Collection context
Summary
- Creators:
- Juana de Laban, 1910-1978
- Abstract:
- Juana de Laban (1910-1978) was the director of graduate studies in theater at Baylor University, a distinguished professor at the University of Wisconsin, and served on the dance faculty at UCLA for nearly a decade. She was active in many educational and professional organizations, including the Sacred Dance Guild of America. The collection consists of books, pamphlets, dance programs, magazines and journals, as well as correspondence, typed drafts and carbon copies, photographs, clippings, notes, and sketches.
- Extent:
- 2 boxes (2.4 linear ft.)
- Language:
- Finding aid is written in English.
Background
- Scope and content:
-
Collection consists of books, pamphlets, dance programs, magazines and journals, as well as correspondence, typed drafts and carbon copies, photographs, clippings, notes, and sketches. Languages in this collection include English, Hungarian, German, Japanese and French.
- Biographical / historical:
-
Juana de Laban was a notable figure in the dance world, having participated in the field as a dancer, teacher, choreographer, director, critic and scholar. Of Hungarian descent, Juana de Laban von Varalja was born on October 21, 1910 en route from Austria to Switzerland. She was the daughter of Rudolf von Laban, the inventor of the system of Labanotation, a groundbreaking method of notating and interpreting human movement. De Laban studied with the Institute of Choreographics in Berlin and the Royal Hungarian Academy in Budapest. She spent time working for European film companies TERRA and URA and became known for her interpretation of native Hungarian dances. With the start of World War II, de Laban relocated to Texas and eventually received her master's and doctoral degrees in dramatic theory and criticism from Yale University. She is said to be the recipient of the first PhD ever granted in the U.S. for the study of dance criticism. De Laban became director of graduate studies in theater at Baylor University. She went on to serve on the dance faculty at UCLA for eight years, during which time she started a free lecture series, worked to build the library in the area of dance history and aesthetics, and helped Library Special Collections acquire the Ruth St. Denis papers. She was active in many educational and professional organizations, including the Committee on Research in Dance, Sacred Dance Guild of America and the Dallas Theater Center. In the fall of 1971, de Laban moved back to Texas as director of the graduate program in dance at Southern Methodist University. In 1973 she relocated to Temple, Texas where she later died on July 4, 1978. Her publications include Dance Notation (c. 1946).
- Arrangement:
-
Materials are organized into two boxes. Box 1 contains publications. Box 2 contains additional publications, as well as, photographs, manuscripts, notes, clippings, and drawings.
- Physical location:
- Stored off-site at SRLF. Advance notice is required for access to the collection. Please contact UCLA Library Special Collections for paging information.
- Rules or conventions:
- Finding aid prepared using Describing Archives: a Content Standard
Indexed terms
Access and use
- Location of this collection:
-
A1713 Charles E. Young Research LibraryBox 951575Los Angeles, CA 90095-1575, US
- Contact:
- (310) 825-4988