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Creator
Alf, Fé
Call number
(S) *MGZMD 90
Physical description
1 document box 17 items in 11 folders
Language
English German
Preferred Citation

Fé Alf Papers, (S) *MGZMD 90, 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.

This collection of papers of Fé Alf contains material from c.1928 in Germany to c.1933 in the United States. It contains primarily a diary and course papers written while Alf was a student at the Wigman School in Germany, course papers written while she was a student at the Hagemann Schule in Hamburg, and lectures given at the Wigman School in New York. These materials were organized and identified by Joan Griffin.

Biographical/historical information

Fé Alf [the professional name of Felicitas Ahlff] was born in Germany c.1910 and received her early dance training with Kurt Jooss in Hamburg. She later studied the Mensendieck method and then entered the Wigman School in Dresden, graduating in 1931. She came to New York City in November 1931 as assistant teacher to Hanya Holm at the New York Wigman School. She opened her own studio where she taught modern dance and she performed as a concert dancer until c.1939 primarily performing her own works. In 1938 she joined with Louise Allen, William Bales, George Bockman, Kenneth Bostock, Elizabeth Colman, Alice Dudley, Eleanor King, William Miller and Sybil Shearer to form the Theatre Dance Company, a cooperative group.

Scope and arrangement

This collection of papers of Fé Alf contains material from c.1928 in Germany to c.1933 in the United States. It contains primarily a diary and course papers written while Alf was a student at the Wigman School in Germany, course papers written while she was a student at the Hagemann Schule in Hamburg, and lectures given at the Wigman School in New York. These materials were organized and identified by Joan Griffin.|||Material is written in German and English.

The Fé Alf papers are arranged in four series:

Administrative information

Source of acquisition

Gift. Mrs. Alfred Fippinger [Fé Alf]. Received: 1988.

Processing information

Processed by Henley Haslam.

Separated material

Received with the collection were 9 books which have been separated from the manuscript material:

  • Fritz Giese and Hedwig Hagemann. Weibliche Korperbildung und Bewegungskunst.Munich, Delphin-Verlag, 1924.
  • Bess M. Mensendieck. Funktionelles Frauenturnen.Munich, F. Bruckmann, 1923.
  • ------. Korperkultur der Frau.Munich, F. Bruckmann, 1919.
  • Hedwig Hagemann-Boese. Uber Korper und Seele der Frau.Leipzig, Grethlein & Co., 1927.
  • Wolfgang Graeser. Korpersinn: Gymnastic-Tanz-Sport.Munich, C.H. Beck, 1927.
  • Ludwig Klages. Vom Wesen des Rhythmus.Kampen auf Sylt, Niels Kampmann, 1934.
  • Ludwig Pallat and Franz Hilker. Kunstlerische Korperschulung.Breslau, Ferdinand Hirt, 1926.
  • Brockhaus' kleines Konversations-Lexikon.2 v. Leipzig, Brockhaus, 1906.
  • Der Kreis,IX/12, December 1932. Mary Wigman issue.

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