Born in Hastings, Pennsylvania, circa 1910, Karen Irvin moved with her family to Seattle, Washington at age 8. It was there that she began to study ballet with Caird Leslie, Lee Foley, and ultimately with Nellie Cornish of the Cornish School (now Cornish College of the Arts). She studied briefly in New York, then returned to the Northwest where she opened a ballet studio in West Seattle. Irvin joined the Cornish faculty in 1945, and in 1952 she became head of the Institution's dance department. Four years later, she co-founded Cornish Ballet -- an early contributor to the regional ballet movement -- with her longtime companion, Mea Hartman. Irvin headed the dance department at Cornish for 27 years, and was responsible for designing the College's dance degree program. She trained dancers for companies such as the Joffrey Ballet, Twyla Tharp Dance, the Pennsylvania Ballet, and National Ballet of Canada, and worked to raise Seattle's stature in the dance world. Miss Irvin died of heart failure on March 2, 1999, at the age of 89.
Images of Cornish School of Allied Arts ballet productions directed by or related to Karen Irvin, Head of the Cornish School dance department.
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Restrictions may exist on reproduction, quotation, or publication. Users are responsible for researching copyright status before use. Restrictions may exist on copying, quotation, or publication. Contact University of Washington Libraries Special Collections for details.
The current photograph collection, Photo Acc. 2004-029, was received together on November 17th, 1999 with materials that form Accession No. 4341-002 in the Manuscripts collection. Please refer to the appropriate manuscripts finding aid to use those collections. The photographs were transferred to the Visual Materials Collection on January 29th, 2004.
Gift of the estate of Karen Irvin, 1999.
Gift of the estate of Karen Irvin (David Martin), 2016.
Unprocessed.
In 2016, additional materials from the Karen Irvin estate were gifted to the University of Washington. These materials have been incorporated into this accession.
Six b/w prints of various scenes from this ballet production.
Two b/w prints of this ballet production.
Seven b/w prints of rehearsals for a religious dance done as part of a service in an Episcopal church.
Two b/w prints of a rehearsal of the Spanish Dance from Tchaikovsky's "The Nutcracker".
Eight b/w prints of various scenes from this ballet production.
One b/w print of this ballet production.
Five b/w prints.
Eight posters advertising performances and events from the Seattle's Dance Festival, Cornish Dance Theater, Metropolitan Ballet of Tacoma, The Reed College Community's Pacific Coast Arts Festival