the Dardo Galletto Studios in New York City on November 14, 2014.

15. ALVIN AILEY AMERICAN DANCE THEATER

Uprising, (Company Premiere, 2014). Choreography by Hofesh Shechter. Music by Hofesh Shechter and Vex’d. Danced by The Company. Suspended Women (Company Premiere, 2014). Choreography by Jacqulyn Buglisi. Music by Maurice Ravel. Danced by The Company. Odetta, (Premiere). Choreography by Matthew Rushing. Danced to the music and words of Odetta. Recorded in high‐definition with three cameras at New York City Center on December 18, 2014.

16. AMERICAN DANCE MACHINE FOR THE 21ST CENTURY

A company of stars brought together for the purpose of being an archive of musical theatre dance performed an evening of numbers from revered musicals by legendary choreographers including Jack Cole, Michael Bennett, Gower Champion, and Tommy Tune, with stagings by Donna McKechnie and Robert La Fosse. Recorded in high‐definition with two cameras at The Joyce Theater in New York City on November 11, 2014.

17. DOUG VARONE AND DANCERS

Castles. Choreography by Doug Varone. Music by Sergei Prokofiev. Performed by The Company. The Fabulist (2014, New York City Premiere). Choreography by Doug Varone. Music by David Lang. Solo for Doug Varone. Dome, (World Premiere). Choreography by Doug Varone. Music by Christopher Rouse. Performed by The Company. Recorded in high‐definition with two cameras at The Joyce Theater in New York City on December 4, 2014.


18. NEIL GREENBERG DANCE: THIS

Choreography by Neil Greenberg. This features four dancers, Molly Lieber, Omagbemi Omagbemi, Mina Nishimura and Connor Voss dancing to a score of drifting ambient noises by Steve Roden. Videorecorded in high‐definition with two cameras at New York Live Arts in New York City on December 4, 2014.

19. KEELY GARFIELD DANCE: WOW

WOW was choreographed and performed by Keely Garfield with Brandin Steffensen, Leslie Kraus, Paul Hamilton, Jordan Morley, and musician Matthew Brookshire, to music inspired by Kate Bush. Described by Brian Siebert of The New York Times as “[A] bizarre, hilarious, enthralling, confounding and cathartic new work…” (December 17, 2014) Videorecorded in high‐definition with two cameras at Danspace Project, St. Marks Church in‐the‐Bowery in New York City, on December 11, 2014.

20. LES BALLETS TROCKADERO DE MONTE CARLO

As part of its 40th Anniversary Season at The Joyce Theater, the program featured a revival of a nineteenth century classic La Naide et le Pecheur by Jules Perrot, the pas de deux from Le Corsaire, Le Lac Des Cygnes (Swan Lake, Act II), and Go for Barocco. Videorecorded in high‐definition with two cameras at The Joyce Theater in New York City on December 17, 2014.

21. PLATFORM 2015: DANCERS, BUILDINGS AND PEOPLE IN THE STREETS: KAITLYN GILLILAND & WILL RAWLS / SILAS

RIENER & ADRIAN DANCHIG‐WARING The first in a series of performances curated by Claudia La Rocco pairing ballet dancers and choreographers with their post‐modern counterparts. #iloveyoumeanit#, parts 1 & 2, an exchange conceived by Kaitlyn Gilliland and Will Rawls. In‐between the two parts, there was a danced dialogue between Mr. Danchig‐Waring, off‐site, via video and Silas Riener, on‐site. Videorecorded in high‐definition with two cameras at Danspace Project, St. Marks Church in‐the‐Bowery in New York City on February 19, 2015.

22. PLATFORM 2015: DANCERS, BUILDINGS AND PEOPLE IN THE STREETS: SARA MEARNS & RASHAUN MITCHELL /

STERLING HYLTIN & JODI MELNICK Starts and Fits, No Middles No Ends: 8 Unfinished Dances. The four performers teamed up to present eight dance vignettes. Videorecorded in high‐definition with two cameras at Danspace Project, St. Marks Church in‐the‐Bowery in New York City on March 6, 2015.

23. PLATFORM 2015: DANCERS, BUILDINGS AND PEOPLE IN THE STREETS: EMILY COATES & YVE LARIS COHEN, JILLIAN

PEÑA & TROY SCHUMACHER Jillian + Troy with Cassie + Kaitlyn. Peña and Schumacher presented a dialogue about their collaboration, followed by a duet of the results danced by Cassie Mey and Kaitlyn Gilliland. Music by Sufjan Stevens and Ludwig van Beethoven. Incarnations (Sketches For A Longer Work). Created by Emily Coates. Music and sound design by Will Orzo. Performed by Coates, Orzo, and Yale physicist Sarah Demers. Patron. Conceived by Yve Laris Cohen and performed by Tom von Foerster. Videorecorded in high‐definition with two cameras at Danspace Project, St. Marks Church in‐the‐Bowery in New York City on March 20, 2015.

24. PLATFORM 2015: DANCERS, BUILDINGS AND PEOPLE IN THE STREETS: PAM TANOWITZ

A Dance in a Day (A Dance Adrift in the Cosmos). The creation of a dance over a period of seven hours with a cast of ballet and modern dancers. Choreography by Pam Tanowitz, with some movements from Viola Farber’s 1977 work, Solo. Original music by Dan Siegler. Videorecorded in high‐definition with two cameras at Danspace Project, St. Marks Church in‐the‐Bowery in New York City on March 23, 2015.

25. STEPHEN PETRONIO COMPANY

Locomotor/Non Locomotor, (World Premiere). Concept and Choreography by Stephen Petronio. Original Score by Clams Casino. Lighting by Ken Tabachnick. Costumes by Narciso Rodriguez. Performed by The Company. RainForest. Choreography by Merce Cunningham. Music by David Tudor. Décor by Andy Warhol. Costumes by Jasper Johns. Performed By Davalois Fearon, Nicholas Sciscione, Emily Stone, Joshua Tuason with Special Guest Melissa Toogood. Videorecorded in high‐definition with two cameras at The Joyce Theater in New York City on April 8, 2015.

72

26. DANCE THEATRE OF HARLEM

Dancing on the Front Porch Heaven, choreography by Ulysses Dove. Music by Arvo Pärt. Dance by The Company. George Balanchine's Tschaikovsky Pas de Deux. Danced by Nayara Lopes and Da’von Doane. Coming Together (Company Premiere), choreography by Nacho Duato. Music by Frederic Rzewski. Dance by The Company. Vessels (New York Premiere), choreography by Darrell Grand Moultrie. Music by Ezio Bosso. Videorecorded in high‐definition with three cameras at New York City Center on April 11, 2015 (matinee).

27. AFRICAN DANCE INTERVIEW PROJECT: DJONIBA MOUFLET

Kewulay Kamara, Interviewer. Djoniba Mouflet was born in Martinique and was raised in Senegal in West Africa. He has studied dance and music from Senegal, Mali and Guinea with renowned dance and musical masters, as well as with tribes in small African villages. For thirty years, Djoniba has been teaching African dance movements and drumming around the world and in New York City at his Djoniba Dance & Drum Centre. Djoniba Mouflet was interviewed by in high‐definition with two cameras at Peridance Capezio Center in New York City on April 24, 2015.

28. FLAMENCO VIVO A Solas choreography by Angel Muñoz. De Milonga, choreography by Antonio Hidalgo. Martinete‐Seguiriya, choreography by Enrique Vicent and Antonio López. Angeles, (World Premiere). Choreography by Angel Muñoz. Composer and Music Director,Gaspar Rodriguez. Videorecorded in high‐definition with two cameras at The BAM Fisher Fishman Space in Brooklyn, New York on May 21, 2015.

29. YVONNE RAINER The Concept of Dust, or How do you look when there’s nothing left to move? The latest incarnation of an ongoing work‐in‐process. Choreography by Yvonne Rainer. Music by Gavin Bryars. Piano, Vincent Izzo. Performed by Pat Catterson, Patricia Hoffbauer, Emmanuèlle Phuon, Yvonne Rainer, Keith Sabado, and David Thomson. Videotaped in high‐definition with two cameras at The Museum of Modern Art in New York City, on June 14, 2015.

30. ON THE TOWN Book and lyrics by Betty Comden and Adolph Green, music by Leonard Bernstein. Directed by John Rando, choreographed by Joshua Bergasse. Starring Tony Yazbeck, Jay Armstrong Johnson, Clyde Alves, Megan Fairchild, Elizabeth Stanley, and Alysha Umphress. Videorecorded in cooperation with TOFT at the Lyric Theatre on May 28, 2015.

31. AFRICAN DANCE INTERVIEW PROJECT: NADIA DIEUDONNE Carolyn Webb, Interviewer. Nadia Dieudonne has a lifetime of experience in traditional Haitian dance. In 1994, Nadia founded Feet of Rhythm Afro‐Haitian Dance Company, which was created to preserve and promote the rich cultural traditions of Haiti, and has has taught Haitian music and dance in public schools, community based organizations, and daycare centers. Videorecorded in high‐definition with two cameras in New York City on May 16, 2015.

32. PUBLIC PROGRAM: RARE ROYAL BALLET FILMS

Alastair Macaulay, chief dance critic of The New York Times, presented a selection of rare films featuring the Royal Ballet, held by the Jerome Robbins Archive of the Recorded Moving Image. Videorecorded in high‐definition with one camera in the Bruno Walter Auditorium on May 16, 2015.

33. AFRICAN DANCE INTERVIEW PROJECT: DANYS “LA MORA” PEREZ

C. Daniel Dawson, Interviewer. Danys “La Mora” Pérez is an international Afro‐Cuban Folklore dancer, choreographer, teacher and ethnologist. She is renowned as one of the foremost interpreters of Afro‐Cuban dance forms derived from the cultures of West Africa present in Cuba. Videorecorded in high‐definition with two cameras in New York City on June 27, 2015.

Funding provided by the Committee for the Jerome Robbins Dance Division, the Rockefeller Brothers Fund, The Jerome Robbins Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts, the Joseph D. Lewitan Endowment, Friends of the Jerome Robbins Dance Division, the New York State Council on the Arts

annual report dan fy2015 draft 9 7 2015 - nypl

Documents