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Finding Aid for the Juana de Laban papers, 1830-1975
1422  
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Collection Details
 
Table of contents What's This?
  • Descriptive Summary
  • Administrative Information
  • Biography/History
  • Scope and Content
  • Organization and Arrangement
  • Indexing Terms

  • Descriptive Summary

    Title: Juana de Laban papers
    Date (inclusive): 1830-1975
    Collection number: 1422
    Creator: Juana de Laban, 1910-1978
    Extent: 2 boxes (2.4 linear ft.)
    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.
    Language: Finding aid is written in English.
    Repository: University of California, Los Angeles. Library Special Collections.
    Los Angeles, California 90095-1575
    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.

    Administrative Information

    Restrictions on Access

    Open for research. STORED OFF-SITE AT SRLF. Advance notice is required for access to the collection. Please contact UCLA Library Special Collections for paging information.

    Restrictions on Use and Reproduction

    Property rights to the physical object belong to the UC Regents. Literary rights, including copyright, are retained by the creators and their heirs. It is the responsibility of the researcher to determine who holds the copyright and pursue the copyright owner or his or her heir for permission to publish where The UC Regents do not hold the copyright.

    Processing Note

    Processed by Yasmin Damshenas in the Center for Primary Research and Training (CFPRT), with assistance from Megan Fraser, July 2011.

    Preferred Citation

    [Identification of item], Juana de Laban papers (Collection 1422). UCLA Library Special Collections, Charles E. Young Research Library, UCLA.

    UCLA Catalog Record ID

    UCLA Catalog Record ID: 4233273 

    Biography/History

    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).

    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.

    Organization and 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.

    Indexing Terms

    The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the library's online public access catalog.

    Subjects

    Laban, Juana de, 1910-1978--Archives.
    Dance teachers--United States--Archival resources.