| Collecting Strand | National Resource Centre for Dance |
| Level | Collection |
| Ref No | CGD |
| Title | Classical Greek Dance Collection |
| Date | early 20th century-2000 |
| Extent | 7 folders of papers, 6 folders and 1 album of photographs, 1 scrapbook, 44 books, 5 folders of programmes and leaflets, 2 boxes of musical scores, 3 audio-visual items, 1 poster, 2 costumes and 2 objects. 1 box and 1 folder of uncatalogued material. |
| Name of Creator | University of Surrey; National Resource Centre for Dance; 1982-present |
| Description | The Classical Greek Dance Collection comprises original archive items, artefacts and published materials relating to Classical Greek Dance, a method of dancing devised by Ruby Ginner.
Included within the collection are:
- papers relating to the history of Classical Greek Dance, including records relating to the Greek Dance Branch Association of the Imperial Society of Teachers of Dancing;
- books, predominantly relating to the history of Greece, Greek dance, and Classical Greek Dance;
- photographs;
- posters and theatre programmes;
- audio-visual materials;
- costumes and theatrical properties (props). |
| 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 | 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. In developing her method, Ginner drew inspiration from the figures depicted on Greek vases she encountered while researching at the British Museum.
Ginner promoted her method through her own choreography and teaching work. She established The Ruby Ginner School of Dancing and formed her own dance company, the Grecian Dancers, touring with them during the 1910s. In partnership with the mime artist and educator Irene Mawer (1893-1962) Ginner also established and ran the Ginner-Mawer School of Dance and Drama; the method was taught at the School and further promoted through its associated dance company, the Ginner-Mawer Company. Both Ginner and Mawer had previously studied under Elsie Fogerty, founder of what later became the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama.
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 |
| Related Material | University of Surrey Archives and Special Collections additionally holds the following materials, also relating to Classical Greek Dance:
The Bice Bellairs Collection of Revived Greek Dance [archive reference: BB], comprising materials passed from Ruby Ginner to Bice Bellairs, a former pupil
Oral history interviews with practitioners of Classical Greek Dance, held as part of the Pioneer Women Collection (uncatalogued) [archive reference: PW]. |
| Custodial History | The collection was created in 2008 by the National Resource Centre for Dance to house donations of material relating to Classical Greek Dance (Revived Greek Dance), many of which originated with the personal collections of former teachers of Classical Greek Dance. Processing and description of the collection took place as a part of the project 'Pioneer Women: early British modern dancers', which ran from 2008 to 2010.
The collection has been constructed from multiple sources over several decades. These include an initial deposit of materials donated by Daphne Hawkesworth and Henrietta Fairhead in 1984, and significant further deposits by Susan Mitchell-Smith and Ann Cornford in 2008-2009 acquired as part of the 'Pioneer Women: early British modern dancers' project. An additional deposit of photographs collected by Kathleen Schroeder was deposited by a relative in 2021. |