Some Lessons Learned
Six Wilson College student perform as a group in the Orchesis dance troupe in 1960. Three dancers in the back row are in jumpsuits, dancers in the front row wear dresses; 1960.
JM: I surely found the complications of life to be a very bumpy ride from the get-go! And there were no seatbelts back in the day! I’m still seeking answers but am perhaps a bit reassured now by the fact that so many others are searching for answers as well. Ultimately, perhaps answers are found by keeping our eyes and ears open along the journey. The journey is long, and the search is never over.
PN: If the Wilson students need inspiration, let them see how you transformed a disaster, your losing your dance studies because of sickness, into something that gave you new opportunities (the job at MOMA) and how later difficulties led to your studies with Rubenfeld and LIMS and what you accomplished as a result. The bottom line is this, however: To all would-be graduates - have a moneymaking skill in your back pocket!
What we’re showing is that truth is more fascinating than fiction. The paths that we’ve chosen, and our experience of coping might be a catalyst for Wilson students. We both made the momentous decision to leave the beaten path!
Thinking on our various adventures, I had to pull out Daniel Nagrin’s book, HOW TO DANCE FOREVER, because I vaguely remembered that he put a Bio at the end. I read of his confronting his parents with his desire to dance. After hours of back and forth, Daniel’s Father said, “But, Daniel, you’ll be so unhappy” (A dancer’s life being a hard one). Daniel’s reply- “Pop, happiness is not the issue. It’s what you want to be happy or unhappy about.” His Father heard him!
I realize how blessed we were to have something to be happy/unhappy about!
MWP: Following your conversation has been such a pleasure – something really special coming out of our enforced COVID isolation. To think back over my Orchesis years, to remember Connecticut and our interactions as friends and dancers – wonderful! My love of dance will always be a part of me. I was still taking Ballet for the Over Forty until just a few years ago. Being at Wilson and getting that solid liberal arts education did furnish a platform on which to build my life – wife, mother, teacher, and (who would believe it), banker!