The San Francisco of Maya Angelou

The San Francisco Public Library is honored to be the home of “Portrait of a Phenomenal Woman,” Lava Thomas's monument to Maya Angelou. Angelou, born Marguerite Annie Johnson in St. Louis, Missouri in 1928, came to the Bay Area with her family in the 1940s. She documented her eventful life through several autobiographies. We also have clues to her activities in San Francisco through our print and database collections.

The 1950 Census, found in Ancestry.com, shows her living with her mother, Vivian Baxter, her brother, Bailey, and her son, Clyde at 948 Fulton Street in San Francisco. The Census mis-records her first name as Margaret and notes that she worked as a "saleslady" in "retail music" (i.e., a record shop).

She was listed twice in the 1949 San Francisco City Directory.

Her name appears as the misspelled Margrette Johnson, a dancer residing at 948 Fulton Street (her family's address) and as Marguerite Johnson, a clerk for David Rosenbaum (the owner of the Melrose Record Shop).

At the beginning of her memoir Singin' And Swingin' And Gettin' Merry Like Christmas (1976), she described getting hired at the Melrose Record Shop at 1256 Fillmore Street.

San Francisco Chronicle April 29, 1951

The store featured jazz and rhythm and blues music not easily found in other stores. Louise Cox noticed the young Maya Angelou's knowledgeable taste in recordings and hired her as a clerk. 

The Billboard November 5, 1949

Husband and wife Richard and Louise Cox ran the operations of the store. Angelou met her future husband Tosh Angelos working there.

Angelou made an appearance in the November 28, 1951 edition of the San Francisco Chronicle with her married name -- Mrs. Marguerite Angelos. This family event happened at the Booker T. Washington Center and featured art and performances by children. Angelou assisted in putting the program together.

Her autobiography, Gather Together in My Name (1974), tells of her early forays into the performing arts. She told of being tutored by an experienced dancer named R.L. Poole. Angelou recalled her performing with him as the team Poole and Rita (Rita was a diminutive of Marguerite) at the Champagne Supper Club. This nightclub operated at 1849 Post Street between 1952 and 1955. The club frequently advertised in the Chronicle but there is no mention of Poole and Rita there. The dance team may have rated as "others" as shown in this blurb announcing comedy stars Red Foxx and Slappy White.

source: San Francisco Chronicle April 4, 1952

Around this time, Maya Angelou met dancer Alvin Ailey at the dance classes they took with avant-garde choreographers Walland Lathrop and Anna Halprin. Ailey's biographer described them forming a dance team, Al and Rita, that performed at small community events. Ailey, in his autobiography, noted they rehearsed frequently but never danced outside of her apartment.

Pearl Primus, the Trinidadian-American dancer and choreographer, also strongly influenced Angelou as a performer. She described being moved to tears watching Primus perform her dances rooted in African tradition. An awed Angelou auditioned for Primus who exclaimed, "You are a dancer. You are a dancer," and awarded Angelou a scholarship to study with her in New York.

Bibliography

Ailey, Alvin, Revelations: The Autobiography of Alvin Ailey (Carol Pub. Group, 1995).

Angelou, Maya, The Collected Autobiographies of Maya Angelou (Modern Library, 2004).

"David Rosenbaum [obituary]," San Francisco Chronicle January 6, 1998.

"Dealer Doings," The Billboard November 5, 1949.

Dunning, Jennifer, Alvin Ailey: A Life in Dance (Addison-Wesley, 1996).

"Notes And Addenda," San Francisco Chronicle November 28, 1951.

Polk's Crocker-Langley San Francisco City Directory (R.L. Polk & Co.,1949)

Schwartz, Peggy, The Dance Claimed Me: A Biography of Pearl Primus, with Murray Schwartz (Yale University Press, 2011).

Databases used:

Ancestry.com
Entertainment Industry Magazine Archive

San Francisco Chronicle Historical

Carol Channing - A Product of San Francisco And Its Public Schools

Carol Channing spent her entire youth in San Francisco.  She was born in Seattle on January 31, 1921, but her family moved here when she young. She lived all of her public school years in San Francisco and only moved away from the Bay Area to attend college in the East.

Her father, George Channing, was born on November 21, 1888 and died May 29, 1957.  Her mother Adelaide Glaser was born in Nebraska on December 10, 1886 and died May 3, 1984 -- nearly as long lived as her daughter who recently passed away at the age of 97 on January 15, 2019.

Before she left for college in 1937 Channing learned from her mother of her father's African-American ancestry.  Although he claimed to have been born in Providence, Rhode Island, he was actually born in Augusta, Georgia. His father was German-American and his mother was African-American. Channing's official birth certificate lost in a fire evidently noted that he was "colored." After his father died, his mother moved north where he and his sister could pass for white and attend public schools.

He was born George Christian Stucker.  His sister, Alice Estelle Stucker, gave Georgia as her birthplace for the 1930 census. George Stucker/Channing must have been a remarkable student. He was awarded a scholarship to Brown University where he was an excellent orator and debater. In his senior year, 1911, he won Brown's Gaston Prize Medal for Excellence in Oratory.  He later studied law at Yale and went overseas during World War I as a corporal in the Artillery Corps.  Afterwards he worked in newspapers in Detroit and later was the city editor of the Seattle Star.

George Stucker's 1911 Yearbook Photograph (Liber Brunensis)

At the opening of her memoir, Just Lucky I Guess, Carol Channing recalled that his voice could alternate between "New England stentorian sounds" and a dialect imitation of Eugene O'Neill's eponymous Emperor Jones.  This ability to elide two manners of speaking and presentation made it seem natural to her to explore the vocal possibilities of character.

While living in Seattle her father became a Christian Scientist. When he moved to San Francisco he initially worked selling advertisements for the Christian Science Monitor.  The 1926 City Directory noted that for a time her worked as a salesman for a washing machine company.  Later directories listed him as a "Christian Science Practitioner" and as a member of the Christian Science Committee on Publication.  He was also a Christian Science worker at San Quentin prison.

George Channing - source: San Francisco Examiner (May 30, 1957).

Carol Channing was a precocious child who entered kindergarten at Commodore Sloat Grammar School at the age of four and a half. A bright and voracious reader, she was able to skip the second grade.  Channing described being in awe of her principal Miss Berard.  Elvina L. Berard had been principal the Commodore Sloat school from the time it was a one room school house in 1916 until 1940. In 1922 the school expanded and added the auditorium where a young Carol Channing gave her first "performance." 

Commodore Sloat Grammar School in 1927 (the auditorium is at the right)

source: San Francisco Historical Photograph Collection.

Miss Berard was a strong adult presence for young Carol.  In a 2008 interview she said that she "found every excuse to go into her office because I was so fascinated by the way she talked."  At home she would act out little tea parties with Miss Berard where she would serve her principal tea and then "turn into" her, imitating her "adenoidal" voice.

Carol Channing, age 7 or 8, at her family's Inner Sunset house, during her Commodore Sloat Grammar School days (source: Just Lucky I Guess)

Over the years Carol Channing would recall her stage debut at age 7 on the Commodore Sloat stage.  She had been nominated as school secretary and had to appear on stage to speak to the student body. She recounted:

You go up those five steps, and those steps are still there. I got up there; my knees were shaking. 

For her campaign speech she assumed the character of Miss Elvina Berard.  Everyone broke out into laughter, including her principal who "knew there was no malice." Channing recalled:

Well, the kids started to laugh, and I thought ... Oh! This is the most wonderful... I had never felt so close to people. It was closer than touching.

A plaque dedicating a tree to Elvina L. Berard on Arbor Day, March 9, 1931 at Commodore Sloat Elementary School

She moved on to attend the nearby Aptos Junior High School where she kept up her antics. She was happy to have "an entire new battery of faculty members and students to take home with me in my imagination." In addition to performing in plays she also participated in weekly variety shows at school assemblies.

Channing (right) as French song and dance man Maurice Chevalier at her families Portola Drive house in 1929.
Source: Rosenstein & Marchi, Hello Carol.

The already tall Carol Channing (back row, center) as a member of the Review Club at Aptos Junior School from the Aptos Journal, June 1934

Channing's earliest stage triumph and her first newspaper notice came from her May 1933 performance as Toad in the play Toad of Toad Hall at the Community Playhouse (the present day Marines' Memorial Theatre) at 609 Sutter Street.  She must have seemed boy-like playing her character because the reviewer from the Chronicle wrote of her performance: "He gave a confident, breezy performance of the part, brash, self-satisfied, the quintessence of egotism."

 Elizabeth Holloway (source: San Francisco Chronicle (August 17, 1924)

Channing gave this performance under the direction of Elizabeth Holloway and William Morwood. Holloway had been a teacher at the Children's Dramatic Studio, a school that encouraged the child "to give its own interpretation of the character."  The method practiced at the school aimed to "bring out originality and develop creative art."  She later opened the Elizabeth Holloway School of Theater.  Barbara Eden was another one of Holloway's illustrious students. (Eden describes attending the school because Carol Channing had mentioned studying there in a radio interview).

 Carol Channing (source: San Francisco Chronicle November 27, 1934).

In her next newspaper appearance, Channing appeared bedecked in stars and stripes for her performance as Columbia in an Aptos Middle School pageant entitled Builders of America.

Channing also trained at the San Francisco Operatic and Ballet School run by Adolph Bolm.  She regretted having to leave the program when she was"13 years 2.5 months old" because at five feet, nine inches she had grown too tall.

 Vice-President of the Debating Society, Carol Channing (from the Lowell High School Red and White, Fall 1936)

After completing her studies at Aptos Junior High School, Carol Channing attended Lowell High School, which even then was San Francisco's most academically rigorous public school.  At Lowell she followed the path of her father and joined the Debating Society.

Perhaps Channing's next stage triumph came in her junior year playing the role of Katherine Bence, the female lead in Kempy, the Lowell High School production from May 1937.  The Chronicle praised her performance writing that "displayed an innate sense of speech rhythm and grace of movement."

from the Lowell High School Red and White, Spring 1938

The Fall 1937 Lowell Yearbook also noted that Channing won the school's dramatics award "for her talented panoramic performance in the 'Varieties.'"  She also played a supporting role in Lowell High School's production of Captain Applejack later that yer.

The high school's drama teacher Samuel K. Polland would have her get up in front of the entire student body at assemblies to read the school minutes where she would do her impressions of the faculty.  She recounted learning a great deal from Mr. Polland (who was married to the aforementioned Elizabeth Holloway).

I learned not to be serious and how to feel out an audience. But most important, I learned to feel my way. As Mr. Polland kept repeating, 'Everybody has a way. You have to find your own now, Carol.' And he was so right.

from the Lowell High School Red and White, Spring 1938

Perhaps Channing attained the crowning achievement of her San Francisco days following in the footsteps as an orator.  She entered and won a local contest sponsored by a non-profit political organization called the California Crusaders.  The contest's theme was "American Citizenship and What It Means to Me."

Carol Channing with Floppet in her San Francisco Chronicle feature article of May 2, 1937

In a Chronicle profile she acknowledged that she preferred dancing and acting over public speaking. She based her speech upon a book that discussed the role of women in the modern world.  For her citizenship meant "freedom to develop the qualities I have, and the privilege of contributing them to my country."

She continued:

Let it not be supposed that feminine qualities are in any sense weak. Gentleness is as firm as ruthlessness is hard. What is more anchored, more dependable, more immovable than the mothering quality that gives life and therefore preserves it--that practices the art of self-preservation, art of avoiding war.

Carol Channing At Her Family's Kitchen at 1230 Washington Street in 1937 

image source: San Francisco Historical Photograph Collection

She won the San Francisco contest. She competed in the state finals on April 29, 1937 giving her speech before a crowd of 500 at San Francisco's Veterans Building auditorium. Her speech was persuasive and she won the contest and a trip to Hawaii.

Adelaide and Carol Channing on the manifest for the Malalo (source: Ancestry.com)

She departed for Honolulu with her mother Adelaide aboard the Malalo on June 24, 1937.  They returned about the Lurline on July 8.

Carol Channing aboard the Malolo bound for Hawaii (source: San Francisco Examiner April 12, 1971)

Channing's last show as a student at Lowell was a graduation present to her classmates. In song, dance and pantomime, sketches and blackouts, she took everyone on a hilarious throat-catching trip down memory lane, evoking all the student and faculty characters, all the big events "It was a last look at Lowell," she said, "and I cried at the end. Everybody cried."

During her San Francisco years, Carol Channing worked for a time as a model for I. Magnin.  But she was not all work and no play.  She recalled regularly going with friends on Saturdays to the Palace Hotel where they would dance the Suzy-Q, the Big Apple and the Lindy.

Although her career took her away from San Francisco, this account shows how much the San Francisco contributed to her later success -- both the public schools and the other creative venues that the city offered. She once said:

Performing in front of a school age audience is the best training one could have. If you can hold this impossible audience, you'll make it with others. 

In later years she often speak passionately about how the arts were so important to her in school.

The Arts bring creativity and critical thinking skills to other subjects within the schools' curriculum, not to mention enhancing social skills... The Arts truly fertilizes a young person's brains.

Toward the end of her life she formed ChanningARTS (Arts Returned To Schools) which helped fund the arts in public schools.  Without ceremony she donated funds for the theaters at her three almae matres -- Commodore Sloat Elementary School, Aptos Middle School and Lowell High School. In 2002 Lowell High School named the Carol Channing Theatre named in her honor.

 Carol Channing visiting Aptos Middle School (San Francisco Chronicle September 21, 2008)

The Aptos Journal (Aptos Junior High School, June 1934).

"Aptos To Give Pageant Again," San Francisco Chronicle (November 27, 1934).

"Ban Self-Consciousness: New Ideal Set For Dramatics," San Francisco Chronicle (August 17, 1924).

"Biographical Sketch," San Francisco Examiner (June 12, 1956).

Birch, Donna, "Lowell High Honors Star Grad," San Francisco Examiner (June 6, 1992).

"Carol Channing and Harry Kullijian: A True Love Story!," Richard Skipper Celebrities (May 10, 2011) [blog].

"Carol Channing 'On Stage' While Reading The Minutes," San Francisco Examiner (March 16, 1958).

Channing, Carol, Just Lucky I Guess: A Memoir of Sorts (Simon & Schuster, 2002).

"Channing Gets Lecture Post," San Francisco Chronicle (June 7, 1938).

"Churchman Geo. Channing Dies on Plane," San Francisco Examiner (May 30, 1957).

Eden, Barbara, Jeannie Out of The Bottle (Crown Archetype, 2011).

Geduldig, Lisa, "Credo: The Inside View," [interview] San Francisco Examiner (July 18, 2010).

Iquity, Sister Dana Van, "Carol Channing Speaks about Saving the Arts," San Francisco Bay Times (September 18, 2008).

"Just Who Is This Girl? Carol Channing -- And She's A Lass," San Francisco Chronicle (May 2, 1937).

Knickerbocker, Paine, "S.F.'s Carol Channing Stars in New Musical," San Francisco Chronicle (November 14, 1955).

Liber Brunensis (Brown University, 1911).

"Lowell Girl Wins Speaking Contest," San Francisco Examiner (April 14, 1937).

"Lowell High Students Give Kempy," San Francisco Chronicle (May 22, 1937).

"Obituary: Miss Berard S.F. Teacher," San Francisco Chronicle (September 24, 1940).

"Oratory Wins Trip To Hawaii," San Francisco Examiner (April 30, 1937).

The Red and White (Lowell High School Students Association, Fall 1936; Fall 1937; Spring 1938).

Rosenstein, Brad and Joseph J. Marchi, Hello Carol: A Celebration of Carol Channing (Museum of Performance and Design, 2008).

"S.F. Girl Gets Big Break in New Screen Comedy," San Francisco Examiner (November 27, 1948).

"S.F. Girl Stars on Broadway," San Francisco Examiner (January 22, 1950).

Torchin, Joseph, "When You're Dancing With Dolly," San Francisco Chronicle (January 18, 1978).

Warren, George C., "'Toad of Toad Hall' Enjoyed by All Ages," San Francisco Chronicle (May 24, 1933).

Winn, Steven, "Channing's Memories," San Francisco Chronicle (September 21, 2008).

Zailian, Marian, "It's So Good to Have Her Back Where She Belongs," S.F. Sunday Examiner & Chronicle (January 1, 1978).

Dances for Camera - 2018

Thursday, May 3rd, 5:30-7:45

Koret Auditorium - Main Library

100 Larkin Street

In celebration of Bay Area National Dance Week, SFDFF and San Francisco Public Library will continue the tradition of presenting SFDFF's popular highlight reels – this year from their 2017 festival, which includes award-winning international screendance shorts plus a collection of screendance shorts made by local Bay Area filmmakers.

Schedule:

5:30pm: SFDFF 2017 International Screendance Shorts

6:30pm: 2017 Bay Area Screendance Shorts

Ballroom Dancing in the Art, Music and Recreation Center Newspaper Clipping Files

One of the tools of the old school reference librarian is the vertical file or newspaper clipping file.  Even as more information is available to be searched on the internet and through databases, the Art, Music and Recreation Center continues to maintain and add to our files.  In recent years we have been adding quite a bit less because we have stopped clipping articles from the San Francisco Chronicle (which has a strong online presence and a database that we subscribe to).  But we continue make an effort to locate material in neighborhood and weekly papers.

Browsing through these files is always a serendipitous experience.  You never know what you will find.  In this entry, we will present a small snapshot of the sort of articles one might find using the Ballroom Dancing file.

Ballroom dance is an activity that takes place away from the glare of the public  spotlight and involves amateurs and enthusiasts of all backgrounds.  Skimming through this folder of at least 100 clippings one can see ballroom dancing as a continuous current flowing through our city's cultural life.

"Allure of Swinging Attracts Fans of All Ages to Amura Ballroom Dance Studio" by Shiela Husting appeared in the Sunset Beacon in July 2007.  This article lists six dance studios in the Sunset District.  Unfortunately, the Amura Ballroom Dance Studio has since shut down, despite rave reviews online.

"Ballroom Dancing Remains on the Hill," by Christina Li appeared in The Potrero View of June 2008.  It discusses Cheryl Burke Dance taking over the space at 17th and DeHaro that was occupied for 17 years by the Metronome Ballroom.  Both of these studios represent the past of 1830 17th Street which is scheduled to be torn down so the Smuin Ballet can build a studio there.

"

"It Don't Mean a Thing If It Ain't Got That Swing!," by Karen Ahn appeared in San Francisco Downtown in July 1998.  This article discusses a swing dance revival at spaces like Bimbo's, Cafe du Nord and The Inferno Lounge.

"Tea Dancing" by Joan Hockaday appeared in the San Francisco Progress on December 2, 1979.  It describes a Friday night tea dancing event held at the Hyatt Regency at the Embarcadero.

"Strictly Ballroom, Dancing Classes for Kids," by Angela Neal Richardson appeared in the Nob Hill Gazette of October 1993.  This article discusses The Mid-Weeklies, a series of dance classes for 6th, 7th and 8th graders.  Dance is also taught to these children as a form of social etiquette.

"Strictly Ballroom... and Tango, Swing, Cha Cha..." by Kevin Davis appeared in The Guardsman, the student newspaper of the City College of San Francisco.  This article discusses the school's ballroom dance classes.  It includes this fascinating information: "The 2,200-strong dance community at City College is really a cult-like entity unto itself, extending out  to a wide, underground movement."

Our newspaper clipping files provide a small window into this "underground" world.  It shows that there is a devoted subculture of San Franciscans who sustain this art form.  The popularity of different dance forms may wax and wane, dance venues may come and go, but the continuous enthusiasm and activity of these dancers remains documented in our files.

We have collected information into files on all aspects of the visual and performing arts as well as sports and recreation.  We also have biographical files on visual and performing artists.  Here are links to the indexes of our vertical file collection.

• Newspaper Clipping File - Subject Index

• Bay Area Musicians and Performing Artists Index
• Bay Area Visual Artists and Architects Index

Dances for Camera 2016 - Film Screening

 Thursday, April 28th from 5pm-8pm

 in the Koret Auditorium 

of the Main Library at 100 Larkin Street.

In celebration of National Dance Week the Art, Music and Recreation Center is thrilled to be working with The San Francisco Dance Film Festival again to bring dance film shorts and the feature film Let's Get the Rhythm to the San Francisco Public Library.  This is the 5th year in a row that we have partnered to bring these films to the public for free.

Schedule:
5:30 PM - SFDFF shorts Highlights
6:30 PM - Feature Documentary Let's Get the Rhythm

Let’s Get the Rhythm is a 53-minute documentary chronicling girls’ hand-clapping games on inner-city playgounds and around the world, from every continent and many islands in between. Three eight-year-olds from diverse cultural backgrounds in the greater New York area charm viewers with their personal insights as they learn, share, and eventually outgrow the tradition.

While drawing attention to the social importance of girls’ games, the documentary showcases archival footage from far-flung locations, even ancient Egyptian reliefs, and includes footage by Alan Lomax and Laura Boulton. Folklorist Bess Lomax Hawes and ethnomusicologist Kyra Gaunt accentuate the beauty of the beat with choice observations on the empowering force of this genre on the lives of women.

The screening will be followed by a brief Q & A with Mill Valley filmmaker Irene Chagall, also a longtime music teacher at the Community Music Center in the Mission, which provides music education to all, regardless of financial means.

For more information about the feature documentary, please click this link:

http://www.sfdancefilmfest.org/lets-get-the-rhythm/

Visit: www.sfdancefilmfest.org 


See the full Dances For Camera list

Bay Area Dance Week - Celebrate!

The Art, Music and Recreation Center is pleased to host two events for Bay Area Dance Week.

On Tuesday, April 28th at 5:45 in the Latino Hispanic Meeting Room, we welcome Toba Singer and José Manuel Carreño.  José Manuel Carreño, Artistic Director of Ballet San Jose and former Principal Dancer with American Ballet Theatre, will join Toba Singer, author of Fernando Alonso, the Father of Cuban Ballet, to present the legacy of the internationally-famous Cuban ballet master, Fernando Alonso, architect of the training system that has produced first-rank ballet dancers who today grace the stages of the Royal Ballet of London, American Ballet Theatre, San Francisco Ballet, as well as the Cuban National Ballet.

A slide presentation will present highlights from the 2013 Encuentro Internacional de Academias de Ballet (International Ballet Academies Encounter), a yearly Havana event where ballet students from throughout Cuba and their teachers interface with students and teachers from other countries to compare and demonstrate best practices in the teaching of ballet.  José Manuel Carreño will be accompanied by dancers from Ballet San Jose to demonstrate how he incorporates the training system into his work-out routines.

On Wednesday, April 29th we host the San Francisco Dance Film Festival to present "Dances for Camera", which will be screened in the Koret auditorium at 5:30pm.   San Francisco Dance Film Festival will present highlights from its 2014 festival, including award-winning screendance shorts and La Passion Noureev, a documentary by Fabrice Herrault compiled from rare footage and interviews with iconic ballet dancer Rudolf Nureyev in his prime.

 

Weiferd Watts: a Dancer’s Form. Tribute to a beloved photographer

 

Weiferd Watts in his studio.  photo credit: Marvin Collins

Weiferd Watts passed away in 2010. Since then the library has been collaborating with the local dance community to exhibit a small collection of the photographs that tied Weiferd and the dancers together.

Three years ago I picked up In Dance magazine and read an obituary for Weiferd Watts written by a local dancer, Greta Schoenberg.  I got in touch with Greta hoping to curate an exhibit of Weiferd Watts’ work at the library.  This was easier said than done as Weiferd’s largest body of work was not readily available.  A group of dancer’s, including Greta, Selena Chau and Laura Serghiou put out a call to the local dance community for photographs that Weiferd had given to the dancers over the years. These photographs were gathered together and the Art, Music and Recreation Center, with invaluable assistance from the Exhibitions Department, curated the exhibit that is now on view on the 4th floor of the main library in the Music Center.

 

 

 

For over twenty-five years photographer Weiferd Watts captured an incredible array of dancers and athletes from around the US and abroad. He became a well-known fixture in the Bay Area dance community and counted among his subjects dancers from America’s top companies. Removed from the traditional setting of the stage, the intimate portraits he created required the eye of a choreographer. Without any dance training, he would contort his body in an attempt to demonstrate his visions for movement, which were then interpreted by his subjects, yielding extraordinary results. His vast body of work represents several generations of artists captured in magical, elusive moments created through collaborative experiments and pure serendipity.

 

Weiferd’s work captured the fleeting presence of a generation of dancers from our community and documented a unique collaborative process between two disciplines. Dance and photography were his passions and both fields will mourn his early loss for years to come. Let us enjoy what he left behind.

 

The exhibit will run from September 21st, 2013 through January 2nd, 2014



Dances For Camera 2013 - Never Stand Still: Dancing at Jacob's Pillow

The Art, Music and Recreation Center of the San Francisco Public Library is so pleased to be working with the San Francisco Dance Film Festival again to bring dance films to the public. This year we will be screening the feature length film Never Stand Still, the winner of last year’s San Francisco Dance Film Festival, on Thursday, March 25th at 6pm in the Koret Auditorium.

Legendary dancers and choreographers Merce Cunningham, Paul Taylor, Suzanne Farrell, Mark Morris, Judith Jamison and Bill Irwin appear alongside new innovators to reveal the passion, discipline, and daring of the world of dance in Never Stand Still. Filmed at the iconic Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival, this thrilling documentary features amazing performances by world-renowned dancers interwoven with intimate interviews, behind-the-scenes insights, and rare archival footage.

Never Stand Still will be screened at 6:00 in the Koret Auditorium at the Main Library.  This program is supported by the Friends of the San Francisco Public Library.

All Library programs are free and open to the public.

The following resources are available at the library to learn more about the art of filming dance:

Dancefilm: Choreography and the Moving Image by Erin Brannigan (Oxford University Press, 2011).

Envisioning Dance on Film and Video, Judy Mitoma, editor (Routledge, 2002).

Filmdance Festival: A Project of the Experimental Intermedia Foundation at the Public Theater, New York, Nov. 29-Dec. 11, 1983, Amy Greenfield, catalog editor (The Foundation, 1983).

Motion Pictures: Featuring Bay Area Dance Companies

from The Happiness of Pursuit (Post: Ballet) by David Jouris

The San Francisco Public Library presents an exhibition of prints – representing a cross-section of local dance companies – that strive to capture the flowing energy that is unique to dance. To accomplish this, Berkeley artist David Jouris has developed an approach that distills time and motion into a single impressionistic image. In so doing, he is able to reveal a fluidity that would otherwise go unseen and to convey some of the luminous magic of dance.

The photographed dance companies include Axis Dance Company, Company C Contemporary Ballet, Keith Hennessey, Lily Cai Chinese Dance Company, LINES Training Program, Na Lei Hulu, Post: Ballet, Printz Dance Project, Robert Moses' Kin, and Zhukov Dance Theatre.

The exhibit is schedule to be displayed from October 27, 2012 through January 31, 2013 in the Steve Silver Beach Blanket Babylon Music Center on the 4th floor of the Main Library.

An Evening with Isadora Duncan: Danced by Lois Ann Flood

The Art, Music and Recreation Center of the San Francisco Public Library is pleased to present this program on

Thursday, May 24th from 6-7:30.

 

Isadora Duncan was the most famous dancer-choreographer performing in the early 20th century. She mesmerized her audiences by combining natural, free movement with ballet. Isadora was an icon of the art and culture of her times—she personified the period’s fascination with all things Greek, was a symbol of women’s emancipation, and influenced fashion and dance throughout the world. This performance will give insight into what all the fuss was about. 

Lois Ann Flood is the founder of Diablo Dance Theater. She has been performing the exquisite dances of Isadora Duncan for over 20 years. Her interpretations are recognized for their dynamic and expressive qualities.  She will be accompanied by narrator Karen Elise, who will talk about Isadora’s life and times.

Books in our collection that might be of interest:

Isadora Duncan : a graphic biography / written and illustrated by Sabrina Jones ; Paul Buhle, editor. 

Isadora : a sensational life / Peter Kurth.

Isadora speaks : writings & speeches of Isadora Duncan / edited & introduced by Franklin Rosemont ; with a preface by Ann Barzel. 

A selection of Isadora Duncan dances : the Schubert selection / by Sylvia Gold.

Beyond Isadora : Bay Area dancing, the early years 1915-1965 / by Joanna Gewertz Harris.

Dances For Camera - 2012

Still from Two Seconds After Laughter (source: San Francisco Dance Film Festival)

Please join us for the 2nd annual “Dances for Camera” on Saturday, April 21st from 2-4 pm and/or Wednesday, April 27th from 5:45-7:45 pm. Two distinct programs at the San Francisco Public Library will showcase highlights from the 3rd annual San Francisco Dance Film Festival, with some of the best dance films from around the globe, selected out of more than 100 entries from 25 countries.

These short experimental dance pieces are created specifically for the camera, independent from the traditional stage. Interpretations can range from narratives to collages of music, movement and images, sometimes including the use of animation and other new media. Local directors will be available for Q&A following the screenings.

On Saturday the following short will be screened:

SCREENDANCE SHORTS PROGRAM 1
2:00 pm | Saturday April 21
San Francisco Public Library – Koret Auditorium
100 Larkin Street San Francisco, CA 94122

Into Minds
(UK, 2011) 5min
Director: Azul Sierra

A hybrid film that mixes poetry with dance and movements, Into Minds explores the difference between two mindsets: a rigid mind that wants to control everything with absolute reason, and a mind that is connected to the heart, one that wants to be river, fount and flow.

Beautiful Illusion
(UK, 2011) 4min
Director: Jessica Taylor & Aaron Buckley

A dance between the vulnerability of flesh and the hard reality of science. At what cost do we suffer for our art?

Handke, Part One: Solos
(HUNGARY, 2011) 9min
Director: Réka Szűcs

"I have lived in time. I have thought about the beginning and the end. I have realized that I am not you." —Peter Handke, "Self Accusation"

In A Moment
(CANADA, 2011) 8min
Director: Ricky & Jeffrey Kuperman

A man with no memory fights to recognize his wife.
View Trailer

There, Again
(USA: Tuscaloosa, 2011) 10min
Director: Sarah M.Barry

Within each room, dancers explore their surroundings and find different ways to confront their confinement.

Where Do You Live?
(USA: Corte Madera, 2011) 3min
Director: Kate Duhamel

Robin Cantrell and Mira Cook dance on the New York City skyline to an original song by Mira Cook.

Two Seconds After Laughter
(USA: Sherman Oaks, 2011) 16min
Director: David Rousseve

Weaving Indonesian dance, Sundanese music, and a true-life narrative of an immigrants journey, Two Seconds After Laughter creates a border-jumping dialogue on a universal irony: The heart longs most for the place to which it can never return...home.


SCREENDANCE SHORTS PROGRAM 2

New London Calling
(UK, 2010) 10min
Director: Alla Kovgan

An unsupervised tribe of seventy-five children takes over the entire city of New London, creating their rites and rituals through playing street games.

Vias de Vuelo (Rails To Fly)
(MEXICO, 2011) 11min (excerpt)
Director: Alfredo Salomón

A humorous reflection on the liberty of human beings.

Origami
(USA: San Francisco, 2011) 3min
Director: RJ Muna

A study of movement and physical architecture based on the symmetry of folding and unfolding figures.

Pursuit
(USA: Los Angeles, 2011) 4min
Director: Amy “Catfox” Campion

Feet meet pavement at full speed as Danni G races down the sidewalk, flies over obstacles, and careens through crowds of dancers. Is he being pursued or is he in pursuit?

The Pendulum Heart
(USA: San Francisco, 2011) 9min
Director: Nara Denning

A mask carver of changing identity, forever driven to transformation by the "call of the heart." This is the trial of a winded spirit, a meditation on the evolution of identity and also an examination of the pendulum swing within the secret heart of every woman and man.

Love Song
(ISRAEL, 2011) 4min
Director: Simon Birman & Harel Kay

An homage by dancer and singer Harel Kay to Ofra Haza, a famous Israeli singer of Yemenite origin who died in 2000.

Lysergic Worlds
(SPAIN, 2010) 19min
Director: Javier Cardenete

Dr. Vega has a brand new patient: Diego. It seems he never leaves his room. All he does is paint and pin things to the wall, making lysergic worlds where he lives.


On Wednesday the following will be screened:

SCREENDANCE SHORTS PROGRAM 3
5:45 | Wednesday April 25
San Francisco Public Library – Koret Auditorium
100 Larkin Street San Francisco, CA 94122

Bränner Staden
(SWEDEN, 2011) 9min
Director: Olof Werngren

Sweden’s largest independent dance institution, Skånes Dansteater, and the acclaimed Swedish band Gaby and the Guns stand behind the short film Bränner Staden. It is about shaking life into things that have become fixed in patterns. About a feeling of being trapped in a ”place” that feels smaller every day.

Two Sink, Three Float
(BELGIUM, 2010) 7min
Director: Satya Roosens

On a thin membrane between top and bottom, one is taken into a surreal and visual story.There is an underworld, a world under, which we do not see. It is not shown on the surface. Or is it?

Marie
(USA: New York, 2011) 2min
Director: Brian Oakes

An experimental dance film that utilizes motion-capture technology in a uniquely minimal manner.

Black Train Is Coming
(USA: San Jose, 2011) 3min
Director: John T.Williams

Black Train is Coming is based on the 1926 sermon, “Death’s Black Train is Coming” by Rev J.M Gates, one of the most prolific black preachers in the United States.
View Trailer

Parts Don't Work
(USA: Seattle, 2011) 8min
Director: KT Niehoff

Set in the Fun Forest Amusement Park in Seattle, the heroine grapples with her outsider status in relationship to a go-go booted, lipstick-slinging Girl Gang.

Seven Dolors
(USA: New York, 2011) 4min
Director: Eli Rarey with Katherine Helen Fisher

Seven Dolors was created following the death of the dancer/choreographer’s uncle in the attacks of September 11th. Dolors is a sober, intimate window into the universality of the maternal grieving process.

Body of War
(UK, 2010) 20min
Director: Isabel Rocamore

Set in the Normandy Landing geography and punctuated by testimonies of active-duty soldiers, a visceral military hand-to-hand combat is gradually deconstructed – inviting the viewer to engage in the relationship between intimacy and brutality.

Claude Bessy: Lignes d'une Vie (Traces of a Life)
(USA: New York, 2011) 54min
Director: Fabrice Herrault

French ballerina Claude Bessy was a much-admired Étoile of the Paris Opera Ballet who also ran its prestigious school for decades. Narrated by its subject, the film features rare vintage class and performance footage of the dancer in her prime. Includes works by Gene Kelly, Serge Lifar, and Maurice Béjart.


Reading List:

Dance On Camera: A Guide To Dance Films And Videos, edited By Louise Spain (Scarecrow Press, 1998).

Modern Dance & Ballet On Film & Video: A Catalog, compiled And edited by Susan Braun (Dance Films Association, 1986).

Dancefilm: Choreography and the Moving Image by Erin Brannigan (Oxford University Press, 2011).

Envisioning Dance on Film and Video, edited by Judy Mitoma, Elizabeth Zimmer, Dale Ann Stieber, Nelli Heinonen, Norah Zuňiga Shaw (World Wisdom, 2007).

Dances For Camera - Dance Film Festival

Please join us for “Dances for Camera” on Saturday, April 23rd from 3-5 pm and/or Wednesday, April 27th from 6-8 pm. Two distinct programs at the San Francisco Public Library will showcase highlights from the San Francisco Dance Film Festival, with some of the best dance films from around the globe, selected out of more than 100 entries from 25 countries.

These short experimental dance pieces are created specifically for the camera, independent from the traditional stage. Interpretations can range from narratives to collages of music, movement and images, sometimes including the use of animation and other new media. Local directors will be available for Q&A following the screenings.

Saturday, April 23rd
Screendance shorts program, 3pm
The Watch (USA, 2010) 3 min Director: Shal Ngo & Ryan McNamara
- A playful collaboration between a filmmaker, a fashion designer and young freelance dancers in New York.

Drift (USA, 2010) 8 min
Director/Choreographer: Eric Garcia & Kat Cole
- With no destination in mind, a pair of vagabonds hitchhike, stumble, and inch their way through striking landscapes.

Study for an Underwater Film (Sweden, 2010) 3 min
Director/Choreographer: Pontus Lidberg
- An early study for a potential new film by the award-winning Swedish choreographer/filmmaker, filmed in Sweden and at the Headlands Center for the Arts in Marin.

There is a Place (UK/China, 2010) 7 min
Director: Katrina McPherson Choreographer: Sang Jijia
- Soloist Sang Jijia, an ethnic Tibetan born in Gansu, struggles with his position in the world.

Cea (Canada, 2006) 4 min
Director: Robert Prowse Choreographer: Andrea Pass
- The slow, melodic rhythms and quiet energy of this film offer a powerful dichotomy to the frenetic pace of today’s dominant urban culture. The movement flows with the grace of poetry to an original score that takes us back through our collective rural history.

The Perfect Vacuum (Canada, 2010) 6 min
Director: Alana Cymerman Choreographer: Benjamin Hatcher
- Mona left a glamorous life back home because of war. Now, she finds home in vacuum dancing.

The Wait of Gravity (Italy/USA, 2010) 5 min
Director: Renata Sheppard Choreographer: Renata Sheppard & Caitlin Marz
- A human form shifts in and out of a relationship with gravity in an elusive architectural space—a journey of sound, vision, and kinesthetics.

The Greater the Weight (Canada, 2008) 5 min
Director: Marlene Millar & Philip Szporer Choreographer: Dana Michel
- Dancer and choreographer Dana Michel assembles extremely physical movement—a remnant from her previous training in track and touch football—with mathematical precision and poetic improvisation: The result is an exploration of the body as an instrument in a symphony of rupture and flow.

Connect 4 (USA, 2006) 3 min
Director/Choreographer: Nadia Oussenko
- Four dancers work within four spaces of a warehouse to connect a single movement phrase.

Feature Presentation, 4pm

Finite & Infinite Games (USA, 2010) 45 min Director: RJ Muna Choreographer: Katherine Fisher
- The San Francisco premiere of local filmmaker RJ Muna’s Finite and Infinite Games, choreographed by former ODC dancer Kate Fisher and shot in New York City’s Judson Memorial Church. Includes documentary about the making of the film.

Wednesday, April 27th
Screendance shorts program, 6pm
Motel Deception (Australia, 2009) 5min
Director/Choreographer: Chrissie Parrot
- A seedy motel room, money and a gun set the scene for a very physical confrontation between the scheming Clare and Dexter.

After the Water the Clouds (Netherlands/Spain, 2009) 10 min
Director/Choreographer: Carmen Rozestraten
- Playful and poetic voyage of a young Catalan woman, whose world becomes surreal as she encounters mythical and unusual characters.

Light in Warped Time (USA, 2010) 7 min
Director: Jennifer Schwed Choreographer: Lucy Bowen McCauley
- A fantastical exploration of the desire to be free from social boundaries.

Texas Plates (USA, 2010) 3 min
Director/Choreographer: Marta Renzi
- A playful roadside romance set to music by country artist Patti Scialfa.

Kaleidoscope (USA, 2010) 7 min
Director: Kate Duhamel Choreographer: Jason Samuels Smith

Entre Nous (USA/UK 2010) 7 min
Director/Choreographer: Blair Brown
- An intimate look at the body in motion and an exploration of the emotions behind the ideas of separation, vulnerability, and loneliness.

January (USA, 2009) 4 min
Director: RJ Muna Choreographer: Rachael Lincoln
- A solo made within the real and imagined confines of winter. In a slate-walled room with chalk dust as snow, a woman follows her mind's small agitations as she meditates on the passage of time.

Stronger (UK, 2010) 4 min
Director/Choreographer: Wilkie Branson
- Two new-found companions embark on a journey adventuring up a wooded mountain.

Feature Presentation, 7pm
The Nightingale (USA/SF, 2011) 21 min
Director: Greta Schoenberg
- A short narrative in classic 1940s film noir style, shot entirely in San Francisco with an all-local cast and crew of dancers, musicians, and visual artists.

Q & A to follow

Both programs will be presented in the Main Library's Koret Auditorium. All library programs are free and open to the public.

Reading List:

Dance On Camera: A Guide To Dance Films And Videos, edited By Louise Spain (Scarecrow Press, 1998).

Modern Dance & Ballet On Film & Video: A Catalog, compiled And edited By Susan Braun (Dance Films Association, 1986).

Diaghilev and the Golden Age of the Ballets Russes

The Victoria and Albert Museum’s current exhibition, Diaghilev and the Golden Age of the Ballets Russes, celebrates "the most exciting ballet company of the 20th Century" on the occasion of its 101st anniversary year of inception. Through Diaghilev’s direction, collaborations and interpretation of the "total theater," the Ballets Russes heralded Modernism and reinvigorated ballet by imaginatively synthesizing dance, music and art in each production. Three hundred artifacts from the Company’s early years are on display, including over 80 costumes, set designs, theater backdrops, and props by artists such as Chanel, Picasso, Benois, Braque, Matisse, Bakst, Larionov, and Goncharova.

The contributions of Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes to both dance and music are numerous: Many dancers built careers under Diaghilev’s direction and, in general, he elevated the role of male dancer in ballet. The company became known for its ground-breaking choreography in part because Diaghilev supported Mikhail Fokine’s choreographic reforms, supervised the work of fledgling choreographers Vaslav Nijinsky, Léonide Massine, Bronislava Nijinska, and was also responsible for introducing to the world the 20-year old George Balanchine (who went on to create ten ballets for the company).

The composers for the Ballets Russe were of equal accomplishment. Diaghilev launched the international career of Igor Stravinsky at age 27 by commissioning The Firebird. He also commissioned other immortal works by Maurice Ravel (Daphnis et Chloé), Claude Debussy (Jeux), Richard Strauss (Die Josephslegende), Erik Satie (Parade), Francis Poulenc (Les Biches) and Serge Prokofiev (Le Pas d’Acier and The Prodigal Son).

Despite the achievements of his dancers, choreographers and musicians, many have argued that Diaghilev regarded his set and costume designers as the true stars of his innovative company. Other visual artist who collaborated with Diaghilev included Georges Rouault, Juan Gris, Maurice Utrillo, Giorgio de Chirico, Max Ernst, Joan Miró, Jean Cocteau, and Naum Gabo, among numerous others.

The finding aid below highlights the most visually interesting books in our collection, featuring the fine artists of the Company. This is not a comprehensive list but instead a starting point for research.


The Art of Ballets Russes: The Serge Lifar Collection of Theater Designs, Costumes, and Paintings at the Wadsworth Atheneum, Hartford, Connecticut by Alexander Schouvaloff (Yale University Press in association with the Wadsworth Atheneum, 1997).

An invaluable guide to the art of the company, this heavily-illustrated book emphasizes the set pieces, backdrops and costumes from the Serge Lifar Collection at the Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art. This book is organized alphabetically by visual artist’s name, further divided by production title. Each section includes a show synopsis and an essay highlighting historical details of the production, artists’ working methods and their relationships with Diaghilev. Understandably, Bakst and Benois have the most-lengthy entries.

The Art of the Ballets Russes: The Russian Seasons in Paris, 1908-1929 by Militsa Pozharskaya and Tatiana Volodina (Abbeville Press, 1990).

Beyond the introductory essay, this book is primarily illustrated offering season by season chronology of the Ballets Russes productions.

The Art of Enchantment: Diaghilev's Ballets Russes, 1909-1929 compiled by Nancy Van Norman Baer ( Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, 1988).

This catalog accompanied the 1988-1989 De Young museum exhibition. It contains images and essays addressing the work of the artists, as well as an essay on the cross-influences of design and choreography within the company.

La danza delle avanguardie: dipinti, scene e costumi, da Degas a Picasso, da Matisse a Keith Haring a cura di Gabriella Belli ed Elisa Guzzo Vaccarino (Skira, 2005).

In Italian, this book contains over 100 pages of Ballets Russes’ color images. It includes set drawings, costume designs and finished costume photographs for many productions, including the controversial Le Sacre du Printemps (1913), and for Picasso’s Parade (1917) and Pulcinella (1920).

The Russian Theatre: Its Character and History, with Especial Reference to the Revolutionary Period, by René Fülöp-Miller & Joseph Gregor (Lippincott, 1930).

With 48 illustrations in colour and 357 in half-tone. This volume has small section covering the Russian ballet, with sumptuous photographs of Ballet Russes dancers, as well as color drawings, primarily those of Bakst and Benois.

Picasso's "Parade": From Street to Stage: Ballet by Jean Cocteau, Score by Erik Satie, Choreography Léonide Massine by Deborah Menaker Rothschild (Sotheby's Publications, in association with the Drawing Center, New York, 1991).

A thorough examination of the 1917 Ballets Russes production.

Picasso Theatre by Douglas Cooper (H. N. Abrams, 1968).

Includes concept drawings, sets and costumes from Picasso’s Ballet Russes work.

Scenic and Costume Design for the Ballets Russes by Robert C. Hansen (UMI Research Press, 1985).

Few illustrations, but a complete chronology of all productions and the designers who worked on each. Lengthy bibliography of books and articles can be used for additional research.