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After 1965 those same singular women taught dance classes, but the guest artists were funded by the NEA’s “Dance Touring Program,” which also sent those artists and companies overseas, to inspire the world. Dance transcended the athletics arena and more and more often, affiliated with the performing arts. After the Dance as a Discipline conference major departments for dance began to suddenly appear in universities across the country. In K–12 education, the dance unit was as likely to include improvisation and creative movement as it was to include folk and social dance. Dance was seen still as physical and experiential, but it was also aesthetic and allied with the other arts. The year 1965, therefore, became a clear watershed moment for the legacy of dance education in the universities; as art, as practice, as creativity, as worthy of support and appropriate resources.
I have been fortunate to work together with Tom on other projects since 2002, and it is Tom’s respect for those women who led the way, who argued with their Deans, and fought for dance tooth and nail that is crystal clear in these pages. The stories you are about to read are inspiring examples and just plain good tales. But they are also a beginning step in the reclaiming of legacy in an art form that is ephemeral, matriarchal, and too often, marginalized.
In this book, Tom has garnered an array of stories, conversations, and reminiscences told by the followers of those robust few, and given them to us to share with our students and fellow faculty members. The inherent wisdom of the subjects of the essays is pretty impressive, but there is humor too, and pathos, and inspiration for all of us.
A few days ago, I was sitting in a seminar room at the University of Maryland with my graduate students, at the end of a series of oral history reports. The students had each conducted in-depth interviews with older dancers and dance educators, transcribed the conversations, and developed presentations on the historical insights they had gained from the exchange. I asked them what patterns had emerged: “I’m so glad to know about all those strong women,” one remarked. “They sure went to bat for dance,” said another. “Actually,” I said, “some of them used far stronger weapons than bats!”