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Pedro Consuegra Papers
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Held at: Princeton University Library: Manuscripts Division [Contact Us]
This is a finding aid. It is a description of archival material held at the Princeton University Library: Manuscripts Division. Unless otherwise noted, the materials described below are physically available in their reading room, and not digitally available through the web.
Overview and metadata sections
Pedro Consuegra is a Cuban born French choreographer. He was born in Camajuaní, a municipality and town in the Villa Clara Province of Cuba in 1938. He settled in France permanently in his youth.
He studied ballet at Sociedad Pro Arte Musical de La Habana (SPAMH), and is a member of the National Ballet of Cuba. He is affiliated with different ballet companies in Europe, where he has worked as a dancer, choreographer, and maître. He worked with the Ballet National de Marseille and has held the post of Inspector General of Dance of the municipality of Marseille. In 1998, Consuegra choreographed "Cinderella" with the Ballet Nacional de Cuba in New York City which marked the company's return to New York for first time in 19 years.
He has received numerous awards including the Medal of the City in Marseille. In 1996, he received the Distinction for National Culture granted by Cuba's Ministry of Culture.
Includes postcard correspondence and printed materials from Consuegra's underground tabloid zine, SIE. Consuegra received postcards from various male friends who signed off with female pseudonyms and referred to themselves and Consuegra in the female pronoun. This close knit circle of friends were mostly homosexual men of Latin American origins living and working as artists, writers, and filmmakers in Europe and the United States.
According to Ramón Alejandro, who was known as La Tetona, each member of the group had a female nickname. Consuegra was known as Papayi Taloka and signed his editorial work on SIE as so. Néstor Almendros signed much of his correspondence with Consuegra as Adua la Pedagoga, a name that later became the title to Alejandro's 2012 book. Severo Sarduy was known as La Chelo or Chelo Alonso, the real life name of the Cuban-Mexican actress famous for playing femme fatales in Italian cinema in the 1960s. Many nicknames found in the correspondence allude to old-Hollywood and international starlets like Dolores del Río, Concha Piquer, Fanny Schiller, and Renée Adorée. Other nicknames were tongue-in-cheek, sexual innuendos like La Warrah, La Incalculable, and the aforementioned La Tetona.
The papers also include zine matter and magazine clippings for SIE. Consuegra edited and compiled SIE, a multilingual (mostly Spanish-German with occasional English) handwritten magazine in the 1960s. Consuegra most likely circulated SIE to his circle of friends who may or may not have been living openly as gay men. The zine took the form of a fake tabloid scandal; its topics ranged from nonsensical to humorous and tongue and cheek, implying gender based and sexual innuendos. Included in these materials are transfer lettering alphabets, outlines, and the Diccionario enciculopedico, a list of slang gay sex vocabulary.
Organized into the following series: Series 1: Correspondence, Series 2: Zine Matter and Other Printed Materials.
Alejandro, Ramón. Adua La Pedagoga, 2012. Print.
Purchase, 2016 (AM 2017-17).
This collection was purchased (in part) with funds provided by the Program in Latin American Studies (PLAS).
This collection was processed by Elvia Arroyo-Ramirez in September 2016. Finding aid written by Elvia Arroyo-Ramirez in September 2016.
Nothing was removed from the 2016 processing.
People
Subject
- Publisher
- Manuscripts Division
- Finding Aid Author
- Elvia Arroyo-Ramirez
- Finding Aid Date
- 2016
- Access Restrictions
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Open for research.
- Use Restrictions
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Single photocopies may be made for research purposes. No further photoduplication of copies of material in the collection can be made when Princeton University Library does not own the original. Inquiries regarding publishing material from the collection should be directed to RBSC Public Services staff through the Ask Us! form. The library has no information on the status of literary rights in the collection and researchers are responsible for determining any questions of copyright.
Collection Inventory
Alphabetically, by last name. Unidentified postcards are at the end.
Postcards and letters sent to Consuegra with the bulk of correspondence sent from Néstor Almendros.
Physical Description2 boxes
1 folder
Two letters from Almendros (i.e. "Rashida") to Consuegra (i.e. "Papayi") boxed separately due to oversize and fragile nature.
Physical Description1 folder
1 folder
1 folder
1 folder
1 folder
1 folder
1 folder
1 folder
1 folder
1 folder
1 folder
1 folder
One postcard addressed to Consuegra signed by "La Capricho," "Chelo" (Severo Sarduy), German Puig, "La Kika," Pedro Del Valle, Néstor Almendros, Lila Basil, "Alejandro," and other illegible names.
Physical Description1 folder
Possibly from Consuegra to Almendros.
Physical Description1 folder
1 folder
1 folder
1 folder
1 folder
1 folder
1 folder
Alphabetically.
Includes magazine clippings and various zine issues.
Physical Description2 boxes
1 folder
Includes print outs of email sent by Pierre Contal (alias of Consuegra) of an encyclopedic-like list of definitions (No. 1-8) for SIE sent to Herman Puig (alias of Germán Puig Paredes), Ramón Alejandro, Carlos Gutiérrez, Carlos Gacio, Jesus Rivera Rosado, Luis Moreno, and others. The list is attributed to Mademoiselle Papayi Taloka and Madame La Warrah.
Physical Description1 folder
1 folder
Handwritten zine in Spanish and German. Enclosed in an envelope from Virgilio Valle to Consuegra.
Physical Description1 folder
Handwritten zine in German. Enclosed in an envelope from Veer Ghallia V. to Consuegra.
Physical Description1 folder
1 folder
1 folder
1 folder
1 folder
1 box
Clippings organized by envelope titles, possibly for futureSIEissues.
Physical Description1 folder
Content found in envelope labeled "SIE + Gags."
Physical Description1 folder
Contains three complete SIE issues and some loose pages.
Physical Description1 folder
Issues 1-8.
Physical Description1 folder
1 folder
1 folder