Timeline

Wilson students perform "the Cocktail Party" at an Orchesis dress rehearsal; 1965.

JM: I grew up in a small town close to New York City, and in my high school years I took advantage of many of the wonderful cultural institutions and professional performances in NYC. It felt like my world. In my junior year at Wilson, José Limón came to campus, and I determined I wanted to follow his teaching. Since my academic studies were suffering due to my devotion to dance, I decided that it was best not to continue my studies at Wilson. I pursued an audition at Juilliard, against the recommendation of everyone I knew. I attended the American Dance Festival that summer, along with Mary, and was subsequently accepted to Juilliard that fall with advanced standing and a scholarship.

I recently found a rather meaningful quote… “… if your heart is set on something and the old guard tries to dissuade you, consider their options but listen also to yourself. Remember they can only offer their own experience and perspective, which aren’t the same as yours. You might be on to something.” [Nathan Vass, The Lines That Make Us (Seattle, WA: Tome Press, 2018), 33.

MWP: I remember that summer at the American Dance Festival very well. It was a highlight of my dance life. I audited an advanced class in choreography conducted by Louis Horst. It was a turning point for me. I learned how to construct an effective piece. I combined his approach with my love for Limon technique in most of my subsequent work, especially A Winter’s Tale, choreographed for the Spring Orchesis program my senior year. And I took a class in Jazz under Alvin Ailey but taught mostly by Donald McKayle. What an experience that was!

PN: I arrived at Wilson with some reputation, although my actual dance training was less than six months. As soon as I could, I tried out for the Kittochtinny Players, the college Drama group—with a blood chilling rendition of “To bait fish withal “of Shylock, and I joined Orchesis, the Dance group. I had a lot to learn.

Then it happened— eternal thanks to Fran Bowden, wherever she is! I discovered that DANIEL NAGRIN was coming to Wilson to give a Master Class and performance. For me it was beyond a dream come true—like God coming to campus! The day of the class came. I think I managed to get in the second row. In came Daniel, like a cat entering a strange place. He peered intently at us all through thick lensed glasses and said, with a gesture, “When I do unh, you do unh, unh?” indicating mirroring what he did. After his performance I went backstage, to gape at him as he hugged the stage crew—but then he saw me, a piercing gaze, and pointing at me, said, “You’re good!” I nearly fell backwards down the stairs. A week later I got a letter from him saying that he thought that I had promise as a dancer and inviting me (subject to an audition with his wife, Helen Tamiris) to apprentice with their new Dance Company in a summer Workshop in Maine.

That summer was amazing—a baptism by fire as I was surrounded by professionals and other apprentices with years of experience. Daniel would grin and say, “okay Phoebe, TRY!” Returning to Wilson, I immersed myself in a performance of UNDER MILK WOOD (my suggestion!) and did my first dance for Orchesis. I attended a Tamiris-Nagrin Christmas Workshop in New York over the vacation and subsequently found myself trailing to New York whenever possible. This wreaked havoc with my grades. I had to take a Math class because I lacked the math pre-requirements, plus a religion class. Since I had HAD a class in religion, I had to take something more advanced! I was not getting satisfactory grades, even though I didn’t fail. I found myself looking forward to a junior year confronted by stuff I shouldn’t have been doing and didn’t want to do. I had tried to transfer to Sarah Lawrence, but naturally the poor grades scotched that. (I remember Alice Bovarde, the Dean of Admissions there, telling me, “There are leaders, and followers, but I think you are neither”— an astute remark! So, I got an admission to the Neighborhood Playhouse School in New York and ended up apprenticing with the Tamiris-Nagrin Company.

JM: In the middle of my second year at Juilliard I become quite ill with the mumps and was set back in my studies. I also ran out of financial support. So, I had to leave Juilliard at the end of my second year. I ended up following the originally prescribed path and got married. For a brief period of time during my first marriage, I lived on an Army base in Virginia, an experience that turned my world around. I was at the mercy of civil service employment - which at that time meant that if you didn’t have a college degree you were not considered capable of doing much. A real eye opener! When I eventually began working at The Museum of Modern Art in the late 60's, I ended up taking advantage of their educational benefits and decided to pursue the completion of my bachelor's degree. I investigated numerous possibilities for obtaining my degree in New York City and much to my surprise, the best course of action was to work with Wilson and with Dr. Harris in the Fine Arts Department, and I graduated in June of 1974.

PN: Dear Dr. Harris— studying with her at Wilson was one of the things I remember with pleasure! She was amazing! When I had to choose between studying Music or Art, I looked at the Music Professor’s face, and with my experience of the work of François Delsarte, observed that the spiritual part of his face (the nose and nostrils) was dead, so chose Art - remember Dr. Harris’ nostrils?

JM: Although I wasn't able to fully appreciate Dr. Harris when I was having difficulty with Medieval Art History back in the day, she was a terrific partner when I returned to Wilson to get my degree. And I certainly do remember her very distinctive look and her unique energy! I will forever be grateful for the foresight of my orthopedist in 1951 to steer me to a modern dance class for “therapy” as well as for Wilson for having developed innovative programs to allow students to pursue the completion of their degree and for acknowledging the value of the arts. Looking back sometimes, I wonder how we made it... Lots of inner strength and fortitude with opportunities and challenges thrown in along the way. It has been a long, strange journey.

MWP: I graduated from Wilson in ‘63 with an English major and followed that prescribed path we’ve all mentioned with a wedding in July and the birth of our first child, Chip, the following August. My first experience with survival turned out to be teaching 12th grade English in Pottstown, Pa. However, that employment came to an abrupt end when my pregnancy started to show – God forbid the students, especially the girls, should be exposed to the reality of modern marriage in the 60’s. I guess we have made some progress! I was fortunate enough to be invited back to perform at the Orchesis Spring concert in “65. I repeated the piece I had choreographed for a drama project on Shaw’s St. Joan. A back injury during my second pregnancy ended my dance life for a while, but I managed to get back into classes a year or so later. I remember taking modern dance at Christ Church in Alexandria. I had been working for Ma Bell in Virginia but left to become a stay-at-home mom. I saw an ad in one of our Maryland papers for a teacher for the Parks and Recreation system and ended up teaching Creative Dance for Children. Later I would teach modern dance while my daughter took ballet lessons. The school was happy to add modern dance to its curriculum.