Books and Manuscripts

Mini-Archive from Ballerina Yvonne Patterson, Early Student of George Balanchine
(New York), ca. 1930s-1950s. Mini-archive from the estate of Yvonne Patterson, a professional ballerina and dance instructor, who was a student in the inaugural class of the School of American Ballet, founded by legendary choreographer George Balanchine. Size and condition varies.

Comprising:

1. Penn, Irving. Balanchine and Members of the American Ballet Theatre. Gelatin silver print, signed and dated by Penn on mount (“Irving Penn 1947”); with Penn and Conde Nast ink stamps on verso of mount. Four members of the company identified by Patterson in ink on verso of mount, including her husband William Dollar. 8 7/8 x 6 5/8 in. (228 x 172 mm) (image); 14 ⅞ x 11 in. (378 x 279 mm) (mount).

2. Spiral bound notepad belonging to American dancer and choreographer William Dollar, according to a note from Patterson, included here. Comprising two pages of notes, and twelve pages of choreography, in pencil, for his ballet “Constantia'' and annotated in his hand. Constantia (1944) was the first ballet choreographed by Dollar, with collaboration from Balanchine. The notepad also includes several sketches attributed to Balanchine, including a few of penises. Patterson’s note also states that, “All drawings are Balanchine. Bill and he were fooling around...Balanchine called them ‘Flying penises’ there were more but either lost or stolen. They were just having fun. Balanchine always little sex games.” Additional note laid in listing members of the company.

3. Souvenir program from a South American tour of The American Ballet, ca. 1935, signed by 30 members of the company, including: George Balanchine, Eleanor McLean, Mary Sale, Edward Warburg, Eugene Loring, Joe Lane, William Dollar (twice), Heidi Vosseler, Anne Hamilton Campbell, Felicia Perry, Edward Caton (dated 1935), Blanche Feldsher, Giselle Caccialanza, Paul Haakon, Frances Mann, Leda Anchutina, Helen Leitele, Holly Howard, Ruthanna Boris, Kathryn Mullowney, Elena de Rivas, Charles L. Laskey, Annabelle Lyon, Yvonne Patterson, Elise Reiman, Jack Potteiger, Hortense Kahrklin (as “Hortense Kahrklinsch”), George A. Birse, and two others.

4. Vintage photograph, 10 5/8 x 13 3/4 in. (275 x 355 mm), ca. 1945, depicting Yvonne Patterson, Marie-Jeanne Godwin (“Marie-Jeanne”), Nicholas Magallanes (“Nicky Magallanes”), Patricia Wilde (“Pat White”), and nine other dancers, in a production of Faust at the Opera de Bellas Artes in Mexico City during George Balanchine’s American Ballet tour to Mexico.

5. Vintage gelatin silver print, 9 3/8 x 12 3/8 in. (229 x 305 mm) (image), 12 ½ x 15 in. (218 x 381 mm) (mount), ca. 1936, depicting George Balanchine and the American Ballet in a production of the Ziegfeld Follies, on Broadway. “Coburn - Keyes” in pencil on mount, presumably the photography studio. Small chip to bottom right corner of image; mount with several closed tears and chips, none affecting image.

6. Original costume design by dancer and artist Geoffrey Holder. Label on mat: ”Costume Design by Geoffrey Holder / for / The Leaf and The Wing / Ballet by William Dollar / Ballet Theatre Workshop / New York, April 1954.” We have been unable to determine if a production of The Leaf and The Wing was ever mounted but Dollar choreographed Concerto, set to the music of Felix Mendelssohn, for the Ballet Theatre Workshop that same year.

George Balanchine (1904-1983) was a Georgian-born choreographer who emigrated to America with the aim of establishing a classical ballet academy. Bringing with him the training he received at Russia's Imperial Ballet School, Balanchine founded the School of American Ballet in New York City, which opened on January 2, 1934 and enrolled 32 students, including Yvonne Patterson. He would go on to found the prestigious New York City Ballet in 1948, and have one of the longest and most successful careers in the history of dance. By the time of his death in 1983, Balanchine had choreographed over 400 performance routines, and founded his own genre of dance: neoclassical ballet.

Yvonne Patterson (1910-2010) was an Australian-born ballerina and teacher. As a teenager she moved to New York City hoping to join the Radio City Ballet, but was instead accepted into the first class at the School of American Ballet. There, while studying under Balanchine, she met her future husband, William Dollar (1907-1986), a fellow dancer who also became a successful choreographer. Eventually Yvonne and her husband both transitioned to teaching, and lived out the rest of their lives in Flourtown, Pennsylvania. An archive of Patterson and Dollar’s photographs, scores, scrapbooks, and correspondence is held by the New York Public Library.

Geoffrey Holder (1930-2014) was a Trinidadian artist who danced for the Metropolitan Opera, won a Tony award for his costume designs used in The Wiz (1975), and was also a recipient of the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Costume Design. He was also a friend of Patterson and Dollar’s, and the three occasionally collaborated throughout the 1950s.