Performance! The SAA Performing Arts Roundtable encourages the exchange of information on historical WINTER 2017 NEWSLETTER OF THE SA A and contemporary PERFORMING ARTS ROUNDTABLE documentation of music, dance, theatre, motion pictures, and other performance media.

I N S I D E THIS ISSUE:

Message from the P. 2 Co-Chairs

The Unconventional P. 4 Life of Henry Fillmore

The Living Legacies P. 10 of Alwin Nikolais and Murray Louis

A Crash Course in P. 20 Sheet Music

Barbara Morgan’s P. 24 Archive Returns to UCLA

News P. 36

Credits P. 40

P A G E 2

Message from the Co-Chairs Greetings PAR members, relationship to the proposed changes Now that 2017 is in full swing, we were addressed by the SAA Council, hope that your successes in 2016 are and once the dust had settled and the inspiring you for the year ahead at details of the change had been your many wonderful performing arts established, we were asked to discuss programs. The recent election and with Roundtable members the need to transition to a new presidential change our group’s name. administration may suggest to some of you that we’re living in an unusual With the transition from a roundtable chapter of United States history. to a section, SAA suggested a simple Thankfully, regardless of today’s change of our acronym from PAR politics, America’s vital and vibrant (Performing Arts Roundtable) to PAS performing arts community continues (Performing Arts Section). While this to challenge social injustice through was a logical substitution, we discov- beautiful and thoughtful artistic ered that the Percussive Arts Society expressions. And we, as archivists and used this same acronym for its special collections curators, have the organization, so we felt another privilege and opportunity to preserve acronym for our group would be and provide access to these expres- better. After a series of email sions for future generations. exchanges on our group listserv, general consensus emerged that the SAA’s reconfiguration of sections and group’s focus on the performing arts roundtables into one affinity group should be clearly represented in a new designation has been implemented, and acronym. The result of this discussion all of SAA’s roundtables are now led to two potential names: “PArts” designated as sections. The critical section, or “PAR” section, with the issues raised by SAA members in understanding that the “AR” portion of the acronym represents the first two letters of the word “Arts.” Based on the group’s feedback, we decided to keep PAR as the group’s acronym, in keeping with the latter option, making the new official group name “PAR Section.”

This past fall, our group’s superb Performance! newsletter editor, Helice Koffler, rotated out of this position, and Maureen Cech, who had been the

PERFORMANCE! WINTER 2017 P A G E 3

assistant newsletter editor, became the new information professional who is tasked with editor. Maureen worked with Helice for the archival description of music materials. past year on excellent issues of the newslet- Elizabeth will continue to provide updates to ter, which we hope everyone has enjoyed the PAR section as the project continues and reading. Helice’s work with the newsletter would be glad to answer questions and hear over the past several years has been excep- your feedback about issues related to archival tional, and we commend her for her tireless description of music scores. work and attention to the many details of Performance! We wish her well and welcome During this same meeting, Scott also talked Maureen as our new newsletter editor, with briefly about a special hip-hop panel presenta- Amanda Axel as assistant editor. Amanda is tion that he was developing with a colleague, the Processing Archivist for the Berklee Alonso Avila, from the University of Iowa, College of Music. which focused on the application of social justice principles to archival practice. The During the Performing Arts section’s 2016 proposed panel, “Liberation: A Hip Hop State annual meeting in Atlanta, Kate Crowe of Place and Mind,” was accepted by the 2017 discussed the strategic direction of the SAA Program Committee, and we look roundtable, specifically how we can most forward to presenting this alternative session effectively collaborate with our affiliate/ later this year. The session will feature hip- partner organizations (Music Library Associa- hop performance and open discussion with tion, Theater Library Association, American participants to actively define social justice as Theatre Archive Project, Dance Heritage a guiding preservation principle for archivists. Coalition) to ensure that we not only know This special hands-on musical dialogue will what’s happening with them, but also how we utilize archival hip-hop specialists and local can best contribute to their work. To that Portland hip-hop artists to express through end, Elizabeth followed Kate and discussed music and words social justice as a statement her work co-chairing the Music Library of preservation’s place and mindset. Opposite page: Association’s Working Group for Archival PAR members Description of Music Materials. The group’s To close out this short update, we want to enjoyed a tour of charge is to develop a supplement for remind you that the Performing Arts listserv the Johnny Describing Archives: A Content Standard to help is a great way to either gather performing Mercer collection at 2016 annual archivists and others who are tasked with arts information from your section colleagues conference, describing music scores in archival collections. or post information about your great Georgia State The timeframe for the project is two years, programs. The current listserv address is University Library with the group’s recommendations to be [email protected]. completed in 2018. Although the Music Library Association is the lead organization Here’s wishing all of our performing arts behind the initiative, the working group’s colleagues a wonderful start to your 2017 membership has broad representation and year. includes many SAA members, including one representative from SAA’s Technical Subcom- Scott Schwartz and Elizabeth Surles mittee for DACS. Our goal is to establish Performing Arts Roundtable Section guidelines for best practices that will meet the Co-Chairs needs of any archivist, librarian, or other P A G E 4 USING ARCHIVES Klaxons, Screamers, Rolling Thunder, and Mike the Radio Hound: The Unconventional Life of Henry Fillmore

This page: Scenario (1971)

by Alwin Niko- by Scott W. Schwartz lais

Scott W. Schwartz is the Director and Archivist for Music and Fine Arts for the Sousa Archives and Center for American Music at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Each November, the University of Illi- performances with the original Fill- nois’ Sousa Archives and Center for more band made him a star in the American Music celebrates American 1920s and 1930s. Music Month. This year, we examined America’s trombone and circus music This year’s programming was well re- performance traditions through the ceived by the many students, faculty, music and life of Henry Fillmore (1881- and members of the general public

1956). who attended, but some events went in directions that were completely un- We began the celebration of expected and likely would have Fillmore’s 135th birthday in brought a raucous laugh from Fillmore November with a master were he alive today. class and lecture by the country’s leading bass trom- James Henry Fillmore (1881-1956) was bonist, Doug Yeo, followed an unconventional trombonist, com- by a halftime show featuring poser, and bandmaster who loved cir- the University’s Marching cus music, American football, and his Illini Band performing Mere- music-loving dog. He was the only son dith Wilson’s famous 76 of a deeply religious family, and his par- Trombones. From the fifty- ents hoped that he would either be- yard line, seventy-six trom- come a minister or a church compos- bonists from across the state er. Fillmore’s father and uncle owned of Illinois played for over Cincinnati’s Fillmore Brothers Compa- 45,000 fans. The annual cele- ny, one of the country’s leading pub- bration closed on December lishers of church music and hymnals at 3rd with a special concert of the turn of the twentieth century. Fillmore’s original composi- tions performed by the Uni- Growing up with four sisters and versity’s Wind Orchestra and Hindsley deeply religious parents was not always Symphonic Band, and the Cincinnati, easy for Fillmore. The hustle of Cin- Ohio, Fillmore Wind Band in the Kran- cinnati’s river wharfs and his and his nert Center’s grand Foellinger Great Uncle Fred’s love of the many circuses Hall. These ensembles were joined by that passed through town frequently local “singing” canine Missy Boshaft distracted him from the drudgeries of (aka Missy the Mischievous One) to school, piano lessons, and weekly trips bark the role of Fillmore’s beloved mu- to church. While he showed little in- sical hound dog Mike, whose exclusive terest in learning the piano, he taught

PERFORMANCE! WINTER 2017 P A G E 5 himself to play the duced Henry to the guitar, flute, and seedy-side of circus violin. However, the life. Homesick, Fill- trombone fascinat- more returned to ed him the most Cincinnati, where because it always his father enrolled led the circus bands. him in Ohio’s Mi- His father felt trom- ami Military Insti- bonists weren’t re- tute. spectable musicians, but Fillmore’s Fillmore was tasked mother recognized to form a string the instrument’s orchestra—the first potential to keep of its kind for the him out of mischief. school—by the In- His father eventual- stitute’s founder, ly agreed to pay for Colonel Orvon “proper” music les- Graff Brown. This page: James Henry sons so that Henry Brown had been Fillmore family could accompany impressed by the portrait, January their church’s Sun- young cadet’s lead- 1888 day school choir. ership qualities on the football field Miami Military Institute While Fillmore’s and innovative mu- cadets, circa1901 formal trombone sical abilities (the lessons were short-lived, he continued playing young Fillmore repaired a broken piano while for anyone willing to listen. His unruly teen- completing a punishment.) Henry’s work as Opposite page: age, however, humor embarrassed the family, the orchestra’s student director was a turning Henry and after one shocking escapade in 1898, he point in his life: his grades improved dramati- Fillmore, ran away from home to join John Robinson’s cally, and he began to manage his irreverent circa 1930 10 Big Shows Circus. His brief tenure as a cir- sense of humor. cus roustabout and pickup trombonist intro- P A G E 6 USING ARCHIVES

This page: Scenario (1971) by Alwin Niko- lais

After graduating in 1902, Fillmore was Circus as its band leader. Fillmore also This page: given a position in the family business played the trombone and calliope in Miami Military Institute varsity music company, which his father felt the circus band. The couple remained football team was the best way to recoup the money with the circus until September of that (Henry Fillmore he had invested in his son’s college year when it was shut down for illegal with football), Fall education. The position, however, did gambling operations. Jobless, they 1899 not suit Fillmore’s abilities. A brief stint were forced to return to Cincinnati

Opposite page: as a student at the College of Music of and to the Fillmore Brothers Compa- Miss Trombone Cincinnati that same year only con- ny. smear, 1908 firmed a classical music career was not for Henry. His improved musicianship Over the next several years Fillmore’s provided opportunities to perform skill on the trombone continued to with Cincinnati’s many wind bands and improve, and he was frequently asked orchestras, which helped supplement to play in Cincinnati bands, vaudeville the meager wages his father continued theater orchestras, and minstrel to offer. shows. While the extra money helped to make up for the modest salary his During a family summer vacation to St. father was still paying him, these per- Louis in 1904, Fillmore fell in love with formances also allowed Fillmore to Mabel May Jones, an exotic dancer showcase many of his new music com- performing at the St. Louis World Ex- positions, including The Victorious First position. He married Mabel on April (1907), The Circus Bee (1908), and his 10, 1905, much to his parents’ chagrin. first novelty trombone smear, Miss When the family tension finally became Trombone (1908). All of these compo- intolerable, Fillmore left his father’s sitions were published by his father’s company to join the Lemon Brothers company under Fillmore’s own name

PERFORMANCE! WINTER 2017 P A G E 7 because they not only reflected well on Fill- With the help of fellow Shriner John Robin- more Brothers Company, but they also helped son, Fillmore programmed the first Shrine cir- supplement sagging sales of church hymnals. cus event in early 1922 to raise funds for the But when James Fillmore felt his son’s new organization’s charities and his band’s travel compositions were too risqué to be published expenses. Under Fillmore’s direction, the Cin- under the Fillmore name, Henry published the cinnati Masons produced elaborate circus works under a number of pseudonyms includ- events that brought in large sums of money. ing Gus Beans, Harold Bennett, Ray Hall, Har- But by 1925, Henry’s excessive expenditures ry Hartley, Al Hayes, Will Huff, and Henrietta for his bandsmen’s travels and their immoder- Moore. ate consumption of alcohol during these trips were beginning to raise concerns. The Cincin- In 1919, Fillmore became a Freemason and nati Temple’s leaders accused Fillmore of fi- joined Cincinnati’s Syrian Temple Band as a nancial irresponsibility. Fillmore stepped trombonist under the direction of Herman down as the band’s director and resigned his Bellstedt, who had previously performed with membership as a Freemason. Several band the Sousa Band. Two years later, Henry was members were unwilling to play under anoth- appointed its director, and he quickly began er conductor, and they left the Shrine band to weeding out the weakest players. The newly form the Fillmore Band later that year. refined line-up gave its first public perfor- mance during the Shriner’s June 1921 Imperial Although 1925 proved a challenging year, Council meeting in Des Moines, Iowa, and it more of Fillmore’s new compositions were was voted the convention’s best. published and performed by bands across the country. In addition, a significant highlight that P A G E 8 USING ARCHIVES

This page: Scenario (1971) by Alwin Niko- lais

This page: Henry Fillmore with Mike the Radio Hound Fillmore, ca. 1930

year for both Henry and Mabel Fill- used for the WSAI Radio Station’s more was the adoption a coon hound newly-aired baseball game broadcasts puppy. The runt of its litter, the little that Henry helped produce. pup was not expected to live, but un- der the Fillmores’ care, the puppy During the spring of 1925, Fillmore thrived. Henry Fillmore named the wrote a special character piece for his dog “Mike” after the microphones Shrine band titled The Whistling Farmer

PERFORMANCE! WINTER 2017 P A G E 9

Boy. The composition utilized a variety of bands’ amusement. When I came out to the sound effects produced by the percussion sec- stage to explain that Fillmore’s Playfellow tion to imitate the sounds of his uncle’s farm. March was written specifically for Mike and to The instrument that was used to re-create introduce Missy and her handler to the audi- barking sounds was notoriously unreliable and ence, our canine soloist was greeted with en- frequently required the percussionists to bark thusiastic applause, which she graciously ac- like dogs whenever it failed to work. Recog- cepted. I also mentioned that this was Missy’s nizing Mike’s easy barking behavior whenever debut public performance and suggested the he chased a ball, Henry started training Mike audience was welcome to join her barking to bark in time. When Mike was ready for solo with the conductor’s cues. The band be- rehearsal, he sat on a chair next to Henry as gan its peppy performance, and when the con- he conducted. Each time Henry raised his ductor gave his cue, the audience barked per- hand to cue Mike to bark, the pup barked in fectly in time...while Missy just looked at the perfect tempo, surprising the band’s members conductor. Undaunted, the audience contin- with his special musical ability. From this sim- ued to bark and provide words of encourage- ple “audition,” Mike became a full-fledged ment to Missy, their efforts inspiring only a member of the Shrine band, and his first public half-hearted yawn from the dog. After the performance with the ensemble occurred on band finished the selection, the audience ap- January 15, 1926, during the Cincinnati Tem- plauded loudly, and Missy took a quick bow ple’s annual election of new officers. He later before prancing off stage. Then she started “sang” with the band during its performances barking. for the Temple’s 1926 circus. While this would be the last year that Fillmore would When Missy came out for her second music direct the Shrine band, Mike became the selection, Whistling Famer Boy, a voice from country’s most popular radio personality, after the audience shouted, “Come on Missy, you his first radio broadcast with the Fillmore do it.” The music started, and on the conduc- Band on October 4, 1927, on Cincinnati’s tor’s cue, the audience again barked in perfect WSAI station. The popular pup even began to time, but our canine diva just looked at her receive more fan mail than Fillmore himself. handler and laid down on the stage as the au- In October 1928, Mike and Fillmore became dience’s laughter nearly drowned out the the subject of a Pathé short news feature film, band’s performance. Audio Review, filmed at Cincinnati’s WLW ra- dio studio, and the following month Mike rec- Immediately following the last note of the Fill- orded The Whistling Farmer Boy with the Fill- more selection, Missy stood up and with a more Band for Columbia Records. wag of her tail and acknowledged the applause as if to say, “Well done, audience.” Fillmore and Mike’s weekly radio program was cancelled in 1930. Mike continued performing As I walked off stage behind Missy, I could across the Midwest until 1932 when he be- almost feel the laughter of Henry Fillmore and came quite sick and died on July 26. Fillmore Mike, reminding us that Fillmore’s beloved was devastated by Mike’s death, and he never coonhound remains the only canine singer to again used a dog for his band’s performances. perform his music in public. Some might sug- gest that Henry and Mike may have gotten the Returning to our final concert this past De- best of this silly Sousa archivist, but on further cember, our star canine soloist Missy had reflection, I am left with the happy thought been well-rehearsed for her performance with that we were able to make our entire concert our two bands. Backstage, she warmed up her audience bark like dogs for Henry Fillmore’s voice with barking exercises, much to the 135th birthday. P A G E 10 USING ARCHIVES In Motional Context: The Living Legacies of Alwin Nikolais and Murray Louis

This page: Scenario (1971) by Alwin Niko- lais An interview with Alberto “Tito” Del Saz and Marcia Kelly by Maureen Cech

Revolutionary in modern American dance and choreography, Alwin Nikolais (1910-1993) and Murray Louis (1926-2016) pioneered a philosophy known for decentralizing the dancer and focusing on the motional context of movement in, with, and around obstacles. Although they had their own studios, Nikolais and Louis collaborated over a forty-year span, their experi- ments pushing the boundaries of the avant-garde with elaborate stage productions.

The Nikolais/Louis Dance Foundation for Dance and the Nikolais Legacy Committee aim to keep this philosophy vital to the dance and artistic communities through reconstructions, teaching, and the Alwin Nikolais/Murray Louis Dance Collection held at Ohio University.

Opposite page: Can you both tell me a bit about was exploring my artistry; I felt like Scenario (1971) your backgrounds? skating was not giving me what I really by Alwin Nikolais needed as an artist to fulfill my needs. Marcia: I danced with Murray Louis in So I came to New York with very little the early half of the ‘70s and with Al- dance background and I stumbled upon win Nikolais in the second half of the the Nikolais/Louis school. It was quite ‘70s. I served as a master teacher in prominent in the ‘80s—this was the both companies as we toured interna- early ‘80s—and I came to New York, tionally 30-40 weeks a year. So, I de- and I dove into the technique and into veloped an interesting perspective the whole philosophy. A year later I while working with them when they was in the company. I worked closely were both at the height of their crea- with Alwin Nikolais for the last ten tive and touring careers. I was able to years of his life. I have remained the experience their creative processes as artistic director of the rehearsal direc- a performer. I really benefitted from tor for the Nikolais/Louis Foundation. that, and it quite clearly informed the Now I am the person who keeps the rest of my life—which was not neces- legacy and archives alive through rep- sarily in dance, but in a variety of other ertory performances and teaching resi- activities. dencies. My mission, in the last ten-to- twenty years after ending my perform- Tito: And I came from a very different ing career, has been to keep this legacy background in that I had already ac- alive and as vital as possible. complished a professional career. I used to be a figure skater, so I came What is the Legacy Committee, from the skating world. At the age of and what are its goals? seventeen, I became the Spanish na- tional champion, and I went on tour Marcia: [laughs] The goal is to…talk. with a group called Holiday on Ice. I Many of us are at different stages in life toured around the world. Then I felt and [belong to] different generations of like I needed to change the way that I artists exposed to the philosophy that

PERFORMANCE! WINTER 2017 P A G E 11

Nikolais and Murray created. And it’s a philos- Tito: Often we think of dance as the art of ophy, not a style. It isn’t a set of movement motion. [But] with these meetings and these motifs or concrete ways of going about doing meetings and exchanges of words and ideas, steps. Rather, it is a set of concepts that al- we realize that this motional philosophy has lows one to embody and create essential qual- very universal principles and fundamentals. ity or gestalt of a piece. So the resulting artis- How do we talk about dance without neces- tic expression that comes from this philoso- sarily having to focus on what separates dance phy is quite varied and unique. [We] get to- from other forms? There are these principles gether and we talk about it. We talk about that Marcia was mentioning that we have in how this philosophy is related to other art common with other art forms. We bounce

forms, or to neuroscience, or to astrophysics, ideas off each other about how to communi- or any subject that happens to come our way cate the experience of embodying these prin- that is inspiring to us or that we feel akin to. ciples as performers. In the Legacy Commit- We meet at least four times a year to do this. tee, we are speaking the same language and We support and put our energy into the we appreciate how extremely valuable the Foundation and Tito, who is actively keeping Nikolais/Louis philosophy has been for our both Nik and Murray’s work alive and moving lives beyond the classroom, into our daily forward. lives.

P A G E 12

Marcia: And part of it is understand- Tito: I think by calling it a living ar-

ing the responsibility we feel to keep it chive, we are making the connection alive in our own creative work and to that dance is a live art form because share it with the younger students and that is experienced through a live per- the younger generation of artists com- formance. Ohio University is the entity ing through. It is a very simple philoso- that is keeping these works alive by phy dealing with how to embody and preserving them, by making sure the qualify time, space, shape, and motion. materials themselves don’t decay and And these are the elements, as Tito that they are cataloged in a safe envi- said, that are common to every art ronment. The bigger job is how we are

form. So we’re working to keep the able, with the collaboration between philosophy moving forward. the Foundation and the archive and

This sounds like part of a living Library, to make this information avail- archive. So what does a “living able to the general public. We want to archive” mean to you, and how is make sure that this material at Ohio it important for maintaining an University is available to anybody who artist’s—especially a dancer or wants to do research on dance, to choreographer’s—legacy? view photographs to get a sense of what these individuals were about.

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They experienced World War II, they re- us, it’s the qualitative integration and natural ceived great accolades during their lives, and understanding of what Nik’s bigger picture they had great opportunities to meet different was. For me that was a very clear starting cultures and personalities. We find it a chal- point about his work and his understanding lenge to make these materials available to a about the art of dance. mass audience. The archives need to be digit- ized and made available online. We are now in Marcia: We were constantly challenged the process of discussing how we make these through improvisational exploration to qualify materials more available through multimedia motion and create different states of being. online so that people have the opportunity to Let’s say you’re extending your leg. It’s not not have to be there physically to be able to the fact that you’re extending your leg, it’s work with the materials. how you extend your leg. What is the motion- al context in which you are extending that leg? Marcia: Tito is the person who places works It really required the dancers, both in class with contemporary dance organizations, and on stage, to be completely and totally pre- whether they are professional or university sent in the space of their bodies—and present companies. He uses the video archive to set in time—so that one could embody motion Nik and Murray’s dances on these groups so and embody the idea of sculpting the body that they might be seen as living art. The best into and out of motion. Much of that was inte- videos were done later in the ‘80s and ‘90s gral to what we would call technique class. It with advanced technology. But many of the was not a movement vocabulary; it was a vo- videos that were made earlier, when some of cabulary qualifying the elements. Opposite page: the pieces were originally conceived, are in Crucible (1985) by danger of disintegrating! There is a perspec- With this complicated, involved philoso- Alwin Nikolais tive to be gained when one sees how a piece phy and the use of multimedia and indi- evolves from its conception through genera- vidual dancers’ interpretations, can you tions of dancers who have had the opportuni- describe what goes into reconstructing a ty to perform it. Nik and Murray were very dance? much proponents of having the performers make the dances their own. So it’s a very in- Tito: Going back to what you just men- teresting issue to preserve the different gener- tioned...Nikolais incorporated sound, light, ations of dancers who performed the pieces. color, design, and motion into his creative aesthetic. Dancers need to know how to qual- I know this is a complicated question, ify the basic elements to serve total vision of but what is the Nikolais/Louis technique, the choreography. One thing maybe we can or philosophy, as you both have called it, tack onto the definition of the technique is is a better word. And how does a living that we were given—and now as teachers we archive help preserve it? are hoping to give to our students—the un- derstanding of and the breaking down of Tito: I often start by saying that Nik defined dance into different layers. Four of the funda- dance as the art of motion not emotion. We mentals we use in the technique are the ideas are dealing with an art form that speaks to the of shape, space, time, and motion—they are innate need for the human being to be in mo- the pillars of the whole philosophy or tech- tion. That was the seed or the motivation for nique. Often we were assured and it was re- Nikolais and for us…to active, engaged, and enforced that we were unique in our own committed to his work...the natural need to ways. The whole technique requires the indi- be in that state of motion. There is a big dif- vidual to perform. We were encouraged to ference between movement and motion. For gather the knowledge and then to start finding P A G E 14

a voice for ourselves. It wasn’t about tural elements at work in that multi-

doing things the way Nikolais did it or media space. Murray Louis was a danc- the way the teacher taught, but it was er’s dancer, and much of everything about the investigation process. It was the dancers expressed in his dances This page: about taking the time to really under- was the internal space and motion of Scenario (1971) by stand the principles in our own bodies the dancer’s body—the facility of the Alwin Nikolais and then how we can manage those body and the eloquence of the body.

ideas through motion. They came from really very different Opposite page: Elizabeth Higgins places, but used the same philosophy dances in “Girls Marcia: And those ideas, when we to teach dancers to be able to do their Trio” from were able to manifest them, became work. Vaudeville of the colors on the palette for the choreog- Elements (1998) Photo by Tom rapher. Murray Louis and Alwin Niko- Tito: And going back to your question Caravaglia. lais, were very different creators. Ni- of setting the repertory, I’ve been do- kolais was totally involved with a large, ing it for over twenty years now. It’s spatial, multimedia environment with very easy to teach steps to dancers costumes, props, extensions, color, nowadays. They are trained to be very visual projections through space, and efficient, very quick at learning phrases the dancers were the motional, sculp- of steps or counts very, very quickly.

PERFORMANCE! WINTER 2017 P A G E 15

And sometimes you only have a week to instill are really submerged in the work and in the in them a philosophy of sixty years. So the whole philosophical understanding of this way I work, I teach the steps very quickly be- work, new doors open for them. They see cause I know [the dancers] can manage, and possibilities of what can happen for their own they feel they have accomplished something growth. They reach a place they couldn’t at very quickly. But then I spend the rest of the first imagine. week just giving feedback on how this idea was conceived, what kind of qualitative chang- Marcia: Partly due to the whole competition es need to happen, because often this is the system…and the huge emphasis on being very first time [younger dancers] have had any kind facile and technically accomplished, there’s this of contact with this specific work or tech- element of fear that you’re not being perfect. nique. Often they haven’t heard of his And somehow you’re not able to accomplish (Nikolais) name. So how do you take sixty something unless you do it perfectly. I think years of someone’s thinking and process and one of the values of this particular philosophy ideas and bring them to a place of understand- is that it takes that fear away because what ing and accomplish something with the danc- you’re doing is refocusing on how you do what ers in a very short amount of time? Which is you do, and not the shiny end-product. And I often two or three weeks at the most, if it’s a don’t mean that major reconstruction. So, the challenge we pejoratively. I find is, how do you make these dancers un- mean that there’s derstand the qualitative intentions and ap- more to dance proaches and subtleties and nuances of the than technical movement? Some of the movements might be perfection. very ordinary to them because they are doing There’s a mastery it daily. One of Nikolais’ approaches was, how that comes with do you make something extraordinary out of the ability to the ordinary? It takes the work of the per- qualify what former in terms of how much do you trans- you’re doing. cend beyond steps and go into that place of Once you crack becoming, as Marcia was mentioning, another through that per- element of this bigger picture, this bigger envi- fect-ness, there’s ronment he was creating on the stage. a whole new world for dancers You mentioned some of the challenges to explore. It’s of trying to teach this approach, but quite amazing what do you find most rewarding about when it happens teaching younger dancers? and you see it happening before Tito: The most rewarding thing is that once you as a teacher they get a little taste of it, once they get a lit- or when you’re tle bit of a hint of what it could’ve been work- reconstructing a ing with Nikolais or being in the company, dance. It’s really they are hooked. I think you often need to quite amazing. break a barrier where they are a little hesi- tant, or a little put-off in a way. Sometimes you are dealing with the simplicity of it, but within that simplicity, can you see the difficulty of it? Once they reach that place where they P A G E 16

Do you document your own pro- through someone else’s eye.

cess of reconstructing dances? And if so, how? Marcia: Is that video on the Founda- tion’s website? Tito: I usually work with a lot of uni- versities, and the universities take it Tito: It’s on YouTube. It’s up to the upon themselves to document it de- university or college that I’m working pending on how much value they see in with to do that. Most of the time peo- the process. Usually I work with a fac- ple do tape the performance, though ulty member who is in charge of the not always the process, and that be-

piece once I leave because I am there comes part of the archive. for one or two weeks. The perfor- mance is three months down the road. How do you work with the Niko- So, there is always a faculty member in lais/Louis collection at Ohio Uni- charge. Five or six years ago, I recon- versity? structed a piece at Ohio University. And the faculty member I worked with Marcia: Tito has a duplicate collection took it upon herself to make a docu- of the more recent digitized video doc- mentary about the whole process. It umentation used in reconstructions of was quite interesting for me to see it choreography. We don’t necessarily go from someone else’s point of view and into the artistic lives and creative pro-

PERFORMANCE! WINTER 2017 P A G E 17 cess of Alwin Nikolais and Murray Louis in his work. Because the work is so visual and our own creative work. We don’t necessarily accessible to people in terms of the design make use of the archive in order to do what quality, the color, and structure. People in the Foundation needs to do or what I’m do- photography will be interested in looking at ing, which is different. Though I have been to his photographs. Some of his major works the archive. I have put on the white gloves and were created in the ‘50s, ‘60s, and ‘70s, and gone through the boxes! And we are actively they were extremely impactful at that time trying to improve the quality of what is there. because nothing was being done in the same way. He was a visionary. He broke many rules, Tito: That is the physical home of where all and he was groundbreaking in his approach to the work is housed. I have access to the col- that aesthetic point of view that he had in lection at the University and to my own pri- combining all of those elements—light, sound, vate collection here in New York. The collec- images, costumes. tion (at Ohio) is hopefully housed there for life so we know it is in a safe environment. Marcia: Nikolais owned one of the first Moog The collection went there almost twenty synthesizers! [Laughs.] Mr. Moog gave it to years ago now, [and] we are trying to find the him! Nik created many of his own musical funding to take it to the next step: how we scores with that instrument. Nik was the first can make it available to an audience without American multimedia choreographer. You see having to actually visit the archives. these huge stage productions in the perfor- mance world now, and it’s kind of comical to So you’re interested in being able to us because Nik started doing this in the ‘50s, Opposite page: pursue digitization, perhaps of the vide- ‘60s, and ‘70s. He was pre-Pilobolus. Pilobo- “Mantis” from os, or of photographs of different kinds lus was after Nikolais, and many contempo- Imago (1963) by of productions? rary audiences erroneously believe Pilobolus Alwin Nikolais was the beginning of multimedia choreogra- Tito: Yes, that’s our next step. Finding either phy. Cirque de Soleil is a similar kind of exten- a grant or a funder or a donor. It requires a sion of the incredibly facile staging and cos- lot of work and time. It’s quite a labor- tuming that was the hallmark of Nikolais’ intensive project, as someone must physically work. sit in the room monitoring the transfer from one format to another. We’d imagine a year- What would you like professional archi- long project with a dedicated person. And vists working with these types of collec- then developing a website from the Library tions to know from your perspective? through which people can centrally access the How would you like to collaborate with material. archivists and special collections librari- ans? Marcia: We hope to create a gateway. Marcia: For me, I think archivists need to Besides the dancing community, whom understand that the physical objects and pa- do you see as other audiences that pers and everything that is stored for preser- would benefit from greater accessibility vation combined doesn’t really give you the to the collection at Ohio? spirit or presence of the artist, but may give you an entryway into the thought processes, Tito: I think just the fact that Nikolais was a the evolution of the art through time, the cre- composer, a set designer, a costume designer, ative genius of the person involved. But that a choreographer, a lighting designer, there is ultimately, they’re there so that one could potential for many people to be curious about recreate the work in space and time so it P A G E 18

could be performed. loged. The collection wasn’t just put into a box for generations. She really Tito: I think we were very lucky at took care from a personal level of Ohio that the first person who was the making sure that everything was seen curator of the collection (Judith Con- and taken care of, and it will remain for nick) took great, great care. She made years and generations to come and to a ten-year commitment to make sure enjoy. everything was preserved and cata-

PERFORMANCE! WINTER 2017 P A G E 19

Marcia: Your questions are thought- where Nikolais was designated by the French provoking because we just lost Murray Louis a government to open the first French center of year ago. They have both passed away, and all modern dance. He was the director there for of us who are the holders of this particular three years and every major city in France has philosophy are feeling a greater responsibility one of his centers. The archives allow the towards keeping it alive. Having the archives dance community and any other art form to live and also encourage the younger dancers understand the importance of these two art- to extend themselves in different ways. This ists. They had a huge footprint in not only the particular philosophy can provide them with a history of dance, but of creating teachers, path toward greater creative expression. That choreographers, and even critics. Critics feeling of responsibility extends to the preser- needed to learn how to view dance in a differ- vation of the archives. ent way as well. Nik and Murray were doing things that were new at the time. They work Opposite page: I think certainly that the archival profes- feels very contemporary nowadays, and I think Solo by Murray sion shares the Foundation’s ideas of not that is was one of the values of the archives— Louis, undated just preservation but also emphasizing these are not museum pieces. We want to use. keep them as current and available as possible Opposite page:

to inspire and stimulate new generations of Marcia: Yes! And to explore! For example, dancers and artists. Nikolais created with inks and colors and paints the slides through which light was pro- jected onto the stage space and dancers, and just those slides alone are amazing little pieces of art. So, there are many ways to look at it. And to make it available so that people could see what he did create.

Tito: I think it’s important that one of the missions of the Library is to represent how important Alwin Nikolais and Murray Louis were and are chronologically and historically in the United States and in the world. I’m on my way to France to teach for three weeks, Marcia Wardell Kelly performed for both the Murray Louis Dance Company (1970-1975) and The Nikolais Dance Theatre (1975, 1978-1981). She served on the faculty of the Nikolais/Louis Dance Theatre Lab in New York, as well as the Centre National de Dance Contemporaine in France; the American Dance Festival in Durham, North Carolina; and University of California, Santa Cruz and the University of Minnesota, St. Paul. Ms. Kelly has recently published A Dancer’s Pocket Guide to Embodied Performance (2016). Photo credit: Audrey Kelly

Alberto “Tito” Del Saz serves as the co-director of the Nikolais/Louis Foundation for Dance. Mr. Del Saz began his career in figure skating, and at the age of 16, became the Spanish national champion. He studied at the Nikolais/Louis Dance Lab in New York, under Alwin Nikolais and Murray Louis themselves, as well as Hanya Holm, Claudia Gitelman, Tandy Beal, and Beverly Blossom. Mr. Del Saz debuted as a lead soloist with the Nikolais Dance Theatre in 1985. He is actively involved in reconstructions of the Nikolais/Louis repertory and with the Alwin Nikolais/Murray Louis Dance Collection held at Ohio University. P A G E 20

USING ARCHIVES

A Crash Course in Understanding and Describing Cage Sheet Music

by Jessica Ritchie

Jessica Ritchie is the Head of Special Collections and University Archives at Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Virginia, where she administers manuscript, archival and rare book collections in Perry Library and music special collections in the Diehn Composers Room. Be- fore joining the Libraries, Jessica was the Dickson Librarian for the Jean Outland Chrysler Art Library at the Chrysler Museum, where she oversaw the 112,000-volume art library including archival and rare book collections.

As a musician, it’s easy to underestimate (SCUA) at Old Dominion University how intimidating sheet music can be to (ODU). I discovered that while music someone who doesn’t know how to special collections are a major collecting read it. I remember thumbing through area of the department, none of the my mother’s piano scores as a child other staff members have music back- wondering how she made sense of what grounds. This wasn’t always the case; for was on the pages. It was as if someone many years, the Libraries had the posi- spilled ink on the paper, leaving a myste- tion of Librarian Archivist for Music rious cipher of lines, dots, and symbols. It Special Collections whose job was to took years of studying the cello and oversee the Diehn Composers Room, taking music theory classes to unlock the which houses collections of twentieth deeper mathematics and elegance of century postwar composers. When the music composition. In college, I was librarian who had held that position left fascinated by the history of sheet music ODU, library administration decided to and how it evolved from oral traditions, repurpose the position to become the to complicated patterns of written more acutely needed position of Univer- symbols, to the bits and bytes of today’s sity Archivist. While this was ultimately computer-based compositions. Consider- the right move for the University, it ing how complex music is and how it has meant that SCUA staff who had never changed over time, it’s no wonder that worked with music collections were now archivists can feel overwhelmed by sheet in charge of processing, describing and music collections. Even archivists who making available complicated collections are comfortable reading music may of contemporary music. acquire a complicated collection of jazz lead sheets or medieval open scores and In order to help staff members feel more think, how can I possibly make sense of comfortable working with music collec- this? For archivists without a music tions, I designed a training course to background, it can seem impossible. teach them the fundamentals of sheet music. We set aside time for a staff I encountered this issue in the first week retreat so that we could focus on of my current job as Head of Special learning the new skills together. While Collections and University Archives the staff didn’t learn how to “read”

PERFORMANCE! WINTER 2017 P A G E 21

music, they music collections might be did become hiding out there waiting to literate in be discovered? sheet music fundamen- tals and I offered a workshop at the could Spring identify and meeting of describe the Mid- such key Atlantic information Regional as title, Archives composer, Confer- format, and ence in instrumen- 2016. This page, tation. At While I clockwise from the end of knew I top: “This Wander the session, Has Come they felt Home.” Music much more by Frank Erick- comforta- son, words by Pat Cohn. ble working Handwritten with sheet lead sheet, music, and I Frank Erickson was confi- Papers dent that Handwritten our music score for faculty and students “Meditation for would be better able to Organ,” Allan find what they need. Blank Papers

Excerpt from After the session, I “Festive and spoke with a colleague Famous Cho- and friend of mine who rales for Band,” works at a special Frank Erickson Papers collections public library, and she shared that their collection contained sheet music that they didn’t know how to describe. Without anyone on staff with specialized music knowledge, the materials were simply described as “sheet music.” Given that many institutions are facing shrinking budg- ets and limited staffing, I wondered how many other archivists must be in this same position? And how many P A G E 22

Cage wouldn’t be able to teach people to they needed. When members of the “read” music in two hours, I could help local symphony visited the archives to them feel more confident and knowl- find harp, flute and piano music for a edgeable about basic sheet music literacy. performance, the finding aid did not list the instrumentation or format of the The morning of the session, there were pieces so they spent hours looking archivists and librarians present from through the entire collection to find the many different types of institutions, right parts. including seminaries, state universities and private institutions. The participants’ With the attendees feeling more positive music background ranged from no about the relevance of their collections, I experience at all to expert knowledge of moved on to sheet music fundamentals. I music. Some attendees said they had demonstrated how to identify key recently acquired large collections of information on a piece of sheet music sheet music, while others had discovered and how to make sense of certain small collections of music in their univer- idiosyncrasies and words such as “opus,” sity archives or manuscript collections. “arrangement,” and “traditional.” Nearly everyone reported that they had sheet music in their collections, but that Next came the more complicated task of they did not have anyone on staff who identifying formats, types and instrumen- felt confident describing it. I was also tation of sheet music, i.e., different types somewhat surprised to learn that the of scores and parts (vocal and/or instru- attendees felt unsure about how re- mentation). I touched on all the major searchers and musicians might use their types of Western music from medieval collections. illuminated open scores to contemporary compositions and sketches. We talked I began the session by explaining that about opera, jazz, orchestral music, music collections can be great tools for sacred music, popular music, and more. I community engagement, since musicians showed a wide range of examples, are often excited to premier works or to including Dixieland vocal scores and design unique programs that are mean- untitled Coltrane sketches. I discussed ingful for their communities. We also how the structure of all these very discussed how historians, musicologists, different types of music tend to follow and researchers in a variety of disciplines similar patterns and that there are ways are able to use music archives for to glean important information without innovative research. We then talked being fully fluent in what was on the about how important it is to find a page. We also talked about how to balance between standard archival identify published and unpublished description and the information seeking works, since music special collections can behaviors of musicians, since they can be fraught with thorny legal aspects of sometimes be at odds. I used an example title and intellectual copyright. from a previous institution where there was a large collection of 19th-century In structuring music finding aids and domestic sheet music that was described creating digital collection metadata very well according to standard archival entries, I suggested finding an exemplary description; however, it was, unfortu- finding aid. If you ever feel too confused nately, difficult for musicians to find what by a collection, you can also seek out an

PERFORMANCE! WINTER 2017 P A G E 23

intern or volunteer with a music background, or and start promoting their sheet music collec- reach out to a musician in your community or tions to both their institutions and local commu- institution. Even though I have a degree in music, nities. To me, this was the best reward, since I often have to reach out to colleagues who music enriches the world and adds such extraor- know more about jazz or contemporary music dinary depth to the historical record. Hopefully, than I do. as more archivists feel comfortable working with music collections, there will be more available to At this point, as we often are after a presenta- discover. tion, I was suddenly gripped by the fear that had I made things worse. Was everyone going to leave the session feeling even more confused? I somewhat hesitantly concluded the training with an exercise in which I displayed several different types of sheet music and asked the attendees to identify the information necessary for describing This page: the music in a finding aid. I was impressed—and Special Collec- relieved—with how quickly they were able to tions Specialist Mona Farrow make sense of even the trickiest examples! studies a full score by com- Some attendees reported to me afterward that poser John they were excited to return to their institutions Duffy in the John Duffy Papers P A G E 24 COLLECTION SPOTLIGHT Progress Report: Visionary Photographer Barbara Morgan’s Archive Returns to UCLA and Reveals the Inner

Landscape That Is a Dancer’s World

by Genie Guerard and Kelly Kress

Genie Guerard is the Manuscripts Librarian in the UCLA Library Special Collections and cura-

tor for archives in the Arts and Humanities, with a specialization in dance and the visual arts.

Genie is also currently chair of the Dance Heritage Coalition, a national alliance of institu-

tions holding dance materials whose mission is to preserve, make accessible, enhance, and

augment the dance materials of the past, present and future.

Kelly Kress is the processing archivist in the UCLA Library Special Collections, currently work-

ing with the Barbara and Willard Morgan papers. Kelly came to UCLA in February 2016, after 10 years in Chicago working as an archivist for the Newberry Library.

In December 2014, descendants of Barbara and Willard Morgan surround- ed a large freight truck bearing thirteen pallets of shrink-wrapped boxes head- ed from upstate New York to UCLA. The truck, containing over 300 boxes of the Barbara and Willard Morgan archives, was sent off with fanfare by the family; Barbara Morgan was return- ing to her artistic roots at UCLA, where her legacy will continue to be preserved.

One of the most inspired and illustri- ous photographers of American dance in the twentieth century, Barbara Morgan was driven to capture the visual expression of movement, wheth- er manifested in dance, experimental light photography, or the landscape of the American Southwest. She was also an accomplished painter, printmaker and designer, and the co-founder of Aperture magazine. Dance critic Joan Acocella has written that Morgan’s iconic 1940 photograph of Martha Graham in Letter to the World “may be the most famous photograph ever taken of an American dancer.”

PERFORMANCE! WINTER 2017 P A G E 25

This page: Martha Graham, Letter to the World (Kick). Photograph by Barbara Morgan, 1940

Opposite page: Portraits of Barbara, 1940, and Willard Morgan, 1928, with cameras. Photo- graph by Neil Hodge. Morgan’s photography captured dancers’ thing and everything was dancing and all creative genius and proved instrumental in the atoms were dancing. The things that moving modern dance to the forefront for we see with our eyes are only a very tiny American audiences. Her work also embodies part of the world...See this pencil? It looks a spirit that permeated America and Western as if nothing’s moving doesn’t it? But you Europe during the mid-twentieth century and see there are millions of dancing atoms in roused artists to make revolutionary break- it. Look at your finger, they’re dancing in throughs in all art forms. there too...I really think the reason I ultimately ended up, at least with my While the visual energy in her photography is photography, with dance and photo- immediately evident, it is fascinating to discov- graphing dance and making photomon- er the artist’s purpose expressed in the writ- tage was that basic experience I had in ings held in the Morgan archive. Barbara Mor- the countless discussions with my father gan was heavily influenced by her father’s where his own thinking, which was really world view, as we learn from a 1971 oral a form of—well I hate to use the word history interview conducted at UCLA. His because it’s so misused—really cosmic family couldn’t afford to send him to college, consciousness. He was aware, he was she says, “[but] he had a tremendous mind uniting philosophical thought with scien- and he was the most inspiring and challenging tific thought in what we would call today brain I’ve ever known.” She continued: interdisciplinary thinking. I learned something about atoms and how millions of atoms were in every little P A G E 26

scribes with dismay, as there was often a split between what the galleries wanted to show and the kind of work

he wanted to produce.)

Willard “Herc” Morgan was a photojournalist who ex- perimented with, and be- came an expert in the use of emerging photographic technologies. He introduced the 35mm Leica camera to

the world through his exten-

sive publications for Leica, which were often illustrated with his and Barbara’s pho- tographs of the captivating land, skies, and cultures of the American Southwest, including such austere land- marks as Rainbow Bridge, New Mexico. He published all of Ansel Adams’ early books and was the first Photographic Contributions Editor for Life, the first Di- rector of Photography for MOMA, and co-founder (along with Wolfgang Zieler, Leica USA) of The Circle of Confusion—a salon devoted to the miniature camera that eventually included Edward With even a cursory look into the Steichen, Albert Boni, Alfred Eisen- correspondence, it is evident that she staedt, Ansel Adams, and others. and Willard together continued to seek out “inspiring and brilliant minds” Barbara Morgan began as a painter, like her father’s in many figures in the taking her art training at UCLA from creative arts and humanities, such as 1919 to 1923. She was among the first, Joseph Campbell, D.T. Suzuki, Gerald and the youngest, of the art faculty on Heard, William Carlos Williams, and the Westwood UCLA campus when it John Dewey. Conversations range was first built in 1925. She resisted the from the personal to political, from idea that photography could be a “real changes in the arts prompted by the art” despite her husband’s thinking artists’ movements, to the political and otherwise. When she met Edward economic aspects of gallery and muse- Weston at UCLA in 1925, she began um success (which Ansel Adams de- to see the potential in photography as

PERFORMANCE! WINTER 2017 P A G E 27 an art form. She describes working with Wes- Barbara and Willard Morgan spent many ton in the gallery and when she first saw his summers camping in the Southwest, she paint- prints: ing and he photographing and testing the limits of the 35mm camera. He also tested Barbara’s I just absolutely fell hook, line, and sinker limits when, to demonstrate the mobility that for them...they were real objects but the small, lightweight Leica afforded, he pho- somehow he’d brought some peculiar tographed her, sometimes tied atop a cliff, in magic to them so they were far more the Grand Canyon, for instance. They also than the original object or far more than connected with Native American culture, just journalistic replicas of the object. And particularly the spiritual aspects of Native I really didn’t know what he was doing to American dance. Willard’s new job at Leica it but I knew something very revolutionary brought the Morgans to New York in 1930, was going on. And I just knew he had and when Barbara and Martha Graham met it...So that at the same time though I had five years later, they had an immediate con- this strange other feeling that if I ever nection. Martha Graham had also visited the became a photographer I would be on an Southwest in the early ‘30s and was equally entirely another beam. Because as much taken with the spirituality of Native American as I instantly loved them and revered dance and the austere light and landscape of them, I know that they were, to me, the environment. relatively static and I knew that if I ever did anything in this vein it would have to From 1935 through 1941, Barbara worked on move. And it hit me just like that. [snaps producing the seminal work, Martha Graham: her fingers.] Sixteen Dances in Photographs. She spent days

This page: Barbara Morgan cooking while camping out in Canyon de Chelly, 1928. Photograph by Willard Morgan

Opposite page: Willard Morgan with Leica Model A Camera, Ban- delier National Monument New Mexico, 1929

P A G E 28

watching the company rehearse and dance. The resulting photo- perform and would reflect on certain graphs are thus not only su- movements or gestures she felt cap- perbly beautiful in themselves, tured the essence of what Graham but manage to convey a sense wanted to convey. The photographs of the continuing motion of were taken in Morgan’s studio where the dance and to recreate she selected gestures that she remem- eloquently the vision of life the bered as holding an essence of energy dance symbolized.” in a dance or in the way a dancer embodied its rhythm. As described in the book: Morgan Archives Overview “...to capture that essence, Photography those instantaneous moments Together, Barbara and Willard Morgan when feeling, idea and expres- left an extensive and substantive ar- sion crystalized, it was neces- chive of their photography and person- sary to perfect a camera tech- al papers. The photographic archive nique that could preserve the includes vintage negatives and prints of infinite variety of a Graham all of Barbara’s dance photography,

PERFORMANCE! WINTER 2017 P A G E 29 including mounted, exhibit-ready prints from a ed in their correspondence. Along with a landmark exhibition, Faces of Modern Dance: depth of correspondence with Ansel Adams, it Barbara Morgan Photographs. In addition to includes letters to and from Edward Weston, Martha Graham, she photographed many Edward Steichen, Carl Van Vechten, Lázló other modern dance pioneers, among them Moholy-Nagy, and Imogen Cunningham; Mar- Erick Hawkins, Hanya Holm, Helen Tamiris, tha Graham and many of the other dancers Pearl Primus, Doris Humphrey, José Limon, she photographed; architects Richard Neutra Merce Cunningham, Sophie Maslow, Valerie and Frank Lloyd Wright; and others so vital to Bettis, Jane Dudley, Daniel Nagrin, Anna the arts such as Merle Armitage, and Nancy Sokolow, May O’Donnell, and Charles and Beaumont Newhall. Weidman. The archive also includes Morgan’s work in photomontage and her groundbreak- The archive also includes a wealth of corre- ing experimental light photography. In all, the spondence between Barbara and Willard, archive includes over 13,000 negatives and Barbara’s personal diaries, art works including 4,000 prints by Barbara Morgan, in addition to drawings, paintings prints and sketchbooks, Willard Morgan’s photography. Willard’s work manuscripts, essays, lecture notes, and meet- capturing the American Southwest is augment- ing minutes from the Artists’ Congress. Print- ed by his architectural photography of struc- tures designed by Frank Lloyd Wright and Richard Neutra, with whom he worked on joint projects and developed a lifelong friendship. This page: Correspondence and Letter from Mar- ephemera tha Graham to Barbara Morgan, The photographic 1964 archive is enriched with 125 feet of per- sonal papers, featuring Opposite page: Martha Graham, correspondence with American Docu- other photographers, ment. We are dancers, painters, Three Women, We architects, and writers Are Three Million who challenged the Women… Photo- graph by Barbara formalism of the Beaux Morgan, 1938 Arts and charged the modernist movement. The Morgans’ roles in the cultural develop- ments of the period and their deep and lasting relationships with many of its key figures are document- P A G E 30

ed ephemera includes exhibition invita- events at UCLA that reflect the collab- tions and catalogues, and copies of oration that began over eighty years Aperture, and Dark and Light, a UCLA ago. Art Department publication from 1925 -1930, for which Barbara served as In April 2016, the UCLA Library editor. brought the energy housed in those archival boxes to life, and to the atten- Celebrating the Morgan Archives tion of the L.A. dance community, at UCLA through two events on the campus. There is a long history of collaboration First, a Graham technique master class between Barbara Morgan and Martha for UCLA World Arts & Cultures/ Graham, which continued on even Dance Department students was after they passed, and during the year taught by former member of the Gra- of the 90th anniversary of the Martha ham Company and its current Rehears- Graham Dance Company, we held al Manager, Denise Vale. Following the

PERFORMANCE! WINTER 2017 P A G E 31 master class, UCLA students attended a per- a complete photographic archive, which might formance the next night by the Graham Com- also be thought of as having two major com- pany at the USC Bovard Auditorium that ponents: one is the negatives, proof and work- included students of the inaugural class of the ing prints; and the other is the finished USC Kaufman School of Dance.1 works—some in the form of loose prints of varying sizes, and others that are mounted or A deep, connective thread ties the papers of matted (exhibition-ready). Each will require Barbara and Willard to many dancers, photog- different means and levels of processing, de- raphers, and other creative innovators whose scription and management. In order to strike a archives are held in the UCLA Library Special balance between providing access to research Collections. The Westwood UCLA campus materials as quickly as possible, and managing had a specialty in Dance within its Physical a fine arts collection, we will engage two Education Department in the 1930s, and by archival methods—one for processing the 1962 became the first state university Dance historic materials, and the other for the pho- Department. This year will mark the 55th tographic archives. Kelly Kress has been or- anniversary of the Department of Dance. ganizing and arranging the correspondence, Finding aids to the records of the dance de- ephemera and printed material since February partment are available on the Online Archive 2015. of California (OAC) under “Dance” and “World Arts and Cultures.” They include Six Months In departmental records, masters’ theses, as well While Barbara Morgan’s striking photos of as Dance Department scrapbooks.2 Martha Graham and other luminaries of mod- ern dance are already well known, the Barbara The UCLA Library Special Collections holds and Willard Morgan collection contains a the papers of its founding faculty: Alma Haw- wealth of other materials that will eventually kins, Juana de Laban, Allegra Fuller Snyder; provide much insight into the public and pri- and influential dancers who performed or vate lives of both Morgans. Through family Opposite page: taught at UCLA, such as Ruth St. Denis and and business correspondence, personal jour- Watercolor paint- Jack Cole. Other early modern dance pio- nals, family snapshots, and an abundance of ing by Barbara Morgan, ca. 1925- neers’ archives include Isadora Duncan (one materials related to both Morgans’ careers, 1930 of the most complete archives of the dancer’s we trace the growth of two people from life) and Maude Allen. The Collection of creative teenagers into successful, inspired Dance Programs dates from 1892 to circa adults. At the same time, through the life’s 1987, while the Lewis Segal Collection of work of both Morgans, we also observe the Dance and Theatre Materials includes pro- growth of photography as a journalistic and grams beginning in 1970 to the present. Earli- artistic medium. We meet Willard D. Morgan er dance critics’ collections are the Arthur and Barbara Brooks Johnson as high school Todd Dance collection, circa 1900-1968, and students in Pomona, California, and journey the Dorathi Bock Pierre Dance Collection, with them through college, marriage, 1929-1996.3 parenthood, and career. We get to know Barbara and Willard as young people with Processing the Morgan archives at goals, hopes, and dreams. And then we see UCLA them grow together into adults, have adven- The breadth of the Barbara and Willard Mor- tures and a family, create things, achieve gan Photographs and Papers presents challeng- things. es in archival processing, description, and management in that it is an archive of historic Barbara’s artistic sensibilities were evident documents, records and ephemera, as well as from a young age, in teenage journals filled P A G E 32

with serious thoughts and playful Some of the most fascinating and illu- sketches. We see her trajectory from minating materials date from their time art student to artist/teacher, and her as a young married couple living in the creative output as a young woman in Echo Park neighborhood of Los Ange-

Los Angeles, including paintings, draw- les. While significant for the insight ings, woodcuts, and writing. Athletic into the Morgans’ early days together, Willard competed in track meets but Barbara’s teaching and painting career,

also nurtured an interest in typography and Willard’s earliest photography, we that would last his entire life. As col- also get a glimpse of life in the 1920s, lege students, Willard and Barbara pre-freeways Los Angeles area. were separated: she in Los Angeles Willard’s snapshots of roadside avoca- attending UCLA, and he still in Pomo- do stands, Gay’s Lion Farm, and na. They stayed in touch through mail, crowds waiting for evangelist Aimee

their letters from this time a document Semple McPherson outside the Ange- of youthful romance and courtship, lus Temple show a different, bygone with all its ups and downs, then, finally, Los Angeles. Willard’s photos also serious commitment. Yearbooks, include forays into Baja California and snapshots, and campus newsletter the Mojave Desert, as well as some writings from both round out this beautiful shots of the young Barbara at period. work on the couple’s balcony. Items

PERFORMANCE! WINTER 2017 P A G E 33 from the two well documented road trips Barbara & Willard took through the American South- west are a major highlight of the materials from this era. Traveling by car, and camp- ing by the side of the road, Willard used Leica camer- as to capture the landscape and illustrate articles about photo- graphing the area, while Barbara sketched and painted. While the trips were important for the professional and artistic output generated by This page: Barbara & Pure Energy and Willard, their Neurotic Man. Photomontage- journals and light drawing by snapshots also Barbara Morgan, provide wonder- 1941 ful documentation of the joys and Opposite page: challenges of such The Morgans at a an adventure. ties of balancing work and family, particularly Life Magazine for Barbara. Her fascination with a new city party, ca. 1938 A move to New York City in 1930 brought and a new medium is evident, however, in the major changes. Barbara and Willard became many photos and negatives of New York City parents, and family was a priority. Willard had that are included in the collection. a job promoting Leica cameras, and it was also around this time that Barbara moved away The next decades are rich in archival material, from painting and dedicated herself to photog- reflecting the fruitful, productive lives of the raphy. As Barbara focused on her new career, Morgan family. For Willard, materials docu- Willard took a series of photography related ment his work with Leica, Life magazine, the jobs and also founded a publishing company. Museum of Modern Art, and his own printing Materials from this era reflect the professional company, Morgan & Morgan. Also significant aspirations of both Morgans, and the difficul- are the letters and photos related to his P A G E 34

friendship with the architect Richard ment in the Photo League cooperative Neutra, whose designs he photo- and Black Mountain College is also graphed and books he published. For represented through correspondence, Barbara, materials document the varie- newsletters, and photos. In addition to

ty of projects and interests she took the professional lives of Willard and on as a professional photographer, Barbara, their family life is documented including book and magazine projects, through snapshots, the childhood exhibitions, articles, and lectures. Many letters, scrapbooks & schoolwork of of these revolved around dance, and their sons, Lloyd & Doug, and materi- her relationship with Martha Graham, als related to the construction of a Doris Humphrey, Erick Hawkins, and new home in Scarsdale. others. There is extensive documenta- tion of the 1938 Bennington School of The careers of both Morgans are deep-

Dance, as well as materials related to ly intertwined with the history of

the multiple editions of Barbara’s Mar- photography itself. Numerous figures tha Graham book, and decades of and organizations associated with this correspondence with dancers, photog- history, including Edward Weston, raphers, and galleries. Beaumont and Nancy Newhall, Ansel Adams, the Photo League, Aperture, While Barbara’s dance photography is Leica, and Life, just to name a few, remarkable, her less well-known forays make appearances in the collection. In into portraiture, photomontage, and many cases, friendships and business flash experimentation are also a large relationships overlap, reflecting the part of her legacy, and well represent- fluidity of the Morgan’s professional ed in the collection via prints, nega- and private worlds. The family’s long tives, exhibition files and published materi- als. In addition, Bar- bara’s “Think Books,” unique volumes in her own hand comprised of ideas, musings, and sketches concerning art, politics, and life, span the entirety of her adult life.

Becoming a mother also highly influenced Barbara during this time, reflected in her personal writings as well as a newfound interest in photo- graphing children, resulting in her second book, Summer’s Chil- dren. Barbara’s involve-

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bond with Ansel Adams is detailed in the to keeping in touch with relatives, and avid records of the Morgan & Morgan publishing interest in family history, the collection also This page: Alfred Eisenstaedt company, with voluminous correspondence contains genealogical materials related to the and Peter describing the back and forth necessary for families of both Morgans. These nineteenth Stackpole at Mor- publishing a book but also revealing bits of century letters, documents, and photographs, gan Camera Shop, personal news. Morgan & Morgan company including historical formats such as tintypes 6262 Sunset Blvd, records also document the inner workings of and cabinet cards, are among some of the Hollywood, ca. 1939 a family business and Willard’s passion for oldest items in the collection. typography, which he passed on to his sons. Opposite page: Six months in to processing the Morgan ar- Barbara & Willard Augmenting both the family business and chives, there is still much work to be done. Morgan with sons Lloyd and Doug, photographic history angles of the archive, is a Soon the materials will be properly housed Scarsdale, NY, small but significant collection of materials and described so that researchers can use 1945 related to the Morgan Camera shop, owned them, and in the meantime, there are many by Willard Morgan’s brother Gilbert. News- more discoveries to be made. letters, correspondence, and photographs tell the story of the shop, which opened in 1932 References 1 UCLA Graham class on YouTube and was a fixture on Sunset Boulevard in 2 UCLA Dance Department scrapbooks, 1954-1991 Hollywood for over 50 years. 3 UCLA Library Special Collections finding aids on Online Archive of California And finally, thanks to Barbara’s commitment P A G E 36

News An Evening with Charlie McCoy

The Center for Popular Music presented a program with legendary Nashville session musician and Country Music Hall of Famer Charlie McCoy on November 14, 2016, on the campus of Middle Tennes- see State University in

Murfreesboro, Tennessee.

McCoy has been a mainstay session man in Nashville since the 1960s and record- ed with the likes of Bob Dylan, Johnny Cash, Elvis Presley, and many others. He’s also released countless solo albums and tours yearly in Europe and Asia.

The evening’s program included an interview conducted by West Virginia University’s Dr. Travis Stimeling, in an exploration of a series of recordings which McCoy discussed his Ella made with Verve Records between lengthy and fascinating 1956 and 1964. The FREE exhibit is career. McCoy and his open Monday through Friday from 10 band then took the stage, am to 4 pm. Contact Lisa Lob- delighting the crowd with dell [email protected] for his world-class harmonica more information. playing and fun tunes cranked out by his talented band. Berklee Archives Processes Collection of VHS Tapes Ella Fitzgerald Exhibit Opens The Berklee Archives are proud to have recently published an item-level The Great American finding aid for the Berklee College of Songbook Foundation, Music Video Services Event Record- Carmel, Indiana opens a ings, 1979-2005. Established in 2012, new exhibit on Thursday, the Berklee Archives document January 19. Ella Sings the Berklee College of Music’s history, Songbook celebrates Ella activities, and contributions. Berklee Fitzgerald’s centennial with students, faculty, staff, and visiting

PERFORMANCE! WINTER 2017 P A G E 37 artists perform in hundreds of campus perfor- popular music (all time periods, all genres, and mances, clinics, and concerts each year. When all media formats), the CPM collects, pre- requested, these tapes are digitized on- serves, and makes accessible over one million demand for in-house viewing by patrons. This items, including sheet music, rare books, song collection of almost 4000 VHS tapes includes broadsides, published books and periodicals, real gems, such as commencement speeches trade magazines, unique manuscript collec- by David Bowie, Annie Lennox, Sting, and tions, photographs, and sound recordings in all other honorary degree recipients, clinics led formats. by working musicians at the top of their field like Dave Liebman and Gunther Schuller, and Included in those sound recording collections concerts by Berklee student and faculty are Edison-style cylinders. The CPM’s Curator ensembles. of Recorded Media Collections, Martin Fisher, does new cylinder recordings with some of today’s most prominent local and national Entertainment, Old School Style: music stars. Using his favorite Edison Triumph Cylinder Recordings at the Center for Model-B cylinder machine (circa 1906) and Popular Music blank cylinders purchased from England, Fisher captures the essence of today’s music in a way The Center for Popular Music (CPM), located that propels fascination and reverence in all on the campus of Middle Tennessee State performers who then gain a better apprecia- University, is known for its large collecting tion of the mechanisms used in cylinder scope of American vernacular music. A recordings. For more information on this, visit research center dedicated to the full study of our social media pages!

This page: Martin Fisher records Dr. Mei Han, Director of the Center for Chinese Music and Culture, perform- ing three tradi- tional zheng pieces

Opposite page: Charlie McCoy shows off his ex- traordinary har- monica skills at The Center for Popular Music, 2016

Ella Sings the Song- book promotional poster, Great American Song- book Foundation

P A G E 38

News is a multimedia collection with DVDs, Theresa Rebeck papers Shine floppy disks, and other born-digital with Performing Arts collections formats. This is also a growing collec-

at the University of Delaware tion, still in process, with additions Library expected to further document the highly productive career of Ms. Re- The University of Delaware Library is beck. home for the archives of acclaimed American playwright, television and A gift of the dramatist in 2014, the film writer, producer, and author Rebeck papers document her prolific Theresa Rebeck. On the occasion of work as a playwright, screenwriter, Rebeck’s third campus appearance for producer, essayist, novelist, and

productions of her plays by the Uni- generous participant in workshops for

versity’s Resident Ensemble Players writers and actors. The papers span (REP), the Library mounted a reading the dates circa 1964 to the present room exhibition of production posters and comprise approximately 30 linear of her plays and also opened a virtual feet with oversize material and media. exhibit to introduce researchers to her The archive is in good company at UD papers. The virtual exhibit is hosted Library, joining other notable collec- on the Library’s Omeka site: http:// tions related to the performing arts, exhibits.lib.udel.edu/exhibits/show/ such as the archives of the Delaware rebeck Theatre Company and Proscenium Press (publisher of Irish dramatic arts The online exhibit is a preliminary and literature founded by former UD glimpse of the papers, suggesting the professor Robert Hogan). The Library scope of the collection and the types also holds manuscripts of dramatists of resources available for researchers. Tennessee Williams, Samuel Beckett, Like many contemporary archives, this Barrie Stavis, Arthur Miller, August Wilson, Beth Henley, David Mamet, Lorraine Hansberry, Neil Simon, Woody Allen, Edward Albee, and many others.

The online exhibit highlights Ms. Rebeck’s beginnings as a writer through high school in Ohio and college at Notre Dame, and her post- graduate studies at Brandeis University where she earned her doctorate in English and American literature with a dissertation on Victorian melodrama. Ms. Rebeck writes one acts, short and full-length plays, and is frequently produced by regional theaters and campus drama departments in addition to her successes on and off Broadway. Her Broadway productions include

PERFORMANCE! WINTER 2017 P A G E 39

Mauritius (2007, IRNE Best New Play and Elliot Norton Award), Seminar (2011-2012), and Dead Accounts (2012-2013). Omnium Gatherum, a post-9/11 satirical comedy she co-wrote with Alexandra Gersten, received the PEN/Laura Pels Foundation Award for Drama for an Ameri- can Playwright in Mid-Career and was also a finalist for a Pulitizer Prize.

Theresa Rebeck is an outspoken artist, championing the right of writers to make a living by telling stories in more than one medium, notably defending playwrights who are accused of “selling out” by also writing for television and screen. Rebeck credits the stability of regular (and well-paid) employment as a writer for series such as NYPD Blue and Law & Order with her ability to continue as a playwright. Rebeck was a writer or producer for at least This page: fifteen television series and was Steven Bocho creator of Smash, a musical drama Productions, that lasted two seasons on NBC. She wrote betrayal.” And yet, after years in theater and Television script for “These Old screenplays for Harriet the Spy (1996) and working in Hollywood, Rebeck joined with Bones,” an epi- Gossip (2000) and recently has been involved Marsha Norman and Julia Jordan in 2010 to co sode of NYPD with independent film projects, some of which -found The Lilly Awards Foundation to Blue, 1995 are adaptations of her plays. recognize and promote outstanding women in the theater. Resisting categorization as “woman play- Opposite page: wright” or a “feminist playwright,” Rebeck still To date, S&K (Smith and Kraus Theater Book Research mate- sees the need to champion women in all Publishers) has published four volumes of rial available in the Theresa aspects of theater. When she gave the key- Theresa Rebeck’s complete plays (1989-2012) Rebeck papers, note address at the Women’s Playwriting and she is featured in their Playwrights in an 2017 Festival at Providence, Rhode Island, in 1997, Hour series. Rebeck is also published in she explained that she saw the situational anthologies of best monologues, festival plays, sexual harassment she wrote about in her women playwrights, and short plays, making earlier play Spike Heels as a story point, not an her work widely studied as well as frequently opportunity to make a feminist point of view. produced. Supplemented by the new primary “I saw the experience as one among the sources available in the Theresa Rebeck human spectrum, something to be written papers, researchers will have a rich body of about as we might write about death, love or material to explore. P A G E 40 Roundtable Leadership 2016-2017

Co-Chairs Steering Committee Newsletter Editors

Scott Schwartz Katherine Crowe Maureen Cech University of Illinois University of Denver Misericordia University Champaign, Illinois Denver, Colorado Dallas, Pennsylvania [email protected] [email protected] [email protected]

Elizabeth Surles Laurie Moses Amanda Axel Rutgers University Columbia College Chicago Berklee College of Music Newark, New Jersey Chicago, Illinois Boston, Massachusetts [email protected] [email protected] [email protected]

Image Credits

Del Saz, Nikolais/Louis Dance Foundation

Pages 21 and 23: Images courtesy of Special Collections and University Archives, Patricia W. and J. Douglas Perry Library, Old Dominion University Libraries

Pages 24-35: Barbara and Willard Morgan Photographs and Papers, UCLA Library Special Collections, courtesy of UCLA Library Special Collections

Page 36: Photo of Charlie McCoy, courtesy of Rachel K. Morris, The Center for Popular Music; Ella Sings the Songbook poster, courtesy of Lisa Lobdell, The Great American Songbook Foundation

Page 37: Photo courtesy of Rachel K. Morris, The Center for Popular Music

Pages 38-39: Theresa Rebeck papers, University Cover: Unidentified Alwin Nikolais production, of Delaware Library Special Collections, undated. Courtesy of Alberto Del Saz courtesy of L. Rebecca Johnson Melvin

Page 2: PAR members at Johnny Mercer Page 40: Doris Humphrey, With My Red Fires, collection, Georgia State University Library. 1938. Photograph by Barbara Morgan, 1945. Photo courtesy of Scott W. Schwartz Barbara and Willard Morgan Photographs and Papers, UCLA Library Special Collections, Pages 4-8: Paul E. Bierley Papers, The Sousa courtesy of UCLA Library Special Collections Archives and Center for American Music, courtesy of Scott W. Schwartz Thanks to news contributors: Amanda Axel, Lisa Lobdell, Rachel K. Morris, and L. Rebecca Pages 11-19: Photos of Murray Louis and Alwin Johnson Melvin. Nikolais productions courtesy of Alberto Del Saz and Marcia Wardell Kelly; photo of Alberto

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