Research Catalog

Title

Lavinia Williams papers 1940-1989.

Author

Yarborough, Lavinia Williams.

Items in the Library & Off-site

Details

Description

8.9 lin. ft.

Summary

• Organized into fourteen inter-related series, the collection documents Williams' career as a dance teacher and choreographer in Haiti from the mid-1950s to the end of her life.
• The largest in the collection, the Haiti series includes material related to Williams' work as a dance teacher and choreographer at the National School for the Arts (ENARTS) from 1984 to 1989. Earlier materials include a 1954 proposal for a dance studio-theater, and a later proposal for a National Opera House (1972). Williams maintained individual files on the career of her students who later became professional dancers and choreographers, most notably Regine Maximilien, Regine Montrosier and her own daughter Sara Yarborough. Williams' work was strongly influenced by Vodou (voodoo) dances and rituals and there is a fair amount of documentation that she collected on that religion, as well as on Haitian music and Haitian folklore.
• The Caribbean dance series documents Williams' contribution to the development of modern dance in Guyana, the Bahamas and Jamaica. Included are lecture notes, printed matter and reviews of performances choreographed by Williams, research material on the Bahamian festival of Junkanoo and on Trinidadian dance, and programs and promotional material of the Jamaica School of Dance and the National Dance Theater of Jamaica.
• The Katherine Dunham and Sara Yarborough series incorporate material by and about these artists, including some correspondence and writings, performance programs, and reviews. The remaining series are mostly printed matter, dance notations and props used in her dance classes and in the choreography of various ballet productions in Haiti. Two flat boxes of oversized documents include certificates, performance posters, promotional material for Haitian tourism, a series of Veve drawings annotated by Williams, and another set of Veve embroideries.

Subjects

• Dance schools > Haiti
• Dance > Bahamas
• National Folkloric Troupe of Haiti
• Katherine Dunham Company
• National Dance Theater Company of Jamaica
• Religious dance
• Programs
• Diaries
• Yarborough, Lavinia Williams
• Dunham, Katherine
• Clippings
• World Festival of Negro Arts
• Destiné, Jean Léon
• Vodou
• Tourism > Haiti
• Dance teachers > Haiti
• Dance > Jamaica
• Dance companies > Haiti
• Haitian Institute for Folklore and Classic Dance
• Folk dancing, Haitian
• Club des femmes de carrières libérales et commerciales de Port-au-Prince
• Ballet > Haiti
• John Canoe (Dance)
• Piquion, René
• Dance > Study and teaching > Haiti
• Maximilien, Régine
• Yarborough, Sara
• Scrapbooks
• Romero, Carmencita, 1914- 2001
• Choreographers > Haiti
• Guyana National School of Dance
• Dance > Trinidad and Tobago
• Modern dance > Technique > Dunham
• Dance > Guyana
• Nettleford, Rex
• Montrosier-Trouillot, Regine
• Dance teachers > Caribbean Area
• Dance > Religious aspects

Genre/Form

• Clippings.
• Diaries.
• Programs.
• Scrapbooks.

Note

• Photographs transferred to the Photographs and Print Division.
• Films, video and audio cassettes transferred to the Moving Image and Recorded Sound Division.

Source (note)

• Williams, Lavinia

Biography (note)

• Lavinia Williams was an African-American dancer, teacher and choreographer who played an influential role in the development of modern and folkloric dances in Haiti, Jamaica, Guyana and the Bahamas.

Language (note)

• Haitian material generally in French.

Provenance (note)

• Collection willed to the Schomburg Center by Lavinia Williams but impounded by the Haitian government until 2001.

Processing Action (note)

• Accessioned
• Cataloged

Call Number

Sc MG 659

OCLC

NYPW02-A154

Author

Yarborough, Lavinia Williams.

Title

Lavinia Williams papers 1940-1989.

Biography

Lavinia Williams was an African-American dancer, teacher and choreographer who played an influential role in the development of modern and folkloric dances in Haiti, Jamaica, Guyana and the Bahamas. She was a member of the Katherine Dunham Dance Company between 1940 and 1945. Her daughter Sara Yarborough was a star dancer with the Alvin Ailey Dance Theater. She died in Haiti in 1989.

Provenance

Collection willed to the Schomburg Center by Lavinia Williams but impounded by the Haitian government until 2001.

Language

Haitian material generally in French.

Connect to:

Finding Aid

Research Call Number

Sc MG 659