Though the UCLA Library recently announced the acquisition of the Isadora Duncan Special Collection – spending just under a million dollars of donated funds – they do not intend on exhibiting the resource material until next fall.
Library officials said the exhibition will not be immediately available because of the necessary cataloguing process all new collections undergo.
“It will take a few months to define the (some 1,500) items in the collection in a standardized way so that a finding aid and full description of the items is produced to organize the material so that it is easy to use,” said Lilace Hatayama, a library assistant in the Manuscripts Division for the Young Research Library Special Collections.
The Isadora Duncan Special Collection features scarves hand-painted by Duncan’s brother, her guest book signed by Oscar Wilde and Gabriele d’Annunzio, a diary kept by one of her lovers, and hundreds of watercolors, sculptures, and sketches inspired by Duncan.
“What’s really special about having drawings of Duncan is that she never allowed herself to be filmed when she was dancing. So, really, these drawings are the record of her movement,” said Young Research Library Special Collections manuscripts librarian Genie Guerard.
The delay of a few months is minimal when compared to newly acquired works at the Hammer Museum, which “may not be on view to the public for two to three years after their acquisition merely due to scheduling,” said Melissa Goldberg, communications associate of the Hammer Museum.
And for patrons who cannot wait until the fall exhibition, the Special Collections Department intends on making the material open to the public via appointment by midsummer, said Victoria Steele, head of the YRL Special Collections.
Because UCLA is a public institution, anyone over the age of 18 with photo identification can access any of the non-circulating Special Collection primary resource material.
San Francisco native Isadora Duncan’s unconventional dance techniques in the early 20th century awarded her popularity in the arts throughout the United States, Russia and Europe.
“Isadora believed in free love. She danced barefoot, changed what was possible in what we now call contemporary or modern dance, and did things that were considered outrageous at a time when no one did it in America,” said Lynn Dally, adjunct assistant professor in the department of musical theater.
Several academics remember her best by her signature adornment of long, flowing scarves, revealing onstage attire and accompaniment of the “Isadorables,” her then followers who were more of a dance company by today’s standards.
The Isadorables adopted Duncan’s surname and studied at one of her three dance schools, all of which promoted the innate aesthetics of dance and attempted to avoid its commercial aspects.
Her life ended in an unforeseen tragedy, when her scarf caught in the axle of a vehicle in which she was a passenger and strangled her to death.
Today, her only surviving school is under the direction of Hannelore Schick in Munich.
“Every dancer with an education learns something about Isadora Duncan because she threw away a lot of the classical technique that people were married to before,” said Christine Kellogg, a choreographer and visiting professor in the musical theater department.