Professional Dancers Marjorie Folkman '91 and June Omura '86 Talk About Dance and the Liberal Arts at Barnard in New York Times Article
From left: Marjorie Folkman '91, June Omura '86 and Lauren Grant of NYU / Photo by Sara Krulwich/The New York Times |
The New York Times reported on 12-21-05 about the education of professional dancers and choreographers, discussing the merits of a liberal arts background versus conservatory education. Marjorie Folkman '91 and June Omura '86, both professional dancers with the mark Morris Dance Company, talked about the value of their campus intellectual pursuits at Barnard and how their liberal arts education has informed their dance careers.
The Times reported: "Ms. Folkman decided to go to Barnard in part, she said, because she thought attending a conservatory would have been an intellectual sacrifice.
'We graduated knowing that if you can't find work, make up your own work,' Ms. Folkman said, adding that she feels equipped to tackle a postdance career, whatever it may be. 'I am capable of doing other things. I had to take physics. I had to read and discuss and debate and be in the world.'
All that reading and discussion may even be good for dancing. 'The more widely exposed to all ideas you are, the more interesting person and therefore dancer you are,' Ms. Omura said, adding that she had given up on a dance career until she rediscovered modern dance at Barnard. 'That sounds fanciful, but I really believe it's true.'
Mary Cochran, the chairwoman of the college's department of dance, said that recent dance majors had gone on to medical school, independent choreography and teaching. One is a Fulbright scholar; one dances for Neta Pulvermacher; and one just joined Philadanco, whose founder, Joan Myers Brown, was the subject of the graduate's senior thesis."
To read the full New York Times article, click here. |
