École

1957 · 5265 — St. Louis: The School Press 1957. Very good. 180pp. Profusely illustrated with photographs. Original orange printed self wrappers staple. Minor rubbing soiling and some edge wear to wrappers. Internally clean. A seemingly unrecorded photographic annual for a prominent African-American dance school in Jim Crow Missouri. The Les Pierrettes Dance School was a well-respected institution for the training of young dancers in St. Louis. The school's director identified in the present work as "Maitre d'Ecole" was Anita W. Roland a prominent dancer with experience on the stage in North America Latin America and Europe. The work opens with a couple of introductory poems and a table of contents; thereafter the work features almost sixty dance students both male and female in two-page spreads with a poem on the verso and a photographic portrait of the students in their dance uniforms on the rectos. This section is described on the table of contents as "A group of mirth-laden girls and boys make truth-laden statements about themselves" indicating the biographical poems were written by each of the students. The middle of the work features the dancing school staff and "Studio Demonstrators" i.e. dance instructors with some biographical details about each person. This is followed by a long section of well wishes and congratulatory messages from the dance students' family friends and the larger community. The rear of the work also includes a section of advertisements from local businesses. The present work was edited by Anita Roland's husband Philip Roland here listed as the Director of Program Activities for the dance school and editor of Foto-Feature. The work itself is identified on the table of contents as "Vol. 2 No. 1" indicating it is likely the second in a series.<br /> <br /> We could locate no exact matches of the present work in OCLC or auction records though there might be one other example at the Missouri History Museum the OCLC record does not specify volume number. The School Press unknown