Falardo, Vincent, 1948- Papers, 1936-2004
Held by The Filson Historical Society
Creator: Falardo, Vincent, 1948-
Title: Papers, 1936-2004
Rights: For information regarding literary and copyright interest for these papers, contact the Collections Department.
Size of Collection: 5.29 cu. ft., 1 ovsz. fld., 5 vols.
Location Number: Mss. A F177
Scope and Content Note
This collection consists of material related to the career ballet dancer, choreographer, and répétiteur Vincent Falardo, who served as ballet master and director of education and outreach for the Louisville Ballet.
Folders 1-5a contain personal and professional correspondence.
Folders 6-14 contain educational program material, including program brochures and teacher’s guides for the Louisville Ballet and material about the Courtney School of Dance.
Folders 15-21 contain Louisville Ballet administrative material, including material related to the Louisville Ballet Guild, Louisville Ballet Partners, and Ballet Associates of Louisville.
Folders 22-24 contain material related to Louisville Ballet events.
Folders 25-27 contain tickets for Louisville Ballet performances.
Folders 28-75 contain programs for Louisville Ballet performances (both at home and on tour), performances in Louisville predating the Louisville Ballet, and performances by other organizations.
Folders 76-19 contain Louisville Ballet newsletters.
Folders 80-95 contain promotional material, including fliers, mailers, brochures, posters, and ephemera.
Folders 96-103 contain press related to the Louisville Ballet, including newspaper clippings and magazines.
Folders 132-140 and binders 141-146 contain production material, including production schedules, cast lists, handbooks and rules for dancers, and production notes and dance notation (labanotation) for various productions.
Folders 147-154 contain pages and loose material from a disassembled scrapbook concerning the Lilias Courtney Dance School and other dance organizations founded by or related to Lilias Courtney Smith. These include the Lilias Courtney Ballet, Little Theatre of Dance-Arts, and Lilias Courtney Dance School, Camp Wyandotte (a dance summer camp for girls), the Courtney Ballet Company, and the Louisville Children’s Ballet. Scrapbook material includes programs, fliers, clippings, photographs, and other material. Also included are uncredited pencil, charcoal, and watercolor drawings, a letter “To the Friends of Lilias Courtney” upon her death, and material related to a WWII-era dance performance given to military personnel at Fort Knox.
Volumes 155-158 are scrapbooks containing mostly newspaper clippings but also some programs and other material.
Volume 159 contains bound sheet music for Karel Husa’s The Trojan Women Ballet for Orchestra (1980), commissioned by the University of Louisville, world premiere performance 28 March 1981, and an original music score by composer Charles Strouse commissioned by the Louisville Ballet for The Ballet Tunes, undated.
Oversized folder 160 contains certificates naming Louisville Ballet-related events as holidays in Louisville, Kentucky, and New York City, as well as certificates honoring Alun Jones, 1985-1994
Related Collections:
Louisville Ballet records [Mss. BB L888j]
Louisville Ballet Photograph Collection [024PC25]
Louisville Ballet Posters [024PR3]
Alun Jones papers [Mss. A J76b]
Alun Jones and Helen Starr Photograph Collection [023PC24]
Alun Jones and Helen Starr Louisville Ballet Poster Collection [023PR5]
Alun Jones and Helen Starr museum objects [2023.5]
Vincent Falardo Photograph Collection [023PC11]
Vincent Falardo museum objects [2023.18]
Vincent Falardo Louisville Ballet Poster Collection [025PR10]
Joy Bell Williams papers [023×1]
Joy Bell Williams Photograph Collection [023PC4]
Nina Allen papers [024×35]
Melissa J. “Misty” Lee papers [023×57]
Biographical Note
Vincent Falardo (1948-)
Vincent Falardo was born in New York in 1948. He began his dance study at Courtney School of Dance in Louisville and joined the Louisville Ballet Company as a dancer in 1969. By 1978, he was promoted to ballet master, in charge of maintaining performance quality and some training in the company. He also served as director of education and outreach. In that role he developed educational programs for schools in Kentucky and southern Indiana.
As a dancer with the Louisville Ballet, Falardo had roles in Dedication, Selenic Games, Night Shadow, Les Sylphides, Nutcracker, and Coppélia. He also danced as one of the Ugly Stepsisters in Cinderella alongside artistic director Alun Jones (1937-2019). He danced in the Kentucky Opera’s Die Fledermaus with Louisville Ballet principal dancer and associate artistic director Helen Starr (1940-).
Falardo graduated from the Ballet Directors course and was a member of the Dance Notation Bureau. He taught ballet in Louisville, Indianapolis, St. Louis, Little Rock, and Lake Charles, Louisiana. As a répétiteur, Falardo staged Cakewalk for choreographer Ruthanna Boris in Ohio, California, and Chile. He also staged Billy the Kid for the Eugene Loring Trust at Texas Ballet Theater.
His choreographed works include Romance, Peripatetic Pas de Deux, Schumann Quartet (1979), which was chosen for the National Choreography Plan, and Triad (1980), which was performed at the Southeastern Regional Ballet Festival. He choreographed Consestetto, Viva Vivaldi, and Untitled #4 for the Lexington Ballet Company, Out of Darkness for the Classical Ballet Academy of Northern Virginia, and H.M.S. Pinafore for the Kentucky Opera.
Falardo worked at the Louisville Ballet until 2004.
Lilias Courtney Smith (1904-1950)
Lilias Courtney Smith was a dance instructor in Louisville. She was born in Wilmington, Delaware, and studied dance in New York and England. In 1927, she came to Louisville to be an assistant in the health-education department at the YWCA. Three years later in 1930, she organized her own dance school. She founded the Lilias Courtney Dance School, the Little Theatre of Dance Arts, and two dance companies: the Lilias Courtney Ballet Company and the Junior Ballet Company. Her companies presented many of her original ballets, which include Justice, They Shall Inherit, Festival, Tragic Portrait, Alice in Wonderland, and The Sleeping Beauty. She became sick two years before her death and last taught dance in the summer of 1949. She died on 13 February 1950. Her school lived on as the Courtney School of Dance until at least 1995. From the 1960s on, the school was located at 307 W. Walnut Street (later 307 W. Muhammad Ali).
Sources:
Welcome to A Great Company Louisville Ballet program, ca. 1982 [Mss. A J76b folder 61]
Louisville Ballet Audience program, April 2004 [Mss. A F177 folder 57]
Courier-Journal obituary, 14 February 1950.
Folder List
Box 1
Correspondence
Folder 1 Falardo personal correspondence, 1977-2004 and undated
Folder 2 Falardo professional/internal Louisville Ballet correspondence, 1990-2002
Folder 3 Thank-Yous from schools and other institutions for educational programs, 1996-2002 and undated
Folder 4 Letter and Louisville Civic Ballet material sent to Falardo from former dancer Margot Starr, 1968-1971, 1997
Folder 4a Correspondence from former LBC dancers providing autographs, addresses, and biographical information for 50th anniversary quilt project, 1997-2001
Folder 4b Addresses, notes, and empty envelopes concerning 50th anniversary quilt project, ca. 1997-2001
Folder 5 National Association for Regional Ballet correspondence and newsletter, 1979-1981
Folder 5a Correspondence to/from others, 1972-1987 and undated
The most prominent correspondent is someone named “Lally”
Educational Program Material
Folder 6 List of community/school educational programs, 1997-2004
Folder 7 Falardo lectures/demonstrations schedules, 2002-2004
Folder 8 Educational program brochures, 1985-2002
Folder 9 Getting the Pointe: A Teacher’s Guide to the Louisville Ballet, 1996-2001
Folder 10 Getting the Pointe: A Teacher’s Guide to the Louisville Ballet, 2001-2004
Folder 11 Getting the Pointe: A Teacher’s Guide to the Louisville Ballet, undated
Folder 12 Louisville Ballet School and Civic Company publications and fliers, 1997-2002
Folder 13 Courtney School of Dance (307 W. Walnut Street) material, 1972-1973 and undated
Folder 14 The Nutcracker coloring book, undated
Louisville Ballet Administrative Material
Folder 15 Louisville Ballet letterhead, stationery, etc., ca. 1982-2000
Folder 16 Louisville Ballet Strategic Plan, 1997-2000
Folder 17 Board of Directors lists, 1989-1991
Folder 18 Louisville Ballet Guild and Louisville Ballet Partners miscellaneous material, 1984-1998 and undated
Folder 18a Louisville Ballet Guild committee minutes and organizational material, 1986-1989 and undated
Folder 19 Ballet Associates of Louisville Board of Directors meeting minutes, 1982-1983
Folder 20 Ballet Associates of Louisville material, ca. 1982
Folder 21 Histories and general information about the Louisville Ballet, ca. 1978-1990s
Events Material
Folder 22 Invitations to Louisville Ballet-related events, 1980-2001 and undated
Folder 23 Louisville Ballet Center concept art print and grand opening napkin, Nov. 1995
Folder 24 Art shows benefiting the Louisville Ballet material, 1996-2001
Performance Tickets
Folder 25 Miscellaneous performance tickets, 1981-2004
Folder 26 Choreographer Showcase general admission tickets, 1998-2000
Folder 27 Blank tickets, ca. early 1980s
Performance Programs
Folder 28 Programs, 1958-1972
Folder 29 Programs, 1973-1974
Folder 30 Programs, 1975
Folder 31 Programs, 1976-1977
Folder 32 Programs, 1978-1979
Folder 33 Programs, 1979-April 1980
Folder 34 Programs, Sept. 1980-April 1981
Folder 35 Programs, Oct. 1981-April 1982
Folder 36 Programs, Oct. 1982-April 1983
Folder 37 Programs, Oct. 1983-April 1984
Folder 38 Programs, Oct. 1984-Feb. 1985
Box 2
Performance Programs (cont.)
Folder 39 Programs, April 1985-June 1986
Folder 40 Programs, Sept. 1986-Aptil 1987
Folder 41 Programs, Aug. 1987-March 1988
Folder 42 Programs, Oct. 1988-April 1989
Folder 43 Programs, Aug. 1989-March 1990
Folder 44 Programs, Aug. 1990-Feb. 1991
Folder 45 Programs, March 1991-April 1992
Folder 46 Programs, Sept. 1992-Feb. 1993
Folder 47 Programs, March 1993-March 1994
Folder 48 Programs, Sept. 1994-May 1995
Folder 49 Programs, Sept. 1995-March 1996
Folder 50 Programs, Aug. 1996-April 1997
Folder 51 Programs, Oct. 1997-April 1998
Folder 52 Programs, Oct. 1998-April 1999
Folder 53 Programs, Sept. 1999-April 2000
Folder 54 Programs, Sept. 2000-April 2001
Folder 55 Programs, Sept. 2001-April 2002
Folder 56 Programs, Sept. 2002-March 2003
Folder 57 Programs, Sept. 2003-April 2004 and undated
Folder 58 Tour programs, Dec. 1973-Feb. 1977
Folder 59 Tour programs, Feb. 1977-Oct. 1978
Folder 60 Tour programs, March-Oct. 1979
Folder 61 Tour programs, Nov. 1979-Aug. 1980
Folder 62 Tour programs, Sept. 1980-April 1981
Folder 63 Tour programs, June 1981-May 1983
Folder 64 Tour programs, 1984-Oct. 1985
Box 3
Performance Programs (cont.)
Folder 65 Tour programs, March-Oct. 1986
Folder 66 Tour programs, Nov. 1986-Nov. 1989
Folder 67 Tour programs, Dec. 1989-March 1994
Folder 68 Tour programs, March 1996-March 1999
Folder 69 Tour programs, 2000-2003 and undated
Folder 70 Programs for early productions in Louisville before the Louisville Ballet, 1939-ca. 1970s
Folder 71 Programs for Louisville Ballet appearances elsewhere/in partnership with others, 1978-1994 and undated
Folder 72 Programs for other Kentucky performance arts organizations, 1945, 1972-1992
Includes programs for the Louisville Community Concert Association, Kentucky Opera, Lexington Ballet, and Louisville Children’s Ballet
Folder 73 Programs for performance arts organizations outside Kentucky, 1937-1987 and undated
Folder 74 Autographed programs and photograph, 1974-1981
Folder 75 Programs in Russian, 1982-1983 and undated
Newsletters
Folder 76 Louisville Ballet News newsletter, Feb.-April 1984, May/June 1982
Folder 77 Backstage/Backstage at the Ballet newsletter, Oct. 1984-2001
Folder 78 Ballet-Hoo newsletter, 1979-1986
Folder 79 New Pointes newsletter, 2001-2002 season
Promotional Material
Folder 80 Fliers, mailers, brochures, etc., 1981-1985
Includes material about Baseball and Ballet event, for which the Louisville Ballet Civic Company and the Louisville Redbirds presented a new work created by Principal Dancer Dale Brannon, June 1984
Folder 81 Fliers, mailers, brochures, etc., 1985-1986
Includes material for the Royal Danish Ballet at Kentucky Center for the Arts
Folder 82 Fliers, mailers, brochures, etc., 1986-1988
Folder 83 Fliers, mailers, brochures, etc., 1988-1990
Folder 84 Fliers, mailers, brochures, etc., 1991-1992
Folder 85 Fliers, mailers, brochures, etc., 1995-1999
Folder 86 Fliers, mailers, brochures, etc., 1999-2000
Includes “Meet Your Dancer” cards sharing dancer biographies
Folder 87 Fliers, mailers, brochures, etc., 2000-2003
Folder 88 Fliers, mailers, brochures, etc., undated
Folder 89 Louisville Ballet anniversary postcard set, undated
Folder 90 Booklets promoting donations and investments, ca. 1973-1994
Folder 91 Folded posters, 1980-1981 and undated
Folder 92 Classics in Context brochure and poster, 1988
Folder 93 Meet Me at the Barre T-shirt iron-on transfers for “Ballet Barre at Memorial Auditorium,” ca. 1980-1981
Folder 94 Ephemera – magnets, wooden postcard, 2002 membership card, ca. 1996-2002
Folder 95 (legal-sized) Ticket order forms and program inserts, 1984-1989 and undated
Press
Folder 96 The Center magazine, 1984, 1985, 1988
Folder 97 Beaux Arts magazine, summer 1981 and fall 1983
Folder 98 Outside publications featuring the Louisville Ballet, 1980-1990, 2000, and undated
Folder 99 Newspaper clippings re: Ballet in Louisville, ca. 1940s-1960s
Folder 100 Newspaper clippings re: Louisville Ballet, ca. 1970s
Folder 101 Newspaper clippings re: Louisville Ballet, ca. 1980s
Box 4
Folder 102 Newspapers clippings re: Louisville Ballet, ca. 1990s-2000s
Folder 103 Clippings and other material re: Wendy Whelan at the New York Ballet, ca. 1990s
Production Material
Folder 104 Production calendars/schedules, 1981-1982 season
Folder 105 Production calendars/schedules, 1982-1983 season
Folder 106 Production calendars/schedules, 1983-1984 season
Folder 107 Production calendars/schedules, 1985-1986 season, 1987-1988 season
Folder 108 Production calendars/schedules, 1988-1989 season
Folder 109 Production calendars/schedules, 1989-1990 season
Folder 110 Production calendars/schedules, 1990-1991 season
Folder 111 Production calendars/schedules, 1991-1992 season
Folder 112 Production calendars/schedules, 1992-1993 season
Folder 113 Production calendars/schedules, 1993-1994 season, 1995-1996 season
Folder 114 Production calendars/schedules, 1996-1997 season
Folder 115 Production calendars/schedules, 1997-1998 season, 2000-2001 season
Folder 116 Production calendars/schedules, 2001-2002 season
Folder 117 Production calendars/schedules, 2002-2003 season pt. 1
Folder 118 Production calendars/schedules, 2002-2003 season pt. 2
Folder 119 Production calendars/schedules, 2003-2004 season
Folder 120 Cast lists, 1975-1979
Folder 121 Cast lists, 1980-1989
Folder 122 Cast lists, 1990-1999
Folder 123 Cast lists, 2000-2002
Folder 124 Cast lists, 2003-2004
Folder 125 Lists of Louisville Ballet dancers and staff, 1975-1999
Folder 125a Lists of Louisville Ballet volunteers, 1985-1986
Folder 126 American Ballet Theatre Summer Ballet Intensive Audition Tour audition number, undated
Folder 127 Dancer resumes for Cher Cornell, William Reece Spencer III, and Christine Marie Hay, ca. 1981
Folder 128 “Theatre Rules” and “Fines” for Louisville Ballet dancers, ca. 1991
Folder 129 Season schedule handbooks, 2002-2003 and 2003-2004 seasons
Folder 129a Information about various ballets, including running times, casts, etc., 1979 and undated
Folder 130 Tour itineraries and rooming lists, 1981, 1983, 1998
Folder 131 Costume rental brochure showing Romeo and Juliet costumes, ca. 1985
Folder 132 Picture of Dorian Gray (choreographed by Saeko Ichinohe) correspondence, contracts, and other material, 1987-1988
Folder 133 Contract between Alun Jones and Charleston Ballet Theatre for performance of Three Pieces in the Shape of a Pear, ca. 1990s
Folder 134 Peter and the Wolf production notes, ca. 2000
Folder 134a Billy the Kid production notes, ca. 1983-2000
Folder 135 Production notes, ca. 1978-1979
Folder 136 Death and the Maiden choreography dance notation, undated
Folder 136a Cakewalk (choreographed by Ruthanna Boris) dance notation, 1976
Folder 137 The Shakers dance notation, ca. 1980s
Folder 138 The Shakers material (cast lists, notes, correspondence, sheet music, dance notation), 1984-2003 and undated
Folder 138a Fandango (choreographed by Antony Tudor) dance notation, undated
Folder 138b Sunflowers (choreographed by Antony Tudor) dance notation, 1972
Folder 138c Dance notation, possibly for Lark Ascending, undated
Folder 139 Dance notation for miscellaneous/unidentified productions, ca. 1990s
Box 5
Production Material (cont.)
Binder 140 Petrouchka (choreographed by Michael Fokine) dance notation, 1979
Binder 141 The Green Table (choreographed by Kurt Jones) dance notation, ca. 1982
Binder 142 Billy the Kid (choreographed by Eugene Loring) dance notation, ca. 1983
Binder 143 Billy the Kid production notes, undated
Binder 144 The Grand Tour dance notation, undated
Binder 145 Death and the Maiden (choreographed by Andre Howard) production notes by Mary Munro Taylor, 1975
Binder 146 Cakewalk production notes, undated
Box 6 (flat box)
Lilias Courtney Ballet Scrapbook
Folder 147 Lilias Courtney ballet scrapbook pages, ca. 1936-1950 (1 of 8)
Folder 148 Lilias Courtney ballet scrapbook pages, ca. 1936-1950 (2 of 8)
Folder 149 Lilias Courtney ballet scrapbook pages, ca. 1936-1950 (3 of 8)
Includes a program for a 1942 performance given to the U.S. Army Air Corp at Godman Field, Fort Knox, in which Ellis Obrecht performed
Folder 150 Lilias Courtney ballet scrapbook loose clippings, ca. 1936-1950 (4 of 8)
Folder 151 Lilias Courtney ballet scrapbook loose programs, ca. 1936-1950 (5 of 8)
Folder 152 Lilias Courtney ballet scrapbook loose fliers and advertisements, ca. 1936-1950 (6 of 8)
Folder 153 Lilias Courtney ballet scrapbook loose photographs, ca. 1936-1950 (7 of 8)
Folder 154 Lilias Courtney ballet scrapbook loose miscellaneous material, ca. 1936-1950 (8 of 8)
Includes a 1944 certificate presented to Ellis Obrecht from the ARTC Special Service Office at Fort Knox for providing wartime entertainment to “military and civilian personnel”
Oversized Material
Vol. 155 (wrapped) Choreography notebook, ca. 1971-1980
Vol. 156 (wrapped) Scrapbook, 1976-1979
Vol. 157 (wrapped) Scrapbook, 1979-1980
Vol. 158 (wrapped) Scrapbook, 1980-1981
Vol. 159 (wrapped) Sheet music for Karel Husa’s The Trojan Women Ballet for Orchestra (1980), commissioned by the University of Louisville, world premiere performance 28 March 1981, and and an original music score by composer Charles Strouse commissioned by the Louisville Ballet for The Ballet Tunes (undated)
Ovsz. Folder 160 Certificates naming Louisville Ballet-related events as holidays in Louisville, Kentucky, and New York, as well as certificates honoring Alun Jones, 1985-1994
Subject Headings
Ballet dancers.
Ballet – Study and teaching.
Choreography.
Courtney School of Dance (Louisville, Ky.)
Dance Notation.
Fort Knox (Ky.)
Jones, Alun, 1937-2019.
Louisville Ballet.
Louisville Redbirds.
Obrecht, Ellis, 1907-1982.
Performing arts.
Smith, Lilias Courtney, 1904-1950.