Monica Moseley memorial planned for April 5

from the Society of Dance History Scholars

Monica Moseley, recently retired Assistant Curator of the Jerome Robbins Dance Division, The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, died on January 6, 2010.

Monica Moseley started work at the Dance Division in 1981 and was the Assistant Curator from 1983 till her retirement in February 2005. She obtained her M.S. at the School of Library Service at Columbia University in 1981. Earlier, she studied the dance techniques of Lestor Horton, Martha Graham and Merce Cunningham. As a founding member of Meredith Monk/The House, she created major roles and danced in many works including Recent Ruins, Chacon, Quarry and Education of the Girlchild. She was editorial assistant at Dance Magazine from 1964-1967, and was on the board of directors for many years of Congress on Research in Dance and Society of Dance History Scholars. She contributed and helped edit the seminal book on collecting dance titled: A Core Collection in Dance. After her retirement she continued to work on many dance projects that included working on the film Lucinda Childs by Patrick Bensard, director of La Cinémathèque de la Danse in Paris and coordinating research for the Leonide Massine screening for La Cinémathèque de la Danse’s program Du côté de Léonide held on 18 January 2010. She was a beloved and valued member of the Dance Division, who would generously share her great knowledge and insight about dance and dance archives with staff members and the public. She is greatly missed. 

A library memorial service is planned for April 5, 2010, Monday at 11am, Bruno Walter Auditorium, New York Public Library for the Performing Arts.