| Collecting Strand | National Resource Centre for Dance |
| Level | Collection |
| Ref No | DS |
| Title | Dalcroze Society Archive |
| Date | c.1924-2003 |
| Extent | 46 books, 5 folders of papers, 4 theatre programmes and 155 periodicals (catalogued material)
c161 boxes and 11 outsized items (uncatalogued material) |
| Name of Creator | Dalcroze Society UK |
| Description | The Dalcroze Society UK oversees the teaching of Eurhythmics, Emile Jaques-Dalcroze's method of learning musical sensibility through movement. Dalcroze Eurhythmics is a method for teaching musicianship and performance. It is applied to different age groups and in a wide variety of music education, dance, drama and therapy contexts. Dalcroze Eurhythmics is a very practical mode of learning, focusing on whole body movement, and aural training using singing and improvisation.
The Dalcroze Society Archive comprises the working papers of the Dalcroze Society UK, the London Training Centre, the London Dalcroze Teachers Union, the London School of Dalcroze Eurhythmics, and papers relating to the work of international Dalcroze Societies, as well as material donated by students and teachers of the Eurhythmics.
The collection comprises administrative, legal, educational and publicity papers, including minutes, accounts, calendars of events, correspondence, presentations, records of professional training courses; students records; contracts, legacies and deeds, membership records; publications, theatre programmes; news clippings, music scores, and photographs.
Please note that almost all the early records of the London School of Dalcroze Eurhythmics were lost or destroyed during the First and Second World Wars and the destruction of the school's building in the 1940s.
A number of books, documents, programmes and periodicals have been catalogued. However, the majority of the archive is uncatalogued.
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| 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. |
| Related Material | The following archives and collections are held by the University of Surrey:
- Rudolf Laban Archive, archive ref L, for documents regarding Laban's pupils and colleagues including Suzanne Perrottet, Mary Wigman, Louise Soelberg, and Beryl de Zoete who trained in Dalcroze Eurhythmics at Jaques-Dalcroze's school at Hellerau.
- Audrey Wethered and Chloe Gardner archive, archive ref AW. Wethered incorporated Dalcroze Eurhythmics into her therapy sessions.
- Natural Movement Archive, archive ref NM. This records the work of Madge Atkinson (1885-1970), who was influenced in her teaching by Jaques-Dalcroze and with whom she shared similar aesthetic principles.
- Records relating to the 1937 Festival of Youth held in the Bice Bellairs Collection of Revived Greek Dance, archive ref BB, and the Natural Movememnt Archive, archive ref NM.
- Theatre programmes from lecture demonstrationgs given given by Jaques-Dalcroze in Manchester in the 1920s, archive ref XZH/1299 and XZH/1300 |
| Copyright | Where copyright in the items was held by the Dalcroze Society Inc, this has been assigned to the National Resource Centre of Dance, University of Surrey. |