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Creator
Loring, Eugene, 1914-
Call number
(S) *MGZMD 40
Physical description
198 folders in 9 boxes approximately 440 items
Language
English
Preferred Citation

Loring, Eugene, 1911-1982. Papers, (S) *MGZMD 40, Jerome Robbins Dance Division, The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts.

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

The Eugene Loring Papers document several aspects of Loring's career from 1938 to 1981. He kept extensive notes related to his productions and teaching theories. He also often wrote and spoke about his philosophy of dance, transcripts of which are found in these papers. Being a trained musician, Loring frequently notated his choreography on musical charts or scores. His teaching records include numerous ballet syllabi on six different levels of technique. Loring also expressed himself through drawings, poetry, and prose found among his diaries and personal notes.

Biographical/historical information

Eugene Loring was born LeRoy Kerpestein in Milwaukee, Wisconsin on August 2, 1911. Loring came to dance through theater. After graduating from high school in 1929, he worked with the Milwaukee Players during which time he began to study ballet and tap dancing. In the spring of 1934, he went to New York to study at the School of American Ballet. That summer, during the school's recess, Loring performed with the Fokine Ballet in Lewisohn Stadium. Loring performed with the American Ballet Company in Balanchine's works in its initial appearance in Hartford, Connecticut in December 1934.

Loring's first ballet “Harlequin for President” followed a libretto by Lincoln Kirstein and premiered in a Ballet Caravan performance at Bennington College on July 17, 1936. Loring's other works for Ballet Caravan include his well-known “Billy the Kid,” which premiered in Chicago on October 16, 1938, with Loring dancing the role of Billy.

“The Great American Goof” was created by Loring for Ballet Theatre's inaugural performance on January 11, 1940; it was a ballet with words based on a libretto by William Saroyan.

Loring worked with his own company Dance Players in 1941 and 1942 and choreographed three new works on the company. After his association with Dance Players, he became steadily involved in motion pictures and television. He was signed by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer studios to a contract as dance director and actor and moved to Hollywood in 1943. Loring worked intermittently on Broadway shows in New York over the next decade, however, his work for ballet companies dwindled. He created no major work again until “Capital of the World” in 1953 for Ballet Theatre.

Loring's work in film began as a performer in a minor role in “National Velvet” in 1944. He went on to stage the dance sequences in more than a dozen films from 1944 to 1960, including “Ziegfeld Follies,” “Meet Me in Las Vegas,” “Funny Face,” and “Silk Stockings.”

His American School of Dance was founded in Hollywood in 1948 and provided a comprehensive program in dance, covering a stylistic range from classical ballet to modern and character dance. It was here that Loring developed his “Freestyle” technique, which attempted to synthesize several forms of movement in order to develop versatile dancers and enable them to adapt to the many styles required of them professionally. Loring sold the school in 1974.

In 1965 Loring became the first chairman of the new dance program at the University of California at Irvine. He patterned the program after the one he had developed at the American School of Dance. He retired from the University in 1981 and moved to Accord, New York.

Eugene Loring died on August 30, 1982, in Kingston, New York.

Scope and arrangement

The Eugene Loring Papers document several aspects of Loring's career from 1938 to 1981. He kept extensive notes related to his productions and teaching theories. He also often wrote and spoke about his philosophy of dance, transcripts of which are found in these papers. Being a trained musician, Loring frequently notated his choreography on musical charts or scores. His teaching records include numerous ballet syllabi on six different levels of technique. Loring also expressed himself through drawings, poetry, and prose found among his diaries and personal notes.|||Certain non-manuscript materials received with the original gift have been removed from the Eugene Loring Papers. All newspaper and magazine articles, programs, photographs, scrapbooks, films, videotapes, audio tapes and musical scores have been dispersed throughout the Dance Collection. A separation list, located at the end of the folder list, indicates the nature and disposition of these items.

The Eugene Loring papers are arranged in seven series:

  • I. Correspondence
    1940-1981
    72 items

    “Correspondence, 1940-1981,” the smallest series, contains various cards and letters written to Loring. There is no substantial run of letters from any single correspondent.

  • II. Writings by Eugene Loring
    167 items

    The writings of Eugene Loring consists of diaries, personal notes, and addresses, essays, and lectures.

  • III. Production and Choreographic Notes

    The largest series is that of production and choreographic notes and comprises various libretti, musical and choreographic notes, and other descriptive notes on his ballets and lecture-demonstrations. In addition, the scripts of the “Omnibus” and “Dance in America” telecasts are contained in this series. A related series, choreographic notebooks, extensively documents the choreography of two of Loring's ballets, “Billy the Kid” and “The Great American Goof.”

    (arranged by title)
  • IV. Choreographic Notebooks

    Choreographic notebooks, extensively documents the choreography of two of Loring's ballets, “Billy the Kid” and “The Great American Goof.”

  • V. The American School of Dance
    1948-1974

    Two series pertain to Loring's work as a dance educator. The first, entitled The American School of Dance, 1948-1974, contains extensive syllabi and class descriptions. The second, entitled The University of California at Irvine, 1965-1981, includes some of the same syllabi revised and descriptions of choreography classes and Loring's system of notation, Kineseography.

  • VI. University of California at Irvine
    1965-1981.
    51 items

    Two series pertain to Loring's work as a dance educator. The first, entitled The American School of Dance, 1948-1974, contains extensive syllabi and class descriptions. The second, entitled The University of California at Irvine, 1965-1981, includes some of the same syllabi revised and descriptions of choreography classes and Loring's system of notation, Kineseography.

  • VII. Miscellaneous
    80 items

    A small series of miscellaneous manuscripts include several contracts, drawings by Loring, and drawings and writings by others.

Administrative information

Source of acquisition

Gift of Alan Boehmer. Received: March 1985 (manuscripts) and January 1986 (films, videotapes, music scores, audio tapes).

Processing information

Processed by Diane Coburn Brüning.

Separated material

The following material was received with the original gift but has been separated from the manuscript collection. The current location of the material (as of October 1985) is indicated.

  • Art works
    • Ink drawing of Loring by Kin Platt - Location: *MGZGB Pla K Lor E
  • Audiotapes
    • Oral history tapes (2) - Location: *MGZT 7-859 & 7-860
    • Music for Loring's ballets (15) - Location: see attached list
  • Books and typescripts
    • Aguado, Oscar. Gravity: The Nether Side of Paradise. - Location: *MGRT 85-1091 no. 1
    • Aguado, Oscar. The Form.(in collaboration with David Samuel Zucker) - Location: *MGRT 85-1091 no. 2
    • Baughman, Diane. Aspects of Oriental Dance: Judo and Aikido in Their Relationship to Dance. - Location: *MGZR Hand-to-hand fighting, Oriental [Clippings]
    • Canna, D.J. and Eugene Loring. Kineseography: The Loring System of Dance Notation. - Location: *MGRN (duplicate)
    • Dance Notation Bureau. The Effort-Shape Training Program of the Dance Notation Bureau. - Location: *MGZ Dance Notation Bureau, New York
    • Hanstein, Penelope. The Construction of a Dramatic Work Based on the Principles of Time and Space as Related to Emotional Gesture. - Location: *MGZR Movement analysis - systems - Effort-shape [Clippings]
    • Tengwall, Roger. The Discoveries of F. Matthias Alexander. - Location: *MGZR Alexander technique [Clippings]
  • Clippings and magazine articles (approximately 90) - Location: *MGZR [Clippings file]
  • Films - 16mm (17) and video tapes - various formats (21) - Location: see attached list
  • Music scores (22) - Location: to Music Division see attached list
  • Photographs and contact sheets) (approximately 240 - Location: to photograph files
  • Photographic scrapbooks (6) - Location: *MGZEB files
  • Programs and performance announcements (approximately 50) - Location: *MGZB files
  • Scrapbooks (2) - Location: *MGZRS...
  • Souvenir programs
    • The American Ballet [193-] - Location: *MGZB (duplicate)
    • Ballet West [1981] - Location: *MGZB

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