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Items Interview with Bessie Schönberg

Interview with Bessie Schönberg, April 4, 1979

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Library division & collection with this item:

LIBRARY DIVISION
Jerome Robbins Dance Division

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COLLECTION
Dance Audio Archive

This Item

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Title
Interview with Bessie Schönberg, April 4, 1979
Names
Schönberg, Bessie (Interviewee)
Wiesner, Theodora (Interviewer)
Collection

Dance Audio Archive

Dates / Origin
Date Created: 1979-04-04
Library locations
Jerome Robbins Dance Division
Shelf locator: *MGZTCO 3-1747
Topics
Schönberg, Bessie -- Interviews
Hill, Martha, 1900-1995
Bennington College
Bennington School of the Dance
Sarah Lawrence College
Dance teachers
Dance -- Study and teaching
Genres
Interviews
Oral histories
Notes
Content: Interview with Bessie Schönberg conducted by Theodora Wiesner for the oral history project of the National Dance Association of the American Alliance for Heath, Physical Education, and Recreation, in New York City on April 4, 1979.
Venue: Recorded by Theodora Wiesner April 4, 1979 New York (N.Y.)
Funding: The conservation and cataloging of this recording was made possible in part by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew Cuomo and the New York State Legislature. The support of the National Endowment for the Arts is also gratefully acknowledged.
Physical Description
Audiocassette
Extent: 1 audiocassette (approximately 1 hr., 4 min.) : analog, 1.875 ips, quarter-track, mono
Sound quality is good. The recording is marred by occasional extraneous noise and "tape hiss" but the speakers' voices are clearly intelligible.
Description
Streaming file 1 (approximately 32 minutes). Bessie Schönberg speaks to Theodora Wiesner about her family background, in Germany, and joining her mother in the United States in 1926; her interest in Mary Wigman; her first formal training in dance, at the University of Oregon; Martha Hill and her classes at the University of Oregon; following Hill to New York; her dance classes, with Martha Graham and at the Neighborhood Playhouse; Louis Horst; leaving Graham's company due to her knee injury; teaching with Hill including at New York University and at Bennington College's summer dance program [Bennington School of the Dance]; Hanya Holm; World War II and the end of Bennington College's summer dance program. Streaming file 2 (approximately 32 minutes). Bessie Schönberg speaks to Theodora Wiesner about getting married and returning to Bennington College to finish her undergraduate degree; teaching at the newly-created Bennington School of the Dance; teaching at various other schools, including at Briarcliff [Junior] College and Sarah Lawrence College; the educational philosophy at Sarah Lawrence; the graduate program in dance at Sarah Lawrence; translating Curt Sachs' book [World History of the Dance, 1937] including working with Sachs; her evaluation of the book's contents; more on the development of the dance program at Sarah Lawrence; some of the guest teachers, including José Limón; musicians who worked with the program, including Alex North, Norman and Ruth Lloyd, and John Cage [ends abruptly].
Type of Resource
Sound recording
Languages
English
Identifiers
RLIN/OCLC: 913832643
NYPL catalog ID (B-number): b20731512
Universal Unique Identifier (UUID): 4a4acd10-b8ea-0133-167d-60f81dd2b63c
Rights Statement
The copyright and related rights status of this item has been reviewed by The New York Public Library, but we were unable to make a conclusive determination as to the copyright status of the item. You are free to use this Item in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use.

Item timeline of events

  • 1979: Created
  • 2024: Found by you!
  • 2025

MLA Format

Jerome Robbins Dance Division, The New York Public Library. "Interview with Bessie Schönberg" The New York Public Library Digital Collections. 1979. https://qa-digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/4e2ad060-b8ea-0133-0f1b-60f81dd2b63c

Chicago/Turabian Format

Jerome Robbins Dance Division, The New York Public Library. "Interview with Bessie Schönberg" New York Public Library Digital Collections. Accessed November 22, 2024. https://qa-digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/4e2ad060-b8ea-0133-0f1b-60f81dd2b63c

APA Format

Jerome Robbins Dance Division, The New York Public Library. (1979). Interview with Bessie Schönberg Retrieved from https://qa-digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/4e2ad060-b8ea-0133-0f1b-60f81dd2b63c

Wikipedia Citation

<ref name=NYPL>{{cite web | url=https://qa-digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/4e2ad060-b8ea-0133-0f1b-60f81dd2b63c | title= (sound recording) Interview with Bessie Schönberg, (1979)|author=Digital Collections, The New York Public Library |accessdate=November 22, 2024 |publisher=The New York Public Library, Astor, Lenox, and Tilden Foundations}}</ref>

Interview with Bessie Schönberg