Dance Theater Designs

Peggy Clark (1915-1996)
Elizabeth Montgomery (1902-1993)
Designs for the Agnes de Mille
Dance Theatre, 1953
Watercolors
Music Division
Gift of Douglas and Nancy
Clark, 1998 (159.4 a-f)

Peggy Clark and Elizabeth Montgomery (one of the three theatrical designers who, collectively, were known as "Motley") designed the stage production for a national tour in 1953 and 1954 of the Agnes de Mille Dance Theatre. The tour encompassed more than one hundred cities. De Mille was one of the foremost American choreographers of the twentieth century and worked with Clark in productions of Brigadoon, Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, and Paint Your Wagon. The top and bottom designs seen here were created for the segment called "Golden Era." The middle design was for "Ballroom Dance."