Have a question? Need assistance? Use our online form to ask a librarian for help.
The entries below describe dance collections that do not focus on LGBTQ+ materials and/or artists, but do include relevant materials. These relevant items have been identified at the bottom of each entry. The links included direct to the finding aid for each collection; for collections that are unprocessed, link directs to fuller bibliographic information in the Library of Congress Online Catalog.
American Ballet Theatre (ABT), first known as Ballet Theatre, opened its inaugural season in January 1940 at Radio City's Center Theatre in New York City. During the years before World War II, when ballet performances were relatively scarce on the American stage, the formation of Ballet Theatre represented the first successful effort in the U.S. to create a major ballet company. Founder Richard Pleasant (1909-1961) set the goal of the new company to present an international gallery of dance to the widest possible audience.
This collection includes photographs by Kenn Duncan; photographs by Anne Leibovitz; and photographs of Oliver Smith and documentation pertaining to his work on dance productions.
Marge Champion (b. September 2, 1919, Los Angeles, CA; d. October 21, 2020, Los Angeles, CA) was an American dancer, actress, director, choreographer, and teacher. The collection, which documents her life and career, includes biographical materials, correspondence, photographs, programs, promotional materials, manuscript music scores and parts, articles, clippings, scripts, scrapbooks, awards, and posters.
This collection includes Jess Gregg correspondence and subject files.
Miriam "Mimi" Levinsohn Cole (b. July 11, 1926, Brooklyn, NY; d. December 6, 2012, Arlington, VA) was an American dancer, choreographer, and teacher who performed solo as well as with the Martha Graham Dance Company and other contemporary dance companies and on Broadway.
The collection includes photographs of John Cage, Merce Cunningham, and Bertram Ross.
Larry Colwell (b. December 28, 1901, Detroit, MI; d. 1972, New Canaan, CT) was a noted American art photographer. The collection consists primarily of large-format contact prints and negatives. Subjects include some of the most famous ballet artists of the 1940s and 1950s affiliated with the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo as well as George Balanchine and Lincoln Kirstein's Ballet Society.
This collection includes photographs of Frederic Franklin, John Cage, and Merce Cunningham.
ane Dudley (b. April 3, 1912, New York, NY; d. September 19, 2001, London, United Kingdom) was an American modern dancer, choreographer, and teacher. Born in New York City she studied dance with Hanya Holm, Louis Horst, and Martha Graham. Between 1937 and 1944 she was a leading dancer in the Martha Graham Company. In 1942 she joined the New Dance Group, and also performed with Sophie Maslow and William Bales in the Dudley-Maslow-Bales Trio, a collaborative dance troupe that was active for twelve years. Many of Dudley's works dealt with issues of social protest.
This collection includes Merce Cunningham correspondence and Jerome Robbins correspondence.
Robert Ellis Dunn (b. December 28, 1928, OK; d. July 5, 1996, New Carrollton, MD) was an American post-modern dance pioneer, teacher, choreographer, dancer, writer, researcher, and co-founder of the Judson Dance Theater.
This collection includes John Cage materials and Merce Cunningham materials.
Maxine Julie Glorsky (b. October 26, 1940, Toms River, NJ) is an award-winning stage manager and lighting designer. She started her career in stage management at the Jacob's Pillow Festival and studied dance at the Martha Graham studio. In 1971 she and her partners Beverly Emmons and William Hammond co-founded and directed the Technical Assistance Group (TAG) Foundation, Ltd., a non-profit service organization for dance and theatre.
This collection includes Jean Rosenthal lighting design materials.
Martha Graham (b. May 11, 1894, Allegheny, PA; d. April 1, 1991, New York, NY), dancer, choreographer, teacher, and company director, was a pioneer in the establishment of American modern dance and one of the principal choreographers of the twentieth century. In a career spanning more than seven decades, she developed her own movement technique and produced more than 180 choreographic works.
This collection includes Samuel Barber scores and correspondence, Aaron Copland scores and photographs, Gian Carlo Menotti scores and correspondence, and Jean Rosenthal lighting design materials.
Serge Grigoriev (b. October 5, 1883, Tichvin, Russia; d. June 28, 1968, London, England) studied ballet at the Imperial Theatre School in Saint Petersburg. In 1909, Serge Diaghilev appointed him as company régisseur (rehearsal director) for the first Paris season of his Ballets Russes. Upon the formation of Colonel W. de Basil's Ballets Russes de Monte Carlo, Grigoriev served once again as régisseur, remaining with the company until its dissolution in 1952.
This collection includes photographs of and writings about Serge Diaghilev; Serge Lifar photographs; and Vaslaw Nijinsky photographs.
Harriet Hoctor (b. September 25, 1905, Hoosick Falls, NY; d. June 9, 1977, Arlington, VA) was a dancer on Broadway and in films during the 1920s, 1930s and early 1940s. She began dance lessons at age twelve and at seventeen she began performing in vaudeville with the Keith/Orpheum Circuit. In 1926, Hoctor began a life-long dance partnership with William Holbrook.
This collection includes Ted Shawn correspondence.
Alan M. Kriegsman (b. February 28, 1928, Brooklyn, NY; d. August 31, 2012, Washington, D.C.) was chief dance critic for the Washington Post and the first dance writer to be awarded a Pulitzer Prize for criticism. He was married to Sali Ann Kriegsman (b. April 16, 1936, New York, NY), a dance historian, writer, critic, editor, advocate, funder, administrator, artistic director, producer, arts presenter, adviser, and teacher with not-for-profit public and private organizations and also independently.
This collection includes Merce Cunningham subject files.
Pearl Lang (b. Pearl Lack, May 29, 1921, Chicago, IL; d. February 24, 2009, New York, NY) was an American dancer, choreographer and teacher. A student of Martha Graham and Louis Horst, her long association with the Martha Graham Dance Company began with her performances as a soloist from 1942 until 1952 and as a guest artist from 1954 until the late 1970s.
This collection includes Paul Taylor clippings and Glen Tetley materials.
Grace McCrea (b. 1899) was a member of the Denishawn dance company, led by modern dance pioneers Ruth St. Denis (b. January 20, 1879, Newark, NJ; d. July 21, 1968, Los Angeles, CA) and Ted Shawn (b, October 21, 1891, Kansas City, MO; d. January 9, 1972, Orlando, FL). The Denishawn School and Dance Company was established in 1915 in Los Angeles; it moved to New York in the 1920s where it ultimately disbanded in 1931.
This collection includes Ted Shawn photographs, programs, and writings.
Daniel Nagrin (b. May 22, 1917, New York, NY; d. Dec. 29, 2008, Tempe, AZ) was an American dancer, choreographer, teacher, and writer. His teachers included Martha Graham. In addition to his work as a modern dancer, he also appeared in several important Broadway musicals.
This collection includes Merce Cunningham correspondence and photographs; Bill T. Jones correspondence and photographs; and Barton Mumaw correspondence.
Bronislava Nijinska (b. January 8, 1891 [December 27, 1890], Minsk, Russia; d. February 21, 1972, Pacific Palisades, CA) was a dancer, teacher, and a significant contributor to the development of twentieth-century ballet choreography. Nijinska studied ballet at the school of the Maryinsky Theater of Saint Petersburg, along with her celebrity brother, Vaslaw Nijinsky. She was a dancer in the Ballets Russes de Serge Diaghilev where she created a number of roles in ballets by Michel Fokine and Nijinsky.
This collection includes Jean Cocteau materials and Vaslaw Nijinsky materials.
This collection consists primarily of correspondence between Ruth Page and her husband Thomas Hart Fisher and composer Remi Gassmann, relating to Page’s ballet Billy Sunday (1948). Page (b. March 22, 1899, Indianapolis, IN; d. April 7, 1991, Chicago, IL) was an American dancer-choreographer and company director. Remi Gassmann (b. December 30, 1908, St. Mary's, KS; d. March 2, 1982, Strasbourg, France) was a composer, critic, educator, and pianist who was contracted to create the music score for Page's ballet.
This collection includes Lincoln Kirstein correspondence.
Ida Rubinstein (b. Lidiia L'vovna Rubinshtein, October 5, 1883, Kharkov, Russia; d. September 20, 1960, Vence, France) was a Russian dancer, actress, producer, impresario, and company director. She was a student of Mikhail Fokine, but by the usual standards of Russian ballet, she had little formal training. However, her great stage presence, considerable acting skill, and access to a significant family fortune enabled her to pursue a varied theatrical career.
This collection includes Henri Sauguet materials.
Sallie R. Wagner (b. Sarah Roberts Wagner, June 7, 1913, Wheeling, WV; d. August 30, 2006) was a photographer, author, weaver, and a benefactor and patron of dancer Erick Hawkins (1909-1994) and his dance company. Through Hawkins she met dancer and choreographer Martha Graham (1894-1991), who was married to Hawkins from 1948 until 1954, and composer, dancer, and choreographer Lucia Dlugoszewski (1925-2000).
This collection includes Erick Hawkins correspondence, writings, and photographs.
