| Collecting Strand | National Resource Centre for Dance |
| Level | Collection |
| Ref No | BB |
| Title | Bice Bellairs Collection of Revived Greek Dance |
| Date | 1896-1977 |
| Extent | 30 boxes, 7 books, 103 periodicals, 7 posters, 2 outsized items, 1 film. 2 folders of uncatalogued material. |
| 6 linear metres |
| Name of Creator | Bellairs; Beatrice (1910-1991); dancer, choreographer and educator |
| Description | The Bice Bellairs Collection of Revived Greek Dance is primarily comprised of materials given to Bice Bellairs by Ruby Ginner, the founder of the dance method Revived Greek Dance (later known as Classical Greek Dance). Included within the collection are:
-photographs, programmes, scrapbooks and scores relating to the Ginner-Mawer School of Dance and Drama;
-posters relating to performances by the Ginner-Mawer Theatre Company;
-scrapbooks, publicity material and paperwork relating to the Greek Dance Festival;
-papers, publicity, lectures, programmes and periodicals produced by the Association of Teachers of the Revived Greek Dance/Greek Dance Association
-papers relating to the Ruby Ginner Cup;
-records relating to Greek dance lectures given by Ruby Ginner;
-publicity material relating to Ruby Ginner and Irene Mawer dance performances;
-copies of articles written by Ruby Ginner and Irene Mawer;
-personal photographs, including photographs of Anna Pavlova, Ruby Ginner and Irene Mawer.
A particular highlight of the collection are the scrapbooks (BB/N) which contain material covering Ruby Ginner and Irene Mawer's careers, the performances of the Ginner-Mawer Company and the career of Alexander Dyer, Ginner's husband. Some of the scrapbooks also relate to the ballerina Anna Pavlova.
The collection additionally includes an incomplete run of issues of the journal of the Greek Dance Association, The Link (later Parodos), and the news-sheet which succeeded it. |
| Arrangement | Material arranged at time of cataloguing according to the format-based classification scheme which was then in use by the National Resource Centre for Dance. |
| Administrative History | Beatrice Bellairs (1910-1991), known as Bice Bellairs, was a dancer, choreographer and educator. She began her dance career as a child, studying under Ruby Ginner at the Ginner-Mawer School and performing as part of the Ginner-Mawer Company. In 1935 Bellairs founded the Grant Bellairs School of Dance and Drama with fellow dancer Pauline Grant. Originally based in London, the School relocated to Surrey as a result of the Second World War and later became the Guildford School of Acting, now a part of the University of Surrey.
Classical Greek Dance was a dance method devised by the dancer and educator Ruby Ginner (1886-1978). Originally known by the name of Revived Greek Dance, Ginner's method flourished during the inter-war period. Classical Greek Dance drew on athletics, drama and dance with an allegiance to ancient Greek ideals. The method explored various styles: lyrical, athletic, bacchic, pyrrhic, tragic and choric. It was also known for its use of props and for its attention to opposition and symmetry and to angular design.
Ginner promoted her method through her own choreography and her teaching work. In partnership with the mime artist and educator Irene Mawer (1893-1962) Ginner established and ran the Ginner-Mawer School of Dance and Drama. She also founded and toured with dance companies including the Grecian Dancers and the Ginner-Mawer Company, making use of her own choreography in their performances. Ginner additionally founded the Association of Teachers of Revived Greek Dance (ATRGD), which later became the Greek Dance Association. In the post-war era the Association was absorbed into the Imperial Society of Teachers of Dancing, where it continued as the Greek Dance Branch Association of the Society. |
| Language | English |
| French |
| German |
| Greek |
| Hungarian |
| Italian |
| Russian |
| Spanish |
| Related Material | University of Surrey Archives and Special Collections additionally holds the following related materials
The Classical Greek Dance Collection [archive reference: CGD]. This collection includes additional material donated by Susan-Mitchell Smith;
Oral history interviews with practitioners of Classical Greek Dance, held as part of the Pioneer Women Collection (uncatalogued) [archive reference: PW];
The Guildford School of Acting Archive (uncatalogued) [archive reference: GSA]. |
| Custodial History | The core of the collection comprises the personal collection of Bice Bellairs, much of which was given to her directly by Ruby Ginner. After Bellairs' death in 1991, the material was gifted to the Guildford School of Acting. In 1997, the Guildford School of Acting donated to the material to the National Resource Centre for Dance at the University of Surrey.
The original collection was supplemented by an additional folder of materials, also originating with Bellairs. These had been given by Bellairs to the University of Surrey academic Joan White, to assist White with her research into Early British Modern Dance. White donated these items to the National Resource Centre for Dance in 1998.
The collection was further supplemented by a donation of journals and newsletters made by Susan-Mitchell Smith in 2008. |