Full description
The Louise Lightfoot collection is one of a large number of unique collections held by the Music Archive of Monash University (MAMU), located at 4th floor of the Menzies Building, at the Monash Clayton Campus, rooms 404, 406, 408 and 410. This was the personal collection of Louise Lightfoot (1902-1979 ), who was an Australian dancer, choreographer and impresario. In the 1930s, she shifted her interest in early modern dance to Indian classical dance, which she studied and promoted extensively, including by touring Indian artists. The collection contains costumes, masks and dance headdresses, dance props, films, recordings (on reel to reel tape, cassette and vinyl), program brochures, scripts, contracts, letters, posters, advertisements, newspaper clippings, reports, correspondence, scrapbooks, photographs, and Lightfoot’s personal notes, journal issues and books. The oldest item is a book Monipurio Norton (Manipuri Dance) by Autambapu Sharma, written in Old Bengali in 1759.Notes
17 Archive Boxes of different dimensions containing costumes, props, scrapbooks, programs, scripts, contracts, photos, posters, audio recordings, press clippings and letters.Significance statement
The Louise Lightfoot collection is significant because it represents a rare, early instance of direct and sustained Australian engagement with Asian culture, specifically, Lightfoot’s pre- and post-war engagement with various traditions of Indian dance and performance culture. Through Lightfoot’s patronage of Indian kathakali dancer, Shivaram, she introduced Australian audiences to Indian classical dance and music during tours she organised and sponsored in 1947, 1949-50 and 1957. Lightfoot even created her own Indian-themed ballet for Shivaram’s 1949 tour which was presented at the Australian National Theatre. The materials in the collection provide unique insight into Lightfoot’s contribution to cross-cultural understanding in Australia in that period and have already been used for multiple research projects.Created: 2013
Data time period: 1700 to 1976
Spatial Coverage And Location
text: Australia
text: India
text: Sri Lanka
text: Canada
text: Kerala
text: Manipur
Subjects
Art Theory and Criticism |
Dance |
Dance |
Drama, Theatre and Performance Studies |
First Australian Ballet Company |
Kathakali |
Manipuri |
Music |
Musicology and Ethnomusicology |
Performing Arts and Creative Writing |
Studies in Creative Arts and Writing |
Shan-Kar |
Shivaram |
Visual Cultures |
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Identifiers
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