Material in this collection is arranged chronologically.
Accession No. TRI.2025.0004: Purchased, 2024 December; Accession No. TRI.2025.0005: Purchased, 2025 January.
[identification of item], Joan Burnham (Mikōla) Scrapbooks, SPEC.TRI.0116, Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee Theatre Research Institute, Ohio State University
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Processed by: Casey Blackmore, 2025 February; Finding aid written by: Casey Blackmore, 2025 February.
Joan Burnham was a belly dancer from Michigan who went by the stage name Mikōla. She started a small business around 1975, the Belly Dance Academy of Kalamazoo (BDAK). The academy's first workshop was held March 13, 1976. Burnham taught several different kinds of dance which helped expose the public to belly dancing and other international forms of dance such as Egyptian, Tunisian and Bedouin dance. Her cable television instructional series "Basic Belly Dancing with Mikola" was broadcast for several years in southwest Michigan. Burnham was also involved in local business groups created to support women business owners.
The Joan Burnham (Mikōla) Scrapbooks collection contains two scrapbooks detailing the work of Joan Burnham, a dancer and teacher from Kalamazoo, Michigan. The scrapbooks contain photographs, programs, newspaper clippings, and ephemera relating her work as a dance instructor. Some of the material in the collection pertains to local businesses such as the Souk Sampler vintage clothing store, belly dancing conferences, and other dance groups in southwest Michigan, including the Baraka Dance Troupe. Travel ephemera is also included in the collection from trips Burnham took to Egypt, Turkey, and Morocco. Folder contains photographs and business cards that were laid in the front of the circa 1981-1993 scrapbook. The collection is dated 1974-1993.