Hocken Digital Collections

Stevens, Lily A. : Papers

Details

Reference NumberARC-0834CreatorStevens, Lily Allan, 1902-1992DescriptionThis collection includes papers relating to Stevens' various stage productions, exercise notebooks, notes, scrapbooks and music scores relating to the teaching and performance of classical ballet and other dance forms in Dunedin, including modern, tap, jazz, national character and expressive. Other material includes clippings, theatre programmes, audio cassette tapes, reel to reel tapes, and a vinyl record.
Only a small part of this collection is digitised and available through Digital Collections. Information about other items can be found on the Hākena catalogue, through the Library Catalogues link above.History / BiographyLily Stevens brought classical ballet to the South. She was born in Dunedin on 26 July 1902 to James Stevens and his wife Ann (nee Allan). Her performing career began during World War I when she raised large sums of money for the Belgian relief fund. At around fourteen years of age she became involved in the productions of dancing teacher May Wyatt. She soon began to take dancing lessons and when Wyatt moved to Auckland in 1923, Stevens took over her Dunedin School of Dancing. She taught dances she made up herself and had no knowledge of classical ballet. A performance by Pavlova in Dunedin in 1926, however, caused Stevens to go for lessons and then to move to Wellington to study under Estelle Beere. In the 1930s she went to Sydney and trained as a Royal Academy of Dancing (RAD) teacher. In 1937 she advertised that she was preparing students for the first RAD examinations to be conducted in New Zealand. For the next fifty years she taught thousands of girls in Otago and Southland, furthering her own studies in Australia, Britain and Europe during her holidays. Each year her school held large productions, both popular and classical, which she choreographed and often wrote the words and music for. In 1932 she produced `Wings' to celebrate Kingsford Smith's crossing of the Tasman. Stevens continued to choreograph productions throughout the 1970s. She did not retire until 1980 and in 1982 was awarded the QSM for her contribution to dance. After her death on 28 March 1992, the New Zealand Ballet dedicated a performance to her memory (from 'Southern People', edited by Jane Thomson, Dunedin, 1998).

Photograph

Sir Anton Dolin

Depicts Or Relates To

SubjectsBalletTheatreMusicComposition (Music)DanceDance schoolsDance teachers

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Stevens, Lily A. : Papers

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