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Orchesis Records, 1914-1995

Overview of the Collection

Creator
Orchesis
Title
Orchesis Records
Dates
1914-1995 (inclusive)
Quantity
8 linear feet, (16 boxes.)
8 linear feet of shelf space.
Collection Number
Cage 597
Summary
Financial and membership records, production files, notes, programs, scrapbooks and photographs, chiefly of dance performances at Washington State University. Significant figures include Alice Gates and Wilhelmina Sarai-Clark.
Repository
Washington State University Libraries' Manuscripts, Archives, and Special Collections (MASC)
Manuscripts, Archives, and Special Collections
Terrell Library Suite 12
Pullman, WA
99164-5610
Telephone: 509-335-6691
mascref@wsu.edu
Access Restrictions

This collection is open for research use.

Languages
English
Sponsor
Funding for encoding this finding aid was provided through a grant awarded by the National Endowment for the Humanities.
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Historical Note

Orchesis (from the Greek, "to dance") was founded at Washington State College in 1923. Leota Scott, then a senior at WSU and a temporary dance instructor, had joined national Orchesis the year before while she was in Wisconsin studying under Margaret H. Doubler. The group began when she returned to WSU. At first, Orchesis was little more than an informal gathering of female dance students interested in learning and practicing the concepts of modern interpretive dance. It became more structured as time went on; members were admitted by vote during dance try-out competitions. By the end of the 1920s, the group regularly elected officers and performed for the public.

Orchesis usually held at least two formal recitals a year, one every fall and spring. Additionally, the group was regularly featured on Mom's Weekend each spring, danced for community group and public school programs, and performed as part of the Northwest Physical Education Association Annual Convention. During the 1930s, the group worked closely with Garfield High School students in performing musicals under the direction of Eva Jurgensohn. In the 1940s and 1950s, Orchesis collaborated with WSU drama. and music groups to choreograph and perform Song of Norway, Dark of the Moon, Little Prince, and many other productions. The group also sponsored campus appearances by professional dancers and dance companies including Charles Weidman, Emily Frankel, Harriet Ann Gray, Gertrude Lippencott and the Charles Fagan Dance Company. In 1957, the Junior Orchesis organization was established. Orchesis was inactive during that year and it is possible that Jr. Orchesis was created because dancers that year did not fully qualify for the local or national standards for Orchesis membership.

Dance has been part of the WSU Department of Physical Education curriculum since 1919. The first Orchesis members took P.E. dance courses and sometimes taught them, as had been the case with WSU Orchesis founder, Leota Scott. Orchesis faculty advisors have without exception been women associated with physical education. Orchesis had many such advisors for the period 1923-1946, usually temporary instructors with an interest and a background in modern dance. This changed in 1946 when Alice Gates came to WSU and began a twenty-three year career as an associate professor of physical education, dance instructor and advisor to Orchesis.

Ms. Gates was educated at Wellesley College and at Columbia University, receiving her M.A. in 1940. She studied with the top dance professionals of the day, including Martha Graham and Evelyn Davis. Before coming to WSU she taught dance at Hood College in Maryland, Rockford College in Illinois, and Swarthmore College in Pennsylvania. Ms Gates was devoted to Orchesis and worked with unceasing determination to bring new ideas and opportunities to the group and to expose many people to Orchesis. Her efforts were enhanced when, in 1960, Toni Weaver came to WSU, joined Orchesis, assisted Alice Gates and gradually took on many of the advisory responsibilities. In 1965 she became a Physical Education instructor in addition to her responsibilities as a choreographer.

Alice Gates' involvement with Orchesis diminished when health problems forced her to take leave in 1967-68. She retired in 1972 and died in the spring of 1973. That year Orchesis established the Alice Gates Award for excellence and achievement in dance.

Alice Gates and Wilhelmina O. Sarai-Clark (Toni Weaver) each devoted more than twenty years of their lives to dance at WSU. Wilhelmina Sarai-Clark came to WSU as an instructor in 1965, though she had been a choreographer and performer with Orchesis since 1960. Before coming to WSU, Ms. Sarai-Clark had been an associate professor of physical education at Florida A and M; University in Tallahassee. She obtained her B.A. in Physical Education at Howard University, an M.A. at New York University and a Ph.D. in Dance, Anthropology, and Theatre at the University of Wisconsin at Madison. In the early 1950s, she danced with the Charles Weidman Dance Company.

Under her supervision, members took a more active role in choreographing Orchesis performances. She encouraged community interaction with Orchesis and forged a strong link between Orchesis and the St. James Episcopal Church. Orchesis choreographed many performances for the church, most often liturgical dances and holiday celebrations.

Many members of Orchesis went on to pursue careers in dance. Dick Lee, one of the male dancers that entered Orchesis in the 1940s, obtained dance scholarships to Bennington College in the 1950s. Other dancers joined professional dance groups such as Jacob's Pillow and the Metropolitan Opera Ballet Company. Another Orchesis member, Gwen Barker, danced in New York for several years before joining the Ballet Russe in the mid-1950s.

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Content Description

Orchesis records are predominantly concerned with dance productions. These records consist of notes, programs, photographs, and so forth. The records also include business and financial papers.

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Use of the Collection

Preferred Citation

[Item Description]. Cage 597, Orchesis Record. Manuscripts, Archives, and Special Collections, Washington State University Libraries, Pullman, WA.

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Administrative Information

Arrangement

The records are arranged in thirteen series and thereunder chronologically or alphabetically within each series. The first eight series concern Orchesis dance productions. They are in an alphabetical sequence. The ninth series, Financial Records, stands outside this alphabetization. It also serves as the division between paper records and photographic and video records.

Series one consists of advisor notes for the period 1960-1963 and focuses mainly on production responsibilities and corresponding Orchesis member activities. Series two, Choreography and Costumes, contains program notes and sketches for the period 1929 through 1992. The Choreography notes are arranged alphabetically by title and the costume notes are arranged chronologically. Items of interest include watercolor costume sketches from the early 1920s and 1930s. Series three, Dance, is arranged alphabetically by folder title and thereunder chronologically. Folder 37 of this series contains a nearly complete run of program flyers from the 1940s through 1992. Series four, Membership, is arranged chronologically. It contains membership lists, notes, tryout sheets and performance plans for the period 1930-1991. One item of particular interest is the Orchesis Pledge Book for this period which contains the signatures of Orchesis members for every semester the group was active. Series 5, Music, is arranged alphabetically by folder title. It contains sheet music from the 1930s and lists of music resources for dance. Series six, Performance and Production, contains notes for the period 1950 through the 1970s. Included are stage directions, lighting and prop arrangements, dance number sequencing and news releases. The series is arranged chronologically by performance date. Series seven, Programs, contains some choreography as well as planning and supply notes for specific program recitals for the period 1945 through 1963, and a program note file for the program, Yesterday Today and Tomorrow, (1992). Series Eight, Physical Education Files, contains administrative records for Orchesis. Included are rehearsal schedules, lectures, workshop programs and Toni Weaver's Master's Thesis and vita. It is arranged alphabetically by folder title. Series Nine, Financial Records, serves to divide the paper files from the photographs. It contains some of the Orchesis records for the period 1946-1983. It is arranged alphabetically by folder title from bills paid to WSU Accounts. Series Ten, Photographs and Scrapbooks, contains photographs from the period 1914 through 1984. Items of special interest include early photos of WSU dancers dating to 1914, photos of Alice Gates from 1911 to about 1960, and late 1970s photographs of Wilhelmina O. Sarai-Clark (Toni Weaver). Photographs have been arranged chronologically, although exact dates for each photograph were not available. A reasonable attempt has been made to ascertain the dates for the photographs. When no date was available photographs were matched to recital program descriptions and scrapbook entries in order to come as close as possible to the original date. Series Eleven, Video and Audio Tapes, contains six video cassettes of Orchesis, including the final performance of Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow, in April of 1992, and audiocassettes of interviews with Jane Ericson (a member of the Physical Education department active in Orchesis) and Wilhemina Sarai-Clark from 1994-1995. Series Twelve, Oversize Materials, contains flyers, sheet music, news articles and costume sketches for the period 1927-1990. The series is arranged in two oversize folders by the size of the item. Artifacts of interest include the handtooled leather scrapbook cover for Orchesis during 1927-1941; Hilltopics and Evergreen articles on the group ca. 1971-1980; and several "Ballad of Americana" costume sketches and watercolors from 1941. Series Eleven, Addendum, contains minutes of meetings from Junior Orchesis, as well as notes from meetings of Orchesis and other notices. The collection also contains materials on dance in education and teaching dance, including a collection of notecards detailing musical selections for teaching specific dance techniques.

Acquisition Information

The Washington State University Libraries obtained the records of Orchesis, the Washington State University dance honorary, in spring 1992 through the advisor to the group, Wilhelmina O. Sarai-Clark, who was then leaving the university for retirement. The records had been maintained by the Department of Physical Education for Women. The records were accessioned as MS92-37 and MS92-38. In 1995, Andrea Sabo donated an additional box of materials (MS.1995.18), and this was added to the collection in 2018.

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Detailed Description of the Collection

Names and SubjectsReturn to Top

Personal Names

  • Gates, Alice
  • Sarai-Clark, Wilhelmina

Corporate Names

  • Orchesis--Archives

Finding aid prepared by Liza Rognas
1992

CC Attribution
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

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