Nancy Topf Papers
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Abstract
Nancy Topf was an influential teacher, choreographer, and dancer active in New York in the 1960s-1990s. Her work was featured in several prominent dance and arts journals. The materials in this collection document Topf's performances and teaching activities, particularly from 1970 until her passing in 1998. Materials include performance programs; correspondence; manuscripts and typescripts; interviews, publications, and press releases; and recordings of workshops, lectures, and movement classes; The collection also includes materials about the Topf Technique and other methods of body work and mind-body centering.
Biographical Note
Nancy Topf (1942-1998) was a teacher, choreographer, and dancer active in New York in the 1960s-1990s. Her work was influential among post-modern dance communities and continues to be practiced by choreographers and movement educators certified in teaching her "Topf Technique," recognized by the International Somatic Movement Association. Topf's dances emphasized the connection between human skeletal and muscular anatomies, as well as ideokinesis (image-based movement). Along with her husband, composer Jon Gibson, Topf taught and performed widely from the 1970s to the 1990s. Her work was featured in several prominent dance and arts journals. Topf was killed in the Swissair Flight 111 flight over Nova Scotia in 1998.
Arrangement
The materials in this collection have not been arranged by an archivist. The materials are arranged in the order in which they were received by the donor.
Scope and Contents
The Nancy Topf Papers consists of materials created and collected by Topf documenting her performance and teaching activities, particularly from 1970 to 1988. The collection includes photographic materials, audio and video recordings on various formats, notebooks, sketchbooks, performance posters and programs, certificates, and contracts and other legal documents. Materials include manuscripts and typescripts of Topf's book Anatomy of Center; materials documenting Topf's involvement in site-specific performances and movement explorations ("Space Walks"); transcripts and recordings of workshops, lectures, and movement classes by Topf; interviews, articles, and press releases relating to Topf's work; anatomical diagrams and study materials; and information about certification in the Topf Technique and other methods of body work and mind-body centering. Also included are workbooks and study materials on human anatomy from as early as 1946, as well as typescripts of the work of Barbara Clark and other early pioneers of somatic movement, ideokinesis, and post-modern movement education and therapies. The collection also includes correspondence and programs relating to the circumstances of Topf's passing.
Subjects
People
Donors
Conditions Governing Access
Materials are open without restrictions.
Conditions Governing Use
This collection is protected by copyright and/or related rights. You are free to use materials in the collection in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use. For other uses you need to obtain permission from the rights-holder(s).
Preferred Citation
Identification of item, date (if known); Nancy Topf Papers; MSS 450; box number; folder number; Fales Library and Special Collections, New York University Libraries.
Location of Materials
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Materials donated by Jon Gibson in 2015. The accession number associated with this collection is 2016.003.
Audiovisual Access Policies and Procedures
Access to audiovisual materials in this collection is available through digitized access copies. Researchers may view an item's original container, but the media themselves are not available for playback because of preservation concerns. Materials that have already been digitized are noted in the collection's finding aid and can be requested in our reading room. To request an access copy, or if you are unsure if an item has been digitized, please contact special.collections@nyu.edu.
About this Guide
Processing Information
At the time of accessioning, materials were rehoused in archival boxes and folders. The materials were described at the collection-level with a box-list, but no arrangement or other physical interventions took place at this point.
Repository
View Inventory
Writing, Articles, and Press Clippings
Memorial Service, Books, and Articles
Performance and Class Videos
Slides - Spacewalk, 1993-06-20
Scope and Contents
A dance rehearsal that includes a photo slide show.
Physical Characteristics and Technical Requirements
Duration: 123 min.
PSOAS Bodywork, 1991-08-05
Physical Characteristics and Technical Requirements
Duration: 44 min., Preservation note: Poor audio quality.
