Ibrahim Farrah papers

Description data TOP

unitid

{"value"=>"*MGZMD 159", "type"=>"local_call"}

{"value"=>"19809", "type"=>"local_mss"}

unitdate

{"value"=>"1895-1998", "type"=>"inclusive", "normal"=>"1895/1998"}

{"value"=>"1967-1997", "type"=>"bulk", "normal"=>"1967/1997"}

unittitle

{"value"=>"Ibrahim Farrah papers"}

physdesc

{"format"=>"structured", "physdesc_components"=>[{"name"=>"extent", "value"=>"8.34 linear feet", "unit"=>"linear feet"}, {"name"=>"extent", "value"=>"21 boxes", "unit"=>"containers"}]}

repository

{"value"=>"<span class=\"corpname\">The New York Public Library. Jerome Robbins Dance Division.</span><div class=\"address\"> <span class=\"addressline\">New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, Dorothy and Lewis B. Cullman Center</span> <span class=\"addressline\">40 Lincoln Center Plaza, New York, NY 10023-7498</span></div>"}

abstract

{"value"=>"Ibrahim Farrah (1939-1998) was a well-known performer, teacher, and scholar of Middle Eastern dance, who also became the founder and publisher of <span class=\"title\">Arabesqué</span>, a notable journal of international and ethnic dance. The collection documents Farrah's efforts to promote a greater public awareness and appreciation of belly dance and other traditional dance forms through his own dance company, teaching, and publications."}

langmaterial

{"value"=>"The Clippings and research materials series includes items in Arabic, French, English, German, Hebrew, Swedish, and Turkish"}

prefercite

{"value"=>"Ibrahim Farrah papers, *MGZMD 159. Jerome Robbins Dance Division, The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts"}

origination

{"value"=>"Farrah, Ibrahim", "type"=>"persname"}

bioghist

{"value"=>"<p>Ibrahim Farrah (1939-1998) was a well-known performer, teacher, and scholar of Middle Eastern dance, who also became the founder and publisher of <span class=\"title\">Arabesqué</span>, a notable journal of international and ethnic dance, which became the primary vehicle he used to promote a greater public awareness and appreciation of belly dance and other traditional dance forms. Farrah, whose full name was Robert Ibrahim Farrah, was known among his colleagues as Bobby. Born in Everson, Pennsylvania to George Jacob and Alba Nassar Farrah, he was raised in a strong Lebanese-American community. It was not until his time as a student at Pennsylvania State University, however, that Farrah seriously began to explore his cultural heritage, as well as to investigate the possibilities of a career as a dancer. After graduating with a degree in history, he moved to Washington, D.C. in the autumn of 1961 and began working at the Library of Congress, as well as regularly attending the Port Said nightclub. His professional career got firmly underway in 1963, when he began appearing under the name \"Abraheem,\" in a partnership with Emar Gamal. The team worked in area nightclubs, such as Syriana, and toured throughout the United States. Farrah started taking pupils in Washington, and, after moving to New York in 1967, he soon began teaching at the International Dance School at Carnegie Hall, and later would continue to hold performance and private classes at studios, such as Fazil's.</p> <p>From 1968 through 1971, Farrah danced with Phaedra (Phyllis Saretta); this partnership became a personal as well as a professional one. Using grant money received from the Doris Duke Foundation, Farrah had embarked on several related projects by the early 1970s, including an extended research trip to Lebanon, the establishment of his own school (later the Ibrahim School of Near East Dance) in a loft on 72nd Street, and he also began developing the components of a professional troupe (Duke was a participant in this nascent group). Although Farrah would sever relations with Duke, his goal of establishing a company came to fruition with the formation of the Ibrahim Farrah Near East Dance Group (NEDG) in 1974. Through the NEDG, Farrah brought his own choreography, which presented a theatrical conception of Middle Eastern dance styles based on a rigorous study of traditional dance forms, to the concert stage. The NEDG performed in New York in venues including Avery Fisher Hall, Carnegie Hall, and Town Hall, and appeared frequently at the Riverside Dance Festival. The company also toured throughout North America from the mid 1970s to the early 1990s, when Farrah began to cut back on his own performing schedule.</p> <p>In 1975, Farrah began publication of the bi-monthly <span class=\"title\">Arabesqué</span>. As he wrote in a 1980 letter, Farrah saw the magazine as \"an extension of my dance career\" and its scope gradually grew to encompass a broader coverage of all ethnic dance forms. By the mid-1990s, Farrah was increasingly focused on giving master classes and producing educational videos, such as <span class=\"title\">Rare Glimpses: Dances from the Middle East</span>, before his untimely death from a heart attack.</p>"}

scopecontent

{"value"=>"<p>The Ibrahim Farrah Papers are comprised of correspondence, writings, teaching materials, promotional materials, clippings, research materials, and photographs that document the career of the eminent dancer and teacher of Middle Eastern dance, founder of <span class=\"title\">Arabesqué</span> magazine, and the Ibrahim Farrah Near East Dance Group. Perhaps because <span class=\"title\">Arabesqué</span> became such a central part of Farrah's life, there is considerable overlap among the six series that make up this collection. Throughout the collection can be found notes in Farrah's own hand (often addressed to <span class=\"title\">Arabesqué</span> editor, Adam Lahm) with some explanation of the significance of a particular item or suggestions on how to file it. Correspondence is almost exclusively of a professional nature and the vast majority consists of letters received relating to the editorial or administrative affairs of <span class=\"title\">Arabesqué</span> magazine. Farrah was an avid scholar of Middle Eastern dance and culture, and the collection is especially rich in its documentation of Orientalism as a motif in Western art forms, as well as in images of musicians, dancers, and practitioners of danse orientale (or belly dance, a term Farrah opposed). Particularly well represented by photographs are such performers as Nagwa Fouad, Nadia Gamal, the Jamal Twins, Lucy, Soheir Zaki, and Mahmoud Reda and his dance troupe. Also of note are five folders of photographs from the collection of the influential percussionist Eddie (the Sheik) Kochak, which provide an interesting window into the flourishing post-World War II nightclub scene, which often featured performers of Middle Eastern descent.</p>"}

{"value"=>"<p class='list-head'>The Ibrahim Farrah papers are arranged in six series:</p>\n<ul class='arrangement series-descriptions'>\n<li><div class='series-title'><a href='/dan/19809#c397021'>Series I: Correspondence</a></div>\n<div class='series-date'>1970 - 1998, undated</div>\n<div class='series-description'><p>The Correspondence series consists primarily of letters, invoices, and contracts received pertaining to <span class=\"title\">Arabesqué</span> magazine, as well as some material relating to the Ibrahim Farrah Near East Dance Group. Also interfiled chronologically are thank you letters from students in response to Farrah's various teaching workshops or performances. Aside from a single letter from a family member, almost none of the material is of a personal nature. This series also includes one folder containing some of the award certificates received by Farrah.</p></div></li><li><div class='series-title'><a href='/dan/19809#c397046'>Series II: General Writings</a></div>\n<div class='series-date'>1967 - 1991, undated</div>\n<div class='series-description'><p>The General Writings series is divided into two main sections: manuscripts that can be attributed confidently to Ibrahim Farrah and items that were written by others. Among Farrah's own writings are early drafts of interviews, notes on choreography or copies of significant letters, such as one regarding his dealings with Doris Duke. The majority of the writings by other authors are manuscripts or photocopies of material that most likely were submissions to <span class=\"title\">Arabesqué</span>.</p></div></li><li><div class='series-title'><a href='/dan/19809#c397081'>Series III: Teaching Materials</a></div>\n<div class='series-date'>1974 - 1995, undated</div>\n<div class='series-description'><p>The Teaching Materials series contains lecture notes, registration forms, schedules, and descriptions for classes given at Farrah's New York studio, as well information regarding various workshops and residencies conducted by Farrah or his associates in the United States and abroad.</p></div></li><li><div class='series-title'><a href='/dan/19809#c397091'>Series IV: Promotional Materials</a></div>\n<div class='series-date'>1967 - 1997</div>\n<div class='series-description'><p>The Promotional Materials series consists of programs, press releases, fliers, tickets, order forms and other materials documenting performances or workshops in which Ibrahim Farrah or his Near East Dance Group participated. Also interfiled occasionally are similar materials relating to other performers, teachers, or ensembles. Such materials probably were received for inclusion in <span class=\"title\">Arabesqué</span> magazine.</p></div></li><li><div class='series-title'><a href='/dan/19809#c397132'>Series V: Clippings and Research Materials</a></div>\n<div class='series-date'>1895 - 1997, undated</div>\n<div class='series-description'><p>The Clippings and Research Materials series contains photocopies of articles, entire issues of magazines, programs, travel brochures, and other material relating to Middle Eastern culture and dance traditions. Also interfiled chronologically are press releases, reviews, and other materials on Farrah's own performances and teaching. This series includes items in Arabic, French, English, German, Hebrew, Swedish, and Turkish.</p></div></li><li><div class='series-title'><a href='/dan/19809#c397227'>Series VI: Photographs</a></div>\n<div class='series-date'>1906 - 1996, undated</div>\n<div class='series-description'><p>The Photographs series is comprised mainly of publicity and candid photographs documenting performances, workshops, and other classes conducted by Ibrahim Farrah, as well those given by the Near East Dance Group or other Middle Eastern dancers and musicians. The series contains considerable material relating to Eddie Kochak, Mahmoud Reda and his dance troupe (including Farida Fahmy), Nagwa Fouad, Nadia Gamal, the Jamal Twins, Lucy, and Soheir Zaki. Additionally, the series includes a significant amount of material on Orientalism, including reproductions of historic engravings, postcards, and photographs (many of the originals most likely dating from the nineteenth century) identified as being from the Virginia Damon collection, as well as a few actual vintage postcards collected by Farrah.</p></div></li></ul>\n", "type"=>"arrangement"}

arrangement

{"value"=>"<p>The collection is organized into 5 series. They are: <ul class=\"list\"> <li>Series I: Correspondence, 1967-1998 and undated</li> <li>Series II: General Writings, 1967-1991 and undated</li> <li>Series III: Teaching Materials, 1974-1995 and undated</li> <li>Series IV: Promotional Materials, 1967-1997 and undated</li> <li>Series V. Clippings and Research Materials, 1895-1997 and undated</li> <li>Series VI: Photographs, 1906-1996 and undated</li></ul></p>", "supress_display"=>true}

acqinfo

{"value"=>"<p>The Ibrahim Farrah Papers were donated to the Jerome Robbins Dance Division by Phyllis Saretta in 1998.</p>"}

processinfo

{"value"=>"<p>Processed by Helice Koffler; Machine-readable finding aid created by Helice Koffler.</p>"}

accessrestrict

{"value"=>"<p>Some collections held by the Dance, Music, Recorded Sound, and Theatre Divisions at the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts are held off-site and must be requested in advance. Please check the collection records in the NYPL's online catalog for detailed location information. For general guidance about requesting offsite materials, please consult: https://www.nypl.org/about/locations/lpa/requesting-archival-materials Photocopying prohibited.</p>"}

userestrict

{"value"=>"<p>For permission to publish, contact the Curator, Jerome Robbins Dance Division</p>"}

date_start

1895

keydate

1895

date_end

1998

date_inclusive_start

1895

date_inclusive_end

1998

date_bulk_start

1967

date_bulk_end

1997

Update Collection TOP

Update from EAD XML File

Child components TOP

1. Series I: Correspondence [24/1]
2. Series II: General Writings [2/3]
3. Series III: Teaching Materials [9/1]
4. Series IV: Promotional Materials [29/3]
5. Series V: Clippings and Research Materials [51/2]
6. Series VI: Photographs [9/5]