Isadora Duncan collection on hold
By Skye Mayring
April 27, 2006 9:00 p.m.
Though the UCLA Library recently announced the acquisition of
the Isadora Duncan Special Collection ““ spending just under a
million dollars of donated funds ““ they do not intend on
exhibiting the resource material until next fall.
Library officials said the exhibition will not be immediately
available because of the necessary cataloguing process all new
collections undergo.
“It will take a few months to define the (some 1,500)
items in the collection in a standardized way so that a finding aid
and full description of the items is produced to organize the
material so that it is easy to use,” said Lilace Hatayama, a
library assistant in the Manuscripts Division for the Young
Research Library Special Collections.
The Isadora Duncan Special Collection features scarves
hand-painted by Duncan’s brother, her guest book signed by
Oscar Wilde and Gabriele d’Annunzio, a diary kept by one of
her lovers, and hundreds of watercolors, sculptures, and sketches
inspired by Duncan.
“What’s really special about having drawings of
Duncan is that she never allowed herself to be filmed when she was
dancing. So, really, these drawings are the record of her
movement,” said Young Research Library Special Collections
manuscripts librarian Genie Guerard.
The delay of a few months is minimal when compared to newly
acquired works at the Hammer Museum, which “may not be on
view to the public for two to three years after their acquisition
merely due to scheduling,” said Melissa Goldberg,
communications associate of the Hammer Museum.
And for patrons who cannot wait until the fall exhibition, the
Special Collections Department intends on making the material open
to the public via appointment by midsummer, said Victoria Steele,
head of the YRL Special Collections.
Because UCLA is a public institution, anyone over the age of 18
with photo identification can access any of the non-circulating
Special Collection primary resource material.
San Francisco native Isadora Duncan’s unconventional dance
techniques in the early 20th century awarded her popularity in the
arts throughout the United States, Russia and Europe.
“Isadora believed in free love. She danced barefoot,
changed what was possible in what we now call contemporary or
modern dance, and did things that were considered outrageous at a
time when no one did it in America,” said Lynn Dally, adjunct
assistant professor in the department of musical theater.
Several academics remember her best by her signature adornment
of long, flowing scarves, revealing onstage attire and
accompaniment of the “Isadorables,” her then followers
who were more of a dance company by today’s standards.
The Isadorables adopted Duncan’s surname and studied at
one of her three dance schools, all of which promoted the innate
aesthetics of dance and attempted to avoid its commercial
aspects.
Her life ended in an unforeseen tragedy, when her scarf caught
in the axle of a vehicle in which she was a passenger and strangled
her to death.
Today, her only surviving school is under the direction of
Hannelore Schick in Munich.
“Every dancer with an education learns something about
Isadora Duncan because she threw away a lot of the classical
technique that people were married to before,” said Christine
Kellogg, a choreographer and visiting professor in the musical
theater department.
