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Creator
Danielian, Leon, 1920-1997; Loring, Eugene, 1914-
Call number
(S) *MGZMD 178
Physical description
8.09 linear feet (9 boxes)
Language
The majority of the collection is in English, but there are a few items in Russian and Spanish
Preferred Citation

Leon Danielian Papers, (S) *MGZMD 178. 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 Leon Danielian Papers document the career of the American ballet dancer and teacher through an extensive set of photographs, as well as a more limited selection of correspondence, clippings, financial records, and teaching materials. Danielian, a native New Yorker of Armenian ancestry, enjoyed an especially varied career as a performer, but is best known for his long association with the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo. Following his retirement from the stage, Danielian taught ballet for nearly thirty years at the American Ballet Theatre School and the University of Texas at Austin.

Biographical/historical information

American ballet dancer and teacher, Leon Danielian (1920-1997) enjoyed an especially varied career as a performer, but is best known for his long association with the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo. Danielian was a native New Yorker of Armenian ancestry, who, with his sister Hercelia, studied ballet as a child with an influential teacher, Madame Seda. She later would send the Danielians to Mikhail Mordkin for additional training and both would join his troupe, the Mordkin Ballet, when it was formed in 1937 (Danielian’s sister appeared under the name, Hercelia Danielova). The Mordkin Ballet, which had been partly sponsored by Lucia Chase, was refashioned into Ballet Theatre in late 1939 and Leon became an original member of the company, performing in such pieces as the revival of Michel Fokine’s Carnaval, in which he appeared as the Harlequin. During this period, Danielian also would dance on Broadway, with Ballet Theatre, and Colonel Wassily de Basil’s Ballet Russe company, before joining Sergei Denham’s rival Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo as a principal dancer.

Danielian was active with the company from 1943 to 1961, appearing in a wide-ranging repertory, which displayed his versatility in both classical and character parts. Among his most constant and celebrated roles were the Bluebird in The Sleeping Beauty (generally performed as part of the excerpt, Aurora’s Wedding), the comedic Peruvian tourist in Leonide Massine’s Gaîté Parisienne, and El Bonito in Antonia Cobos’ Madroños. Throughout his many years with the company, Danielian partnered all of its leading ballerinas, including Alexandra Danilova, Yvette Chauviré, and Nina Novak. Perhaps his most frequent partner, however, was fellow American, Ruthanna Boris, who also featured Danielian in her own original choreography, including Cirque de Deux (1947) and Quelques Fleurs (1948). Danielian toured extensively with the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo and also appeared as a guest artist and on tours with the San Francisco Ballet during the late 1950s and early 1960s, until worsening arthritis ended his performing career.

Following his retirement from the stage, Danielian taught ballet for nearly thirty years. He became co-director of the School of the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo in New York City for several years and served as director of the American Ballet Theatre School in that same city from 1967 to 1980. In 1983, Danielian succeeded Igor Youskevitch and joined the faculty of the University of Texas at Austin, where he taught in the Department of Theatre and Dance until his retirement in 1991, later becoming a professor emeritus. In 1993, a dance studio and endowed scholarship at the University of Texas were named in his honor.

Scope and arrangement

The Leon Danielian Papers document the career of the American ballet dancer and teacher through an extensive set of photographs, as well as a more limited selection of correspondence, clippings, financial records, and teaching materials. The collection as a whole contains considerably more material relating to Danielian the performer than to his work as a teacher. Of particular interest are individual items relating to Danielian’s earliest years as a dancer, including a few childhood photographs, a 1941 Ballet Theatre souvenir program autographed by many members of the company, and a typescript of a ballet scenario by William Saroyan, A Theme in the Life of the Great American Goof(1939), which was choreographed by Eugene Loring for Ballet Theatre. Aside from a few letters and some diary entries on loose leaves found in a ring binder, there is very little material of a personal nature in this collection.

The Leon Danielian papers are arranged in three series:

  • Series I: Personal and Professional Papers

    The Personal and Professional Papers series is comprised primarily of clippings, correspondence, and financial records that document Danielian’s career as a dancer and a teacher. The limited correspondence consists chiefly of routine business letters, but also contains a few personal items, as well as an extensive set of congratulatory telegrams. Of special interest is an early Ballet Theatre program, signed by numerous members of the company, and a set of loose leaves belonging to a journal that includes Danielian’s notes on books and choreography, as well as some diary entries relating to the period shortly before he joined the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo.

  • Series II: Photographs

    The Photographs series contains numerous prints of Danielian in both formal studio portraits and candid snapshots taken backstage, in performance, and on tour. Many of the images are by leading photographers, including Fred Fehl, Irving Penn, and Wallace Seawall. In addition to portraits of Danielian with his dancing partners and colleagues, there is a small set of autographed photographs, which includes pictures of Lucia Chase, Alexandra Danilova, Mikhail Mordkin, and Jocelyn Vollmar. Also of interest are numerous travel photographs of Middle Eastern and Mediterranean countries, probably taken on tour with the San Francisco Ballet. Additional prints of some of the same photographs in this series, as well as other subjects can be found in the Oversized Materials series.

  • Series III: Oversized Materials

    The Oversized Materials series consists mainly of artwork and larger format photographic prints. In addition to several reproductions of Italian Renaissance drawings collected by Danielian, the series contains a few original pieces, including an Andy Warhol poster advertising an early gallery show of the artist's.

Administrative information

Source of acquisition

Estate of Leon Danielian

Processing information

Processed by Helice Koffler; Machine-readable finding aid created by Helice Koffler.

Related Material

The Jerome Robbins Dance Division, New York Public Liberary for the Performing Arts

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

For permission to publish, contact the Curator, Jerome Robbins Dance Division.