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Creator
Hoving, Lucas
Call number
(S) *MGZMD 269
Physical description
2.35 linear feet (6 boxes)
Preferred Citation

Lucas Hoving papers, Jerome Robbins Dance Division, The New York Public Library

Repository
Jerome Robbins Dance Division
Access to materials
Request an in-person research appointment.Restrictions apply

Lucas Hoving (1912 - 2000) was a modern dancer, choreographer and teacher. The Lucas Hoving papers document the professional and personal life of the noted dancer and choreographer with a focus on Hoving's choreography.

Biographical/historical information

Lucas Hoving (1912-2000) was a modern dancer, choreographer and teacher. He was born Lucas Hovinga in Holland, and studied dance with Florrie Rodrigo and Yvonne Georgi in Amsterdam before earning a scholarship to the Jooss School in England. While in New York on a 1941 tour he studied at the Martha Graham School. When the Jooss Company disbanded due to World War II, Hoving was invited to join the Martha Graham Company. He appeared in Graham's tribute to Emily Dickinson, Letter to the World in late 1941.

Hoving left the Martha Graham Company in 1942 to join the Dutch Armed Forces in exile. He took part in the European campaign as a wireless operator and interpreter. In 1946 he returned to dance in the film London Town, choreographed by Agnes de Mille. He also danced in de Mille's Rape of Lucretia. During this time he toured in a nightclub act with wife Lavinia Nielsen, whom he met at the Jooss School and married in 1943. He and Neilson appeared together in several Broadway productions as well as in works by the José Limón Company throughout the 1950s. Hoving performed opposite Limón in several of the company's works, including The Moor's Pavane (1949), The Traitor (1954), and Emperor Jones (1956).

In 1961 Hoving started his own dance company that toured throughout the United States, Canada, and Europe. During this time he choreographed for companies including Bat-Dor of Israel, Grand Ballet Canadiennes of Canada, Ballet Nacional of Mexico, and the Alvin Ailey Company. In 1971 Hoving was invited by the Dutch government to return to Holland and take the job of Director of the Rotterdam Dansacademie. He later became the Supervisor of Dance Education for the Dutch government.

In the 1970s Hoving traveled around the world teaching and conducting workshops at various institutions including the Juilliard Dance Division, Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival, and the American Dance Festival. In 1981 Hoving moved to San Francisco, California, where he formed the Lucas Hoving Performance Group. He returned to the stage in 1984 with the creation of an autobiographical monologue called Growing up in Public. Hoving died in San Francisco in 2000.

Scope and arrangement

The Lucas Hoving papers document the professional and personal life of the noted dancer and choreographer with a focus on Hoving's choreography. Materials consist of choreographic notes, clippings, contracts, correspondence, interviews, teaching materials, personal documents, and files regarding Growing Up In Public, Hoving's autobiographical show.

Hoving's choroegraphic notes are not written in labanotation. They contain diagrams, names of individual dancers, sketches, and music cues. Unlabeled notes can be found under "general". Works represented include Philly Dances, Songs from a Distant Land, and Landscape With Clouds.

Correspondence is limited but consists of both professional and personal correspondence from 1959 to 1997. Notable correspondents include Ted Shawn and Anna Halprin. Hoving's letters home to his parents (in Dutch) are also here. Hoving's contracts contain correspondence regarding work negotiations as well.

Interviews consist of transcripts and copies of articles. The transcripts are original and possibly not duplicated elsewhere. His personal files contain passports, his marriage certificate, United States citizenship papers and military discharge papers. Materials relating to his wife Lavinia, including passports and some correspondence Hoving received upon her death are also here.

Of interest is Hoving's material regarding Growing Up In Public, his autobiographical one man show. The show was conceived and directed by Hoving's long time friend Remy Charlip, and was performed first in 1982 at the Next Wave Festival in Brooklyn, New York. The file holds handwritten memories (with edits), stage directions, and reminders such as "tell it as to a person and not to a journal!"

The photographs are primarily professional, dance related images of Hoving at work. Earlier photographs (before 1930) do contain family photographs, many depicting Hoving as a child in Holland.

There are programs and flyers documenting Hoving's career as a performer, and a file of teaching materials which consist primarily of lecture notes and flyers advertising Hoving's course offerings. There is also a scrapbook, in Dutch and English, made as a gift by his students in 1978.

Arrangement

Alphabetical by subject.

Administrative information

Source of acquisition

Bequest of Lucas Hoving Estate, 2009

Processing information

Compiled by Lea Jordan.

Collection rehoused and foldered, photocopy duplicates removed.

Using the collection

Location

Jerome Robbins Dance Division
New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, Dorothy and Lewis B. Cullman Center
40 Lincoln Center Plaza, New York, NY 10023-7498
Third Floor

Conditions Governing Use

Donor retains copyright of materials. Library policy on photocopying will apply. For permission to publish, contact the Curator, Jerome Robbins Dance Division.

Access restrictions

To request materials, please contact the Jerome Robbins Dance Division (dance@nypl.org) in advance.