Scope and arrangement
The Glenda Hydler collection contains photographs she took from the 1970s to 1990s in both New York City and Los Angeles. Her photographs depict choreographers, dancers, dance companies, and performances. The collection holds both black-and-white and color photographs, as well as negatives and contact sheets. There is also a variety of supporting documentation present including promotional cards, posters, artwork, flyers, programs, correspondence, personal notes, press reviews, and moving image recordings.
Each series includes an inventory Hydler created listing the photographs and additional relevant information. Included are the dates, name or title of the event, description, photographer (if other than Hydler), comments, and location. The descriptions include specific event details and performers. The comments frequently note the format of the photographs or type of material.
The dates on the container list reflect the dates that the photographs were taken. The digital files were created around 2023 from scans of these photographs.
The Glenda Hydler collection is arranged in three series:
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1960-1980
The New York Choreographers series, dating 1960 through 1980, covers Hydler's years photographing much of the downtown and postmodern dance scene in New York City.
Prominent figures of the dance scene featured throughout this series include Carmen Beuchat, Trisha Brown, Suzanne Harris, Judy Padow, Yvonne Rainer, and Jeffrey Lew and Rachel Wood. The majority of the photographs depict dance performances, along with some candid shots, portraits, rehearsals, and classes.
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1970-1979
The series holds documentation and photographs that details the history, performances, and rehearsals of the experimental dance group, The Natural History of the American Known Dancer.
Documentation consists of files on the group's history, press and reviews, as well as promotional flyers, cards, and posters.
The photographs portray dancer portraits, various rehearsals, and performances at downtown New York City locations, including the 112 Greene Street Gallery and Saint Mark's Church.
A notebook, titled Intervals, contains Hydler's documentation of the group's first rehearsal leading up to their 1972 debut at the Whitney Museum of American Art. Additionally, the series includes Hydler's hand-painted portraits of the dancers.
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1980-2024
The Los Angeles Dance Photography series (1980–2024) holds files from Hydler's career photographing dance companies, choreographers, and events in and around Los Angeles, California. The files cover performances and rehearsals of individual dancers; extensive documentation of the annual Dance Kaleidoscope showcase; the Lester Horton Dance Awards; and over a decade of work with choreographer Mary Jane Eisenberg and Shale Dance Company.
The Dance Companies and Choreographers files hold photographs of performances and rehearsals, as well as promotional documents. Significant photographic material represents the Lewitzky Dance Company, Steve Paxton, Tina Gerstler Dance Troupe, and Wendy Rogers.
Hydler also photographed the Dance Kaleidoscope showcase, an annual Los Angeles event, from 1992 through 1995. These files include programs and reviews alongside the photographs.
Hydler photographed the Lester Horton Dance Awards in 1992 and from 1994 through 1996. The Dance Resource Center of Los Angeles presented these annual awards to recognize achievement in Southern California's modern dance community.
Material relating to Mary Jane Eisenberg and the Shale Dance Company comprises the largest portion of the series. Hydler extensively photographed Eisenberg and her company from the early 1980s through the late 1990s. Hydler collaborated with Eisenberg on set designs, artwork, programs, and promotional material. This section contains evidence of that collaboration, including poster mockups, company t-shirt designs, stationery, hand-painted portraits, set piece designs, sketches, and drawings. The series also includes moving image recordings of performances and promotional videos from the late 1980s.