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Laban Collection

Archive Sub-collection: BC MS 20c Theatre/Hodgson/1

Details

Type of record: Archive

Title: Laban Collection

Level: Sub-collection

Classmark: BC MS 20c Theatre/Hodgson/1

Creator(s): Hodgson, John (1927-1997)(); Laban, Rudolf von (1879-1958)()

Date(s): 1891-2001

Language: English; French; German

Size and medium: artwork; books; cassette tapes; Data CDs and Audio CDs; flyers; index cards; journals; manuscript papers; magazine cuttings; maps; musical scores; newspaper cuttings; photographs; photocopies; typescript papers; 54 boxes; 9 metres

Persistent link: https://explore.library.leeds.ac.uk/special-collections-explore/168066

Collection group(s): Rudolf Laban Collections

Description

The Laban Collection includes papers and artworks by Laban and interviews with Laban's pupils and colleagues. The archives also include notes made by John Hodgson and publications relating to Laban and his work collected by Hodgson during his research.

Biography or history

Rudolf Laban or Rudolf von Laban was born in Bratislava on 15 December 1879. He studied art in Paris. However, it wasn’t until 1910 that his career as a teacher and creator of dance began. From 1910-1936 he worked mostly in Switzerland and Germany and became known as a dance teacher, a researcher into movement and dance, choreographer, creator of a form of dance notation and of community dance. He arguably organised German Modern Dance (Ausdrueckstanz).


As a pioneer of dance notation, Laban laboured long and hard to create a simple and systematic form of dance notation which became the Laban Movement Analysis and Labanotation. In 1928 Laban created the first of three Dance Congresses and continued to organise opportunities to improve conditions for dancers in Germany. After being disgraced in the eyes of the Nazis regime he escaped Germany in 1938 and spent his last twenty years in England and Wales. Laban was no longer a choreographer but continued his teaching and research into dance and movement. To increase productivity Laban pioneered a new approach to working in factories based on his ideas of movement.


Laban also enjoyed drawing and painting and produced hundreds, possibly thousands of sketches, drawings, and occasionally finished paintings. He died on 1 July 1958 in Addlestone, Surrey.

Provenance

John Hodgson created one of the most wide-ranging collections of materials by and about Laban outside of Germany. It is not immediately obvious why he started to collect, but when can be dated to a proforma letter dated 1964 which opens:

'For quite some time, I have thought very seriously about writing a biography on Rudolf Laban but with time always a limiting factor it has been difficult for me to set to work on this enormous undertaking'.

Hodgson wrote two books: the first being ‘Rudolf Laban: An Introduction to His Work & Influence‘ with Valerie Preston-Dunlop (Tavistock: Northcote House, 1990) the second, ‘Mastering Movement‘ (London: Methuen, 2001), was finished by his close friend Donald Howarth after his death in 1997. Neither was a biography.


The bewildering wealth of Hodgson‘s collection is testament to his fascination with Laban. Most of his holidays were research trips through Germany, Austria and Switzerland to visit relatives or former students of Laban. In summer 1975 he and Vivienne Bridson, his co-worker in this massive enterprise, went to East Germany purportedly to enjoy a walking holiday. In fact, they went to explore the archive of documents, images, and photos that Laban had left in the care of his secretary, Louisa Lieshke.

Hodgson probably found the treasure trove as the result of research undertaken by Bridson. Her ability to read and write German meant that she could correspond with members of the Laban family and with Lieshke’s son. This is part of his reply of 3rd March 1975 to a letter from Bridson, written in English:

'We are happy, that you will have time to speak with us about the Rudolf von Laban Biographie and about the Archiv at Plauen. I would agree with bringing, if it would be allowed all important things to England to establish there a Archiv or Museum for Memory of Laban ... The Archiv was given to my mother by v. Laban in thanks-giving for many helps in working and giving and getting together money fir his work in art – and so it belongs now to me by hereditary! But y would let all those things for lending – without calling back to Germany. It will not be very easy to get the permission to bring out 12 boxes to England. But if it will be allowed I would be very glad.'

They managed to find Lieshke’s son in Plauen then in communist East Germany - and get quite a lot of the archive back to England. It now forms the centrepiece of Hodgson’s archive. The greater part of the other materials came through Lisa Ullmann, a former student of Laban’s in Hamburg in the 1920s, who looked after him for the twenty years that he lived in England (1938–1958).

A chance remark of Hodgson makes it clear that he was aware that Ullmann thought that he would write a biography according to her image of the man. Hodgson was determined to offer a less partisan account of the man, and his collection of interviews, drawings, photographs and written materials offers researchers a kaleidescopic perspective of the man.

Access and usage

Reproduction

Access

Some parts of this collection have not been listed in detail and the content may be protected under the Data Protection Act and other relevant legislation. Please consult the relevant part of the catalogue for specific details. Where a detailed record does not exist, please contact Special Collections. Upon receipt of your request, a member of the team will discuss your requirements with you and review relevant material accordingly

Material in this part of the collection is in copyright. Photocopies or digital images can be supplied by the Library for research or private study. It is the responsibility of the researcher to obtain the copyright holder's permission to reproduce for any other purpose. Guidance is available for tracing copyright status and ownership.

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