Title: Anita Kane Papers

Dates: 1935-1988

Collection Number: 994.023

Creator/Collector: Kane, Anita

Extent: 10 Boxes. 5 linear feet.

Repository: Museum of Performance and Design, Performing Arts Library

Abstract: Anita M. Kane (1910-1984) was a choreographer and dance teacher who grew up in the Philippines and introduced classic ballet to the Philippines through her school, "Studio of the Classic Dance." Under her influence visiting dance companies such as Alexandra Danilova, Royal Ballet, Jose Limon, and Paul Taylor performed in the Philippines. She organized the Arts Council of the Philippines and served on many cultural arts committees under presidents Quirno, Macapagal, and Marcos. She organized the Pamana Ballet Company in 1963, the first truly professional ballet company in the Philippines. She was also a writer for the Manila Daily Bulletin among other papers. This collection contains photos and scrapbooks covering nearly sixty years of her professional life from 1935 to 1970.

Language of Material: English

Entire Collection is open for research.

Reproduction of these materials can occur only if the copying falls within the provisions of the doctrine of fair use. Copyright varies by item.

[Identification of item]. Anita Kane Papers. Collection Number: 994.023. Museum of Performance and Design, Performing Arts Library

This collection of photos, scrapbooks, covering nearly sixty years in the professional life of a dedicated teacher and choreographer of classical and modern dance in the Philippines and Northern California was donated to PALM early in 1994. The subject is Anita May Kane. Shortly after her death in January, Miss Kane's sister, Isla Whittier of Rohnert Park, California, presented the collection.

Anita M. Kane was born in New Zealand, November 23, 1910. Moved with her family to the Philippines early in her childhood. She graduated from the American School High School, Manila, in 1929. She began ballet studies in 1925 with Katerina Makarova, an emigre from Russia to the Philippines. Continued with various teachers while in college(Pomona College in California and University of British Columbia). In 1952 went to London to study with Claude Newman of the Royal Academy of Dancing; studied with Harold Turner, official coach with the Royal Ballet. She had begun teaching ballet in Manila in 1934 and continued until 1969 except for three years spent in an Interment Camp during the Japanese occupation during World War II. During these years she more than any other teacher introduced classic ballet to the Philippines through her school, "Studio of the Classic Dance." Her company presented the classical works (Swan Lake, Giselle, Sleeping Beauty, Nutcracker, Coppelia et al) as well as ballets based on folklore, allegorical dance dramas, pageants, water ballets, and interpretive and experimental dance. Under her influence visiting dance companies such as Alexandra Danilova, Royal Ballet, Jose Limon, and Paul Taylor performed in the Philippines. She organized the Arts Council of the Philippines and served on many cultural arts committees under presidents Quirno, Macapagal, and Marcos. She organized the Pamana Ballet Company in 1963, the first truly professional ballet company in the Philippines. Her work as a choreographer and writer should be noted. She wrote regularly for the Manila Daily Bulletin and other papers. She various series of articles on dance under the general title "Before the Curtain Rises" is included in this collection. Anita Kane moved to California in 1970 to be near her recently widowed sister and settled in Rohnert Park in northern California. Until the last year of her life she was director of two dance studios in Healdsburg and Rohnert Park. In her late years she was honored frequently for her contributions to ballet. Perhaps the most important to her was the special performances in her honor of Giselle in the Philippines for which she flew to Manila for the performances in 1988. Anita Kane died of a heart attack on January 6,1994. She was 83 years old.

The importance of the collection is two-fold. It documents the more than half century of a dedicated teacher of dance. She was instrumental in introducing and developing a continuing interest in the Philippines to all dance, and particularly the classic ballet. The scrapbooks and many photographs in the collection document a history of dance and related arts in the Philippines from 1935 through 1970.