152196
- TitleIrene Vera Young - papers, 1901-1964
- Creator
- Call numberMLMSS 7098/Boxes 1, 3
MLMSS 7098/Boxes 2X, 4X-9X - Level of descriptionfonds
- Date
1901 - 1964 - Type of material
- Reference code152196
- Physical Description1.2 metres of textual material (2 boxes, 7 outsize boxes) includes photographs
Textual Records
Textual Records - (typescript, with manuscript annotations)
Textual Records - (printed)
Clippings
Drawings
Objects
Music - (manuscript and printed scores, with manuscript annotations) - ADMINISTRATIVE/ BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY
Irene Vera Young was born Irene Vera Carter in 1895. She received a convent school education in Wagga Wagga, New South Wales, and married Sydney Solicitor C Throsby Young in 1914. Young lived in New York City from 1926 to 1932, where she pursued a career as an actress and later as a dancer, studying the German dance with Sara Mildred Strauss (1928-1930) and Hans Weiner (1930-1932). Throughout the 1930s Young was an important figure in modern dance in Sydney. On her return from New York in 1932, she taught the German dance at Frances Scully's ballet school and Vere Mathews' School of Exercise before opening her own school of German Dance and Body Culture in mid 1933. She formed a Motion Choir of students to accompany her solo performances, and they performed many seasons of concerts, mainly at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music. Young toured Japan from February to June 1935, where she studied Japanese Dance, and in 1936, accompanied by her daughter Barbara, travelled to Europe. While in England she visited the Jooss Leeder School of Dance at Dartington Hall in Devon, and studied dance with Anny Fligg, the accredited representative in London of the prominent German teacher Rudolf von Laban. Young was invited by von Laban to enter the International Dance Competition which had been organised to coincide with the 1936 Olympic Games in Berlin. The only Australian to participate, she won a "Gold" Medal. In 1937 she reopened the Sydney Dance School, with a branch at the Rex Cafe, Kings Cross (although with the outbreak of World War II all references to 'German' dance were deleted from publicity material). In the 1940s, Young moved further towards 'body culture' and physical fitness, and in 1941 collaborated briefly with Gertrud Bodenwieser (an Austrian dance leader who immigrated to Sydney in 1939) to organise the Australian Association of the Creative Dance, with teacher and student syllabi and examinations. Young's publication, A System of Body Culture for Young and Old (undated, but thought to have appeared in the late 1940s) outlines her exercise methods. - Scope and ContentLITERARY MANUSCRIPTS
Date unknown; 'Demonstration of Body Culture using Elementary and Intermediate Students'. Manuscript/typescript. Variant versions. Includes figure and floor diagrams and illustrative ink drawings. Written to assist body culture teachers in presenting demonstrations. (Call No.: MLMSS 7098/1)
Date unknown; Address to Lord Mayor on the occasion of the City of Sydney Eisteddfod. Typescript. (Call No.: MLMSS 7098/1)
1939; Transcript of interview with Ivy Vera Young on Radio Station 2UW. Typescript with ms. annotation. Annotation reads: 'Interview over 2UW with Miss Hilda Morse[?]. 23rd June 1939'. (Call No.: MLMSS 7098/1)
1929; Untitled article about Modern Dance. Typescript with ms. annotations. Annotation reads: 'Copy of article sent to Mr Trafford Whitelock. In Australian Theatre News Monthly by request of Mr Whitelock. 26th June 1929'. (Call No.: MLMSS 7098/1)
Date Unknown; Untitled article about the NSW Dance Teachers Society Recital. Typescript with ms. annotations. (Call No.: MLMSS 7098/1)
Date Unknown; 'The German Dance. Why it succeeds in Australia and Abroad'. Typescript with ms. annotations. (Call No.: MLMSS 7098/1)
Dates Unknown; Manuscripts concerning the Australian Association of the Creative Dance. Includes: Untitled - Irene Vera Young's notes to the audience at Teacher's Diploma Examination - Typescript with ms. annotations; 'Teacher's Diploma' [Syllabus] - Typescript with ms. annotations; 'Teacher's Diploma Examination. Form of Questions on Technique' - typescript with ms. annotations; Teacher's Diploma Examination. Technique - typescript; Elementary, Preliminary, & Advanced Examinations - manuscript/typescript (1941). (Call No.: MLMSS 7098/1)
CHOREOGRAPHIC AND RESEARCH NOTES
Date Unknown; 'Words for dances and Written description of dances'. Choreographic notes for dances, including Congo, Corroboree and We the Crucified. Includes some typescript lyrics. (Call No.: MLMSS 7098/1)
Date Unknown.; Choreographic notes for movements of the Sonata in A Flat, Op. 26, by Ludwig van Beethoven. (Call No.: MLMSS 7098/1)
1936; 'Copies & Particulars Re German Dance. Collected in Europe'. Notes and brochures on the German Dance, collected by Young while in Europe. Includes information on Rudolf von Laban, Mary Wigman, Margarete Wallmann, Greta Palucca, Steffi Nossen, the Jooss Leeder School of Dance at Dartington Hall in Devon, England, and the Laban School of Dancing in London. (Call No.: MLMSS 7098/1)
Dates Unknown; 'Demonstrations and Lectures, Articles. Publicity Notices'. Includes: 'Synopsis of all choreography to May 1938'; 'The Modern German Dance' - annotation reads: "Written by a student of Irene Vera Young (thought to be Kathleen Campbell)"; 'The advent of the new dance and its rapid growth in Australia', by Irene Vera Young. (Call No.: MLMSS 7098/1)
NOTEBOOK
Date Unknown; Notebook. Ruled exercise book, with notes from Irene Vera Young's classes concerning the philosophy and methodology of the dance. Annotation on front cover reads "Roma Graneur. Studio of Irene Vera Young School of the German Dance. 215 George St., Sydney". Further annotation at the foot of page 1 reads: "This book contains lists taken down during class work - thought to have been collected by Kathleen Campbell. B.Y." (Call No.: MLMSS 7098/1)
MUSIC SCORES
1909; S. Coleridge-Taylor. Petite Suite de concert/for pianoforte. Contents: 1. La Caprice de Nannette; 2. Demande et Response; 3. Un Sonnet d'amour; 4. La Tarantella Fretillante. USA: Hawkes & Son. 1 score with choreographic annotations in pencil. Inscribed: 'Irene Vera Young'. (Call No.: MLMSS 7098/2X)
1909; S. Coleridge-Taylor. Valse Suite. Three-Fours/Piano. London: Augener Limited. 1 score with choreographic annotations in pencil. (Call No.: MLMSS 7098/2X)
1901; Alexandre Glazounow. Theme et variations/pour piano. Leipzig: M.P. Belaieff. 1 score with choreographic annotations in pencil. (Call No.: MLMSS 7098/2X)
Date unknown; Jacques Ibert. A Giddy Girl. Ms., in an unknown hand, with choreographic annotations in pencil. (Call No.: MLMSS 7098/2X)
Date unknown; W.A. Mozart. Klavierstu[e]cke. Contents: 1. Fantasia I. 2. Fantasia II. 3. Fantasia III. 4. Rondo I. 5. Rondo II. 6. Rondo III. 7. Ouverture. 8. Adagio. 9. Menuetto. 10. Gigue. Leipzig: C.F. Peters. 1 score, Fantasia II with pencil annotations. (Call No.: MLMSS 7098/2X)
PRINTED MATERIAL
1936; Newscuttings from German newspapers concerning the International Dance Festival held in association with the 11th Olympiad, Berlin. 2 envelopes. (Call No.: MLMSS 7098/3)
1933-1938; Journals and magazines. Issues of Women's Budget, Manuscripts, To-day, First Nights, and The Dominican, which include articles written by or about Irene Vera Young and modern dance. (Call No.: MLMSS 7098/3)
?1935; Programs. Three programs for Japanese Dance Concerts. (Call No.: MLMSS 7098/3)
?1940s; Monograph. A System of Body Culture for Young and Old. W. Paxton & Co. Ltd., London. Date of publication not shown. (Call No.: MLMSS 7098/3)
1964; Catalogue. Dobell Retrospective Souvenir Catalogue. Includes typescript of Irene Vera Young's reactions to some of the paintings. (Call No.: MLMSS 7098/3)
SCRAPBOOKS
1926-1940; Scrapbook. Includes newscuttings, programs and notices concerning Young's acting and dancing career in New York, her trip to Japan in 1935, her Dance Studio in Sydney and concerts presented by Young and her students. Also includes program and newscuttings for the 1935 NSW Dance Teachers' Society Recital. (Call No.: MLMSS 7098/4X)
1933-1941; Scrapbook. Includes newscuttings and articles on physical culture; programs; notices; Adjudicator's Reports for NSW Railway Institute Fifteenth Annual Eisteddfod, 1939; and letter from Jean Garling enclosing a review of Young's book A System of Body Culture. (Call No.: MLMSS 7098/4X)
1936; Scrapbook concerning Young's participation in the International Dance Festival organised by Rudolf von Laban in association with the 11th Olympiad, Berlin. Includes newscuttings from German newspapers and translations, English language newscuttings, festival program and photographs. (Call No.: MLMSS 7098/4X)
LETTERS OF INTRODUCTION AND CERTIFICATE
1935; Letters of introduction for Irene Vera Young on the occasion of her visit to Japan: from Prime Minister Joseph Lyons dated 17 January 1935; from New South Wales Premier Bertram (later Sir Bertram) Stevens. (Call No.: MLMSS 7098/5X)
1936; Certificate awarded to Irene Vera Young for successful participation in the International Dance Competition held on the occasion of the 11th Olympiad, Berlin, 1936 (Call No.: MLMSS 7098/5X)
PHOTOGRAPHS AND DRAWINGS
For details of pictorial material see attached record.
REALIA
For details of realia see attached record. - Language
- General note
Since its transfer to the State Library of New South Wales in 1997, this collection has been further arranged and described, and reboxed. The detailed contents list in this entry supersedes the original box list prepared by Lynn Fisher for the Dennis Wolanski Library of the Performing Arts.
Digital order no:Album ID : 852949 - Creator/Author/Artist
- Name
- SubjectActors, Australian--20th century.
Choreography.
Dance--Competitions--Germany.
Dance--Japan.
Dance--Philosophy.
Dance--Study and teaching.
Dance accompaniment music.
Dance recitals--New South Wales--Sydney.
Dance schools--New South Wales--Sydney.
Dance teachers--New South Wales.
German (Dance).
Modern dance--New South Wales--Sydney.
Modern dance--United States.
Scrapbooks.
Voyages and travels. - Open Rosetta viewer
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