Skidmore's Isabel Brown put dance program on solid footing

April 23, 2007

College to honor ballet aficionado for decades of work

Reprinted from the Glens Falls Post-Star , April 17 2007

By Wendy Liberatore

SARATOGA SPRINGS–Isabel Brown always played a leading role in Skidmore College's dance program.

When she joined the dance faculty in 1969, essentially she was the faculty. And she immediately set to work on developing the curriculum–initiating courses in ballet and dance history, then later, choreography, character, jazz, music for dancers, as well as Indian classical dance, bharata natyam.

But now at age 69, Brown is taking her final bow as the longest running member of the dance faculty.

Brown's departure will end with a celebration that will honor her with a student performance of the second act of "Swan Lake" on Friday and Saturday at Skidmore's Dance Theater. It's an appropriate farewell for Brown, who is a self-confirmed balletomane and "Swan Lake" devotee.

Love at First Sight

Brown fell in love with ballet as a child after watching a friend flit through her living room in toe shoes.

"I knew that is what I wanted to do," said Brown, who was 12 at the time.

Her mother enrolled her at the Pittsfield Music School where she trained with Martha Graham dancer Nina Fonaroff. Summers were spent in Bar Harbor, Maine, with Diaghilev's Ballets Russes' statuesque Felia Doubroska.

"It was wonderful. She was just amazing," said Brown of Doubroska who also taught at the School of American Ballet. "I was pretty enamored of ballet, even though I knew I couldn't make it my life. . . . Ballet is hard to resist."

A native of Williamstown, Mass., Brown also studied with Doris Humphrey and Jose Limon, both of whom spent time as guest artists at Williams College, where her father taught classics. A graduate of Vassar College, she officially began her teaching career, as an intern, while working on her master's degree at Smith College.

Q&A

Why take up teaching?

I guess I knew I would go into teaching right from the beginning. But I don't know if I was consciously thinking about that. I got married to Sam, had my son, Eugene, and moved to Colorado for a while. Then Sam's health failed. He has scleroderma and he couldn't work. That is one reason I pursued a job at Skidmore.

I was the only full-time faculty member. There was one other faculty member who was teaching dance half time. We didn't have a studio, and we didn't have a theater. We danced in the old gym. We only had an accompanist who played some of the time. She couldn't do all the classes. I would go to student piano recitals and ask students to play for the classes.

We didn't have any budget. We would charge 50 cents for performances in the old theater. The rest we had to come up with.

Now, we have four full-time tenured faculty members, eight additional personnel and two accompanists, two good-size studios and our own performance space. This is a big change. It took 38 years.

You can be credited for building much of the program?

I had a hand in building the curriculum, more than anyone else, partly because of my experience. Each decade or five-year interval, it was important to pay attention to the curriculum.

Two years ago, the college started the Scribner Seminars. That was heaven on Earth. I started teaching "War and Peace and Eugene Onegin : Literature in the Performing Arts." It was for first-year students only. They had to read both, but they saw the Russian film "War and Peace," which was brilliant, the opera "Eugene Onegin," the ballet "Onegin"—literature being supported by the other performing arts. I loved teaching that. I stayed another year because it was so wonderful teaching it.

How have the students changed?

Students who care about dance resemble each other very much from decade to decade. In the '70s, '80s and '90s, the interest was very strong. My feeling is when you are a student it doesn't matter what the interest is as long as the interest is very great. That will create the life of a student. I pity the student who doesn't find an interest. They are always sad.

Did you learn from the students ?

Of course. That's what makes you keep doing it actually. They taught me things in unexpected ways. Without them, you can't be a teacher.

Each year, each semester, each group of students had its own feeling. As I've gotten older, I felt freer. That's why I enjoyed the last few years so much, I felt a kind of freedom.

What will you miss?

I'm going to miss my War and Peace course and my bharata natyam. The college won't be able to offer bharata natyam in the fall.

I thought about teaching one course, but I'd be tied down. To teach one course would not be satisfying, not after being as completely involved as I have been.

I'll miss the students too. They are so spirited and so much fun to be around.

What do you plan on doing in your retirement?

For the past 25 years, we have spent a lot of time in the Canadian Rockies. We've spent 14 summers in Jasper, Alberta. We always hope to go back there. Last year, we had to turn around in Montreal. Sam was not well enough to continue. I don't know if we'll make it.