- unitid
-
{"value"=>"*MGZMD 259", "type"=>"local_call"}
{"value"=>"18469", "type"=>"local_mss"}
{"value"=>"b19022219", "type"=>"local_b"}
- unitdate
-
{"value"=>"1925-2002", "type"=>"inclusive", "normal"=>"1925/2002"}
{"value"=>"1934-1998", "type"=>"bulk", "normal"=>"1934/1998"}
- date_inclusive_start
-
1925
- date_inclusive_end
-
2002
- keydate
-
1925
- unittitle
-
{"value"=>"Yvonne Patterson and William Dollar papers"}
- physdesc
-
{"format"=>"structured", "physdesc_components"=>[{"name"=>"extent", "value"=>"8.06 linear feet", "unit"=>"linear feet"}, {"name"=>"extent", "value"=>"20 boxes", "unit"=>"containers"}], "supress_display"=>true}
- repository
-
{"id"=>"DAN", "value"=>"Jerome Robbins Dance Division"}
- abstract
-
{"value"=>"William Dollar (1907-1986) was an American ballet dancer, choreographer, and ballet master associated with numerous American companies for more than 30 years. Yvonne Patterson, (1910-2010) was an original Balanchine ballerina and dance teacher. The Yvonne Patterson and William Dollar papers document their work as dancers, educators, and choreographers."}
- prefercite
-
{"value"=>"Yvonne Patterson and William Dollar papers, *MGZMD 259. Jerome Robbins Dance Division, The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts"}
- origination
-
{"value"=>"Dollar, William", "type"=>"persname", "role"=>"creator"}
- bioghist
-
{"value"=>"<p>Yvonne Patterson, (1910-2010) was an original Balanchine ballerina and dance teacher. She was born in Melbourne, Australia. Her father, Ambrose Patterson, was a celebrated painter who exhibited alongside Matisse in the 1905 First Salon d'Automne. After moving his family to the United States, he established the Department of Art History and Design at the University of Washington, Seattle. Patterson had dance lessons as a child in Hawaii and California, and moved New York City in her teens to join the Radio City Ballet.</p> <p>Patterson was in the first class of dancers accepted to the School of American Ballet when George Balanchine arrived in the United States in the mid-1930s. She worked with the famed choreographer for most of her career. Patterson and Dollar met while dancing for Balanchine, and both performed in the debut of his ballet \"Serenade\" in 1934. During her career, she performed with the Ballet Russe, Le Grand Ballet du Monte Carlo, Ballet Caravan, Ballet International, and many other companies.</p> <p>In the 1950s, she retired from performance and taught dance with Dollar, working with dance companies in Brazil and Japan, and founding a national ballet company in Iran before moving to Philadelphia. After Dollar's death in 1986, she assisted regional companies with recreations of Dollar's choreography.</p> <p>Patterson continued to teach dance at the Rock School of Ballet in Philadelphia until she was 95 years old.</p> <p>William Dollar (1907-1986) was an American ballet dancer, choreographer, and ballet master associated with numerous American companies for more than 30 years. Dollar received his training in the United States, studying under George Balanchine and Michel Fokine and with Mikhail Mordkin and Pierre Vladimiroff, both formerly star dancers in Russia. Dollar was a leading dancer with the American Ballet (1936–37), Ballet Caravan (1936–38), and the American Ballet Caravan (1941)—predecessors of the New York City Ballet, which was established in 1948. Dollar and Patterson were among the artists who toured South America in 1941 with Ballet Caravan – premiering American ballets throughout the continent under Balanchine.</p> <p>Dollar went on to choreograph many ballets, starting with <span class=\"title\">Classic Ballet</span> (later known as <span class=\"title\">Constantia</span>) in 1944. His best known composition is <span class=\"title\">Le Combat</span>, or <span class=\"title\">The Duel</span>. This piece was first staged in performed in London by Les Ballets de Paris and continues to be performed today, all over the world. Other pieces by Dollar include <span class=\"title\">Jeux</span>, <span class=\"title\">Concerto</span>, <span class=\"title\">Five Gifts</span>, and <span class=\"title\">The Lady of the Camellias</span>.</p>"}
- scopecontent
-
{"value"=>"<p>The Yvonne Patterson and William Dollar papers document their work as dancers, educators, and choreographers. The papers consist of material from various ballet companies where one or both of the couple was engaged, choreography, correspondence, subject files (which include a manuscript by Dollar and personal and professional photographs) and teaching materials. While much of the material is related to Dollar's work as a choreographer, Patterson was not only his wife, but his life long collaborator. Her hand can be seen in many of his documents.</p>"}
{"value"=>"<p class='list-head'>The Yvonne Patterson and William Dollar papers are arranged in five series:</p>\n<ul class='arrangement series-descriptions'>\n<li><div class='series-title'><a href='/dan/18469#c840994'>Series I: Ballet Companies</a></div>\n<div class='series-date'>1931-1996</div>\n<div class='series-description'><p>This series contains correspondence, programs, photographs, and other materials relating to Patterson and Dollar's work with various ballet companies and performing arts institutions. These records reflect all aspects of the couple's artistic endeavors, whether as performers, teachers, or choreographers. Files dated post-1988 usually reflect Patterson's services as a consultant in the recreating and performance of Dollar's most famous works, often <span class=\"title\">Le Combat</span>. Of note is the material relating to the National Ballet School of Iran, which Dollar and Patterson founded together in the mid 1950s. Arrangement is alphabetical by company or institution.</p></div></li><li><div class='series-title'><a href='/dan/18469#c841041'>Series II: Choreography</a></div>\n<div class='series-date'>1959-1979</div>\n<div class='series-description'><p>Series II contains notes, photographs, and other materials documenting William Dollar's work as a choreographer. The materials are arranged by composition where possible, and consist of handwritten notes describing choreography. Occasionally, correspondence relating to the creation of the work, costume sketches, or photographs of the work in performance are present. A set of choreographic notebooks are included at the end of this series. These notebooks are filled with sketches, inspiration, and ideas jotted down by Dollar during his career, and are not tied to any one composition. Arrangement is alphabetical by dance, with the general notebooks at the end.</p></div></li><li><div class='series-title'><a href='/dan/18469#c841080'>Series III: Correspondence</a></div>\n<div class='series-date'>1941-2001</div>\n<div class='series-description'><p>The correspondence series contains letters to and from William Dollar and Yvonne Patterson, Todd Bolender, and others. Dollar and Patterson's correspondence with each other is rich in dance detail, as they were often separated by their work. They were not only husband and wife, but choreographers, dancers, teachers, founders and artists together. They discuss other dancers, the production of new works, why a certain dance was a failure or a success, and rehearsal details along with their personal life.</p> <p>The correspondence also contains a lengthy discourse between Todd Bolender and the couple, especially Patterson. Todd Bolender was a Balanchine trained dancer who became a noted teacher, choreographer and director. He led the Kansas City Ballet from 1980 to 1995, and those years are represented in this correspondence. This material is also especially rich, as Patterson and Bolender rediscovered each other late in life and the correspondence is filled with reminisces of the early days of the American Ballet Theatre. There is also family correspondence with Viola Patterson and Jane Alexander, the great-grand niece of Patterson's father Ambrose Patterson. Series is arranged alphabetically by correspondent.</p></div></li><li><div class='series-title'><a href='/dan/18469#c841098'>Series IV: Alphabetical Files</a></div>\n<div class='series-date'>1925-2002</div>\n<div class='series-description'><p>Series IV holds a broad range of materials relating to Dollar and Patterson's personal and professional lives. Costume sketches, two diaries written by Patterson later in her life, scores, programs from various dance performances attended or worked on by the couple, photographs, financial materials, and Dollar's manuscript, <span class=\"title\">Old Granny Spreads Good Will</span> are contained here.</p> <p>The photographs in this series are both personal (candid shots by year) and dance related. The dance related photographs are often professional studio shots of Dollar, Patterson, Balanchine and other dancers, some autographed. There are many pictures of Dollar with his dance partner, Marie-Jeanne, as well as shots of Patterson with Maria Tallchief. Patterson wrote identifying information on the back of almost every photograph, rendering these files especially useful. A family scrapbook created by Patterson around 1920 holds photographs of her siblings along with her mother and stepfather Herman Tucker.</p> <p>The scores include several printed copies of scores that Dollar was considering for choreography and copies of musical compositions written by Paul Ramsier for a possible collaboration.</p> <p>Letters from Patterson's stepfather Herman L. Tucker describe his courtship of Patterson's mother in 1918 and his interactions with her children. These letters were written to his sister Katherine.</p> <p>Of note in this series is an unpublished, typed manuscript written by William Dollar during and shortly after the Ballet Caravan's South American tour. Entitled <span class=\"title\">Old Granny Spreads Good Will</span>, it describes backstage happenings among the company, with thinly veiled pseudonymous names given to the cast of characters. Included with the book is Yvonne Patterson's handwritten character key – identifying each person with their pseudonym. Persons depicted include Balanchine, Lew Chirstensen, Gisela Caccialanza, Marie-Jeanne, and Lincoln Kirstein.</p> <p>Arrangement is alphabetical by folder title.</p></div></li><li><div class='series-title'><a href='/dan/18469#c841121'>Series V: Teaching</a></div>\n<div class='series-date'>1954-1978</div>\n<div class='series-description'><p>Series V is composed of notes from William Dollar's career as a dance teacher. The notes are primarily handwritten, and are sorted either by the teaching venue, by subject, or by dance being covered. The most detailed papers are those under \"General Course Notes\" which outline class work for each level of dancer being taught. These course notes include barre work, repetitions, floor work, and what objectives he hoped to achieve with each class. Arrangement is alphabetical by subject.</p></div></li></ul>\n", "type"=>"arrangement"}
- acqinfo
-
{"value"=>"<p>Gift of the estate of Yvonne Patterson, 2011</p>"}
- processinfo
-
{"type"=>"processing", "value"=>"<p>Compiled by <span class=\"name\">Lea Jordan</span>, <span class=\"date\">2011</span></p>"}
{"value"=>"<p>Folders created for half the collection, water damaged scrapbooks disassembled. A plaque presented to Yvonne Patterson in 1988 by the Korean Cultural Foundation for staging Le Combat was removed from the collection and is stored separately at LPA.</p>"}
- accessrestrict
-
{"value"=>"<p>To request materials, please contact the Jerome Robbins Dance Division (dance@nypl.org) in advance.</p>"}
- userestrict
-
{"value"=>"<p>Library holds copyright of materials. Library policy on photocopying will apply. For permission to publish, contact the Curator, Jerome Robbins Dance Division.</p>"}
- dsc_type
-
combined
- extent_statement
-
8.06 linear feet (20 boxes)
- date_start
-
1925
- date_end
-
2002
- date_bulk_start
-
1934
- date_bulk_end
-
1998