| Collecting Strand | National Resource Centre for Dance |
| Level | Collection |
| Ref No | LB |
| Title | Leslie Burrowes Archive |
| Date | 1899-1985 |
| Extent | 2.5 linear metres |
| Name of Creator | Burrowes; Lucie Leslie (1908-1985) |
| Description | Leslie Burrowes was an English dancer and teacher whose career bridged the typically British styles of Hellenic-influenced dance and the predominantly German modern dance (Ausdruckstanz), imported into Britain from the 1930s. She trained in Margaret Morris Movement from 1924 and from 1930 in Dresden with Mary Wigman where she received the Wigman School's teaching certificate. In 1933 she opened the Leslie Burrowes Studio of Dance and in 1938 she opened The Dance Centre with Louise Soelberg.
The archive contains material created and collected by Leslie Burrowes relating to her dance training and career including performing and teaching. Material includes annotated photograph albums, scrapbooks containing news cuttings, photographs and programmes, and letters from Mary Wigman. A later deposit to the collection added many more letters from Mary Wigman dating from 1931-1966, a selection of books and sketches and paintings by Burrowes of both still and moving bodies.
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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.
Two separate accessions have been combined in the catalogue as they did not represent distinct collections but included material that crossed both (such as letters and replies). |
| Administrative History | Leslie Burrowes was an English dancer/teacher whose career bridged the typically British styles of the 'Pioneer Women' of Hellenic-influenced dance and the predominantly German modern dance (Ausdruckstanz), imported into Britain from the 1930s. Burrowes trained in Margaret Morris Movement from 1924, becoming a performer and assistant teacher for Morris. In 1928 she became the first dance teacher at the progressive school and community at Dartington Hall in Devon. Dartington's philanthropic owner, Dorothy Elmhirst, subsidised her dance education in Dresden where she began at the school of the famous German dancer Mary Wigman in January 1930. This proved to be a breakthrough period in her development when she could fuse the strong, formal technique she gained from Margaret Morris with the inner feeling and expansive outward expression of Ausdruckstanz.
In the summer of 1931 she was the first British woman to receive the Wigman School's teaching certificate. In line with the Wigman ethos, Burrowes' dances encompassed a range of expressions from serene to grotesque, but she excelled in the vigorous and ebullient dances that came directly from her character; Primitive Joy being a signature piece. She also embraced the Wigman School's musical atmosphere with a range of percussive instruments integrated into performance. (She collected instruments from round the world.)
In 1933 she opened the Leslie Burrowes Studio of the Dance in the Chelsea home she shared with her husband, the oboist Leon Goossens. An expansion of activities in dance education and performance was conceived in 1938 when she opened The Dance Centre with Louise Soelberg, an American dancer formerly with Ballets Jooss. The outbreak of war closed the centre, however Burrowes continued to teach and perform. She became an important link to later developments in the educational strands of modern dance in British schools, originating from Ausdruckstanz and generally attributed to Rudolf Laban (Wigman's teacher) and Lisa Ullmann from the 1940s. Finding the Laban work too formal, Burrowes remained true to the more fluid approach that she had encountered with Wigman in developing dance expression. Burrowes and Wigman remained close friends until Wigman's death. |
| Copyright | Where copyright in the items was held by Leslie Burrowes this has been assigned to the National Resource Centre of Dance, University of Surrey.
In accordance with the deposit agreement, photocopying will only be permitted in exceptional circumstances and of single items. |