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By Elizabeth Hartman, Hannah Jellen, Somer Pelzcar, and Nolan Vallier
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Collection Overview
Title: National Academy of Dance/National Academy of Arts Records, 1967-2015
ID: 12/13/51
Primary Creator: The National Academy of Dance (1967-1987)
Extent: 2.5 cubic feet
Arrangement: Organized into two series: Series 1, Administrative and Production Records, 1969-2015, and Series 2, Photographs and Memorabilia, 1967-1983. Each series is arranged first by subject and then chronologically therein.
Date Acquired: 08/20/2015
Subjects: Ballet, Champaign, Illinois, Clara Rolland, Dance, Dance Education, Gilbert Wright, Lupe Serrano, Music, Music -- Illinois - Art and Literature, Paul Rolland, Price Boday
Languages: English
Scope and Contents of the Materials
Consists of financial records, meeting minutes, news clippings, correspondence, performance programs, photographs, and memorabilia documenting the opening, operation, management, curriculum, faculty, student life, and closures of The National Academy of Dance and its later iteration as the National Academy of Arts. Also contains materials related to a reunion of Academy students that took place in 2015.
Biographical Note
The National Academy of Dance (and later, the National Academy of Arts) was a residential conservatory of dance and music that operated in Urbana-Champaign, Illinois from 1972-1978 and again from 1982-1987. The Academy was the brainchild of University of Illinois English Professor Dr. Gilbert D. Wright. Although he was not a regular connoisseur of dance, Wright was inspired by a Royal Ballet School performance that he saw during a 1966 research trip to London, when he returned to the university he decided to develop a similar residential ballet conservatory in Illinois.
Wright began laying the groundwork for the National Academy of Dance in 1969 when he formed Illinois Foundation for the Dance and became a board member for the American Ballet Theater. In 1971, the Foundation launched an Extension Division to provide ballet training, soliciting teachers from current and retired faculty at the University of Illinois. Despite his initial plans to locate the school in the Chicago metropolitan area, the Academy ultimately opened in Urbana-Champaign, which was experiencing a cultural explosion during the late 1960s and early 1970s. At this time there were few institutions in America that provided quality ballet training for young dancers, and the new Urbana-Champaign residential dance academy generated great interest across the country. During the Academy's first auditions in the spring of 1972, nearly 250 students auditioned for entry into the school from major cities around the nation.
With a total of 63 students, the National Academy of Dance opened in the fall of 1972, functioning as a charter school that offered academic courses and a high school degree through the University of Illinois High School. In 1974, after two years of high enrollment, the Academy expanded by adding a music program to its curriculum. As a result the school changed its name to The National Academy of Arts (NAA) with the two performance disciplines designated within the school as the National Academy of Music (NAM) and National Academy of Dance (NAD). In addition to offering high school degrees with specializations in music and dance, the Academy later considered offering humanities degrees for students focusing on technical theater and production but this new academic concentration was never implemented.
In 1975, a company of student dancers formed an apprentice semi-professional dance company called the National Academy Ballet. A year later the company evolved into a professional company and changed its name to the National Ballet of Illinois (NBI) - a move that was considered by some Academy faculty and supporters to be controversial. Also beginning with the 1975-1976 school year NAA also offered a purely academic-only program as part of its curriculum for non-NAD and NAM students who enrolled in Academy.
After student enrollement peaked in 1977, funding problems for both the Academy and its professional company became a serious issue which eventually forced the closure of the school in 1978. As a result five properties owned by the Academy were sold at auction to cover its debt, and the Academy eventually was able to reopen in 1982. However, after five more years of shrinking student enrollment and growing financial commitments the Academy was closed again in 1987.
During the height of its activity, the National Academy of Arts maintained several buildings in the Urbana-Champaign area including their central facility, the Inman Hotel in downtown Champaign. Throughout the 1970s and 1980s, 230 students graduated from the Academy and found careers in such venues as Broadway, at the River North Dance Theatre, the Ballet Tucson, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra, and the Minnesota Symphony Orchestra. A reunion of past graduates of the Academy took place in Champaign, Illinois on July 17th and 18th, 2015.
Subject/Index Terms
Administrative Information
Repository:
The Sousa Archives and Center for American Music
Acquisition Source:
Mary Linda Graham
Acquisition Method:
Gift.
Related Materials:
See Also: The National Academy of Arts Collection, 12/13/50.
Box and Folder Listing
Browse by Series:
[
Series 1: Administrative and Production Records, 1969-2015],
[
Series 2: Photographs and Memorabilia, 1967-1983],
[All]
- Series 1: Administrative and Production Records, 1969-2015
- Consists of meeting minutes, correspondence, reports, contracts, publicity materials, scrapbooks, and production records documenting the management and operation of the National Academy of Dance as well as student, faculty, and staff life. The series is organized in four subseries: Sub-series 1, Operational Records, Sub-series 2, Student and Faculty Records, Sub-series 3, Publicity Materials, and Sub-series 4, Production Materials.
- Sub-Series 1: Operational Records, 1969-1982
- Box 1
- Folder 1: Dr. Gilbert Wright's proposals and notes for National Academy of Dance and National Ballet of Illinois, circa 1969
- Folder 2: Board of Directors minutes and correspondence, 1 of 2, 1975-1977
- Folder 3: Board of Directors minutes and correspondence, 2 of 2, 1978-1980
- Folder 4: National Academy of Art correspondence, 1978-1982
- Folder 5: Financial records and correspondence, 1970-1979
- Folder 6: Funding, trust contracts and pamphlets, undated
- Folder 7: Academic program materials, 1970-1977
- Contains course descriptions, class schedules, curriculum plans
- Folder 8: Repertory dance companies, basic agreement, 1977-1980
- Folder 9: Student health correspondence, 1974
- Folder 10: Administrative policies and correspondence regarding student life, 1971-1975
- Folder 11: Accreditation: report pamphlets and clippings concerning North Central Association visitng committee, 1976-1977
- Box 2
- Folder 1: Scrapbook 1, 1967-1978
Contains organizational charts, statement of historical development, goals and functions, budgets, student and faculty-staff statistics, facilities photographs, student photographs, promotional pamphlet, quotes from students and faculty-staff, correspondence, and news clippings relating to the Academy.
Though some materials in this scrapbook pertain to other series, the entire scrapbook in housed here in Series 1 to maintain its integrity.
- Sub-Series 2: Student and Faculty Records, 1971-2015
- Box 1
- Folder 12: Faculty: general materials, 1971-1977
- Contains appointment annoucments, news clippings, personal correspondence and biographies
- Folder 13: Faculty: Stella Applebaum, 1972-1976
- Contains publicity materials, correspondence, news clippings, employee contract
- Folder 14: Faculty: Alexander Bennett, 1976-1978
- Contains news clippings
- Folder 15: Faculty: Peter Franklin-White, 1974-2001
- Contains photographs, correspondence, and news clippings
- Folder 16: Faculty: Michael Maule, Marjorie Bresler, circa 1976
- Contains appointment annoucements
- Folder 17: Faculty: Carl Schultz, Julius Robinson, Clara Rolland, circa 1977
- Contains news clippings
- Folder 18: Faculty: Lupe Serrano, 1975
- Contains news clippings
- Folder 19: Faculty: Chester Wolenski, circa 1986
- Contains publicity materials
- Folder 20: Faculty: Gilbert and Colleen Wright, 1975-1978
- Contains correspondence and news clippings
- Folder 21: Company rosters, 1972-1975
- Folder 22: National Academy of Arts yearbooks, 1975-1977
- Includes National Academy of Arts 1975 and 1976/1977 yearbooks
- Folder 23: Reunion materials, circa 2015
- Contains reunion programs, alumni statements, news clippings
- Sub-Series 3: Publicity Materials, 1967-2015
- Box 1
- Folder 24: Graduation programs, 1973-1985
- Contains graduation programs for 1973-1978, 1983, 1985
- Folder 25: Program booklets, 1 of 2, 1967-1978
- Contains booklets for National Academy of Dance, National Academy of Arts, National Academy of Music, and the Illinois Foundation for the Dance
- Folder 26: Program booklets, 2 of 2, 1978-1985
- Contains booklets for National Academy of Arts
- Folder 27: National Academy of Arts performance programs, posters, and press packets, 1967-2000
- Folder 28: Performance programs, 1972-1984
- Folder 29: Ballet from the National Academy of Arts programs, 1983
- Folder 30: Materials related to other dance and art organizations, 1975-1978
- Contains reports, programs, and pamphlets relating to the arts, but not produced by the National Academy of the Arts
- Folder 31: On Pointe newsletter, 1970-1975
- Contains On Pointe the newsletter for the Illinois Foundation for the Dance, as well as Foundation publicity correspondence
- Folder 32: First closing of the National Academy of Arts
- Contains news clippings
- Folder 33: Facilities materials and news clippings, 1972-2015
- Articles and news clippings related to National Academy of Dance facilities primarily from 1972-1985, with additional 2015 materials about old facilities.
- Folder 34: Fundraising and publicity, 1971-1978
- Contains news clippings and newsletters
- Folder 35: Closing of first National Academy of Arts and opening of second Academy, 1978-1987
- Contains news clippings, press releases
- Folder 36: National Ballet of Illinois publicity materials, 1977-1979
- Includes photographs
- Folder 37: National Ballet of Illinois clippings, 1974-1978
- Contains articles and reviews
- Folder 38: News clippings - general public relations announcements, 1971-1981
- Folder 39: Performance notice and reviews, 1 of 2, 1971-1978
- Folder 40: Performance notices and reviews, 2 of 2, 1977-1980
- Box 2
- Folder 2: Scrapbook 2, 1972-1978
- Contains news clippings concerning student life, performances, facilities and funding, backing ground and beginnings of second Academy, obituraries.
- Folder 3: Scrapbook 3, 1972-1978
- Contains news clippings concerning performances, faculty, and the Academy in general.
- Oversize Portfolio Case 1
- Item 1: National Ballet of Illinois poster, circa 1972
- Sub-Series 4: Production Materials, 1972-1985
- Box 1
- Folder 41: Roo Dunn's rehearsal notes and materials, 1983-1984
- Contains National Academy of Arts May 1983 materials
- Folder 42: Roo Dunn's production notes and materials, 1972-1985
- Contains National Academy of Arts materials - Fall/Winter 1985.
- Folder 43: Roo Dunn's production book, 1985
Contains National Academy of Arts December 1985 production book; includes correspondence.
See Oversize Portfolio Case 1 for two stage lighting maps related to these materials.
- Box 2
- Folder 4: Ballet staging diagrams and photographs, 1977
- Oversize Portfolio Case 1
- Item 2: Krannert Center for the Performing Arts Playhouse Theatre Lighting Plot, May 5, 1984
- Item 3: Krannert Center Colwell Playhouse Light Plot, December 1985
- Series 2: Photographs and Memorabilia, 1967-1983
- Consists of photographs and textiles documenting student life, rehearsals, and performances of the Academy between 1967 and 1983. Additional photographs are located in Series 1, Sub-Series 1 (Box 2, Folder 1).
- Box 2
- Folder 5: Ballet photographs, circa 1971
- Folder 6: Ballet photographs, 1971-1978
- Folder 7: Ballet photographs, 1971-1978
- Contains ballet performance photographs from National Academy of Arts and Nationla Ballet of Illinois.
- Folder 8: Ballet photographs, 1971-1978
- Folder 9: Photographs, 1972-1978
- Contains photographs detailing campus life, rehearsals and performances of the Academy as well as the National Ballet of Illinois; also includes some portraits. Some photographs have descriptions (names, dates) written on the back.
- Folder 10: Roo Dunn photo album, 1976-1978
- Contains photographs detailing student life, facilities, students. Includes portraits with names.
- Folder 11: Roo Dunn ballet photographs and negatives, 1982-1983
- Folder 12: Roo Dunn ballet photographs, circa 1983
- Box 3
- Item 1: Pointe shoe, undated
Accession number 2015.121351.002
One heavily-used satin pink pointe ballet shoe with pink ribbon laces. On the outer fabric of the shoe, there are notes and autographs written in black pen.
- Box 4
- Item 1: Embroidery, 1977
- Contains framed embroidery designed and executed by Elsa Dunn. Creme background with blue National Academy of Arts logo and lettering.
- Oversize Textile Box 1
- Item 1: National Academy of Arts t-shirt, circa 1977
- Accession number 2015.121351.003. Light blue t-shirt, heavily stained, with black script reading "National Academy of Arts."
Browse by Series:
[
Series 1: Administrative and Production Records, 1969-2015],
[
Series 2: Photographs and Memorabilia, 1967-1983],
[All]
Holdings