THE SONG SERIES: BOOK TWO. [Inscribed & signed by Jerome Robbins' first dance instructor Alys E. Bentley].

INSCRIBED & SIGNED BY JEROME ROBBINS' FIRST DANCE INSTRUCTOR ALYS E. BENTLEY - Small quarto, 8-1/2 inches high by 6-7/8 inches wide. Light blue cloth titled in black on the front cover and the spine. The covers are lightly stained with wear to the corners and spine. 142 pages of music and lyrics with profuse illustrations throughout. There is some occasional soiling, particularly to the rear endpaper and pastedown, and a short tear to the bottom of page 19. Good. RARE Signed First edition.Inscribed & signed by the author Alys E. Bentley. The inscription, dated 1914, appears to read "For Miss Lilla", possibly the music educator Lilla Belle Pitts (1884-1970).A teacher of dancing and music in Washington and New York City, Alys E. Bentley (1869-1951) taught in Carnegie Hall's largest studio. She taught the various aspects of "rhythmics" as related to the arts and taught such prominent artists as Geraldine Farrar, Mary Ellis and the American dancer, choreographer and film & theater director Jerome Robbins. As director of public school music in Washington, Bentley introduced choral singing and published several music books, including her own collection of songs which she set to music. In addition to teaching in Washington and at Carnegie Hall, she also taught at her Summer camp on Chateaugay Lake in Merrill, NY where Sherwood Anderson, among others, came to study each Summer.Jerome Robbins studied modern dance with Alys Bentley while in high school and she had a strong influence on him. She encouraged her students to improvise steps to music and Robbins said of her that "what [she] gave me immediately was the absolute freedom to make up my own dances without inhibition or doubts.".…