Dance and co-education walked hand-in-hand into Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut in the fall of 1969 with the arrival of Clive and Liz Thompson.  As resident guest artists from 1969 to 1971, they introduced dance into the curriculum at this venerable liberal arts college, which was founded in 1823.

To celebrate four decades of dance and coeducation and their future, Trinity’s Department of Theater and Dance presented “40 Forward,” a series of events for past and present faculty, alumni, students, and the public, on September 25 and 26.

As James F. Jones, Jr., president of Trinity College, stated at a reunion dinner with both humor and seriousness, “Serendipity rules the universe.”

Chief among the serendipitous delights was the arrival of Clive Thompson for the historic occasion, which celebrated both his foothold in the academy and the achievements wrought by his former pupil and successor, Judy Dworin, and her colleagues.

Dworin came to Trinity in 1969 as a 20-year-old senior from the all-women Smith College in Northampton, Massachusetts, because she wanted to study with Thompson, a major figure in American modern dance who was at that time a soloist with the Martha Graham Dance Company and a principal with Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater.

On Thompson’s departure for his time-demanding career as a performer two years later, she guided and developed Trinity’s dance programme, which resulted in the establishment of the Department of Theater and Dance, of which she is co-chair.  Additionally, she is artistic director of the Judy Dworin Performance Ensemble and executive director of the Judy Dworin Performance Project, Inc., based in Hartford.

‘Door being open’

Retired and current faculty members in attendance who had supported the Thompsons’ novel dance curriculum in 1969 recalled that coeducation was not a controversy on campus, but that dance was viewed with skepticism.

“Doesn’t it have too much to do with the body?” was one of the quaintly questioning objections raised at faculty meetings, which were also vividly remembered as “tedious, vexing, if not absolutely outrageous.”

Noting how attitudes have changed dramatically over 40 years, the current Dean of Faculty, Rena Fraden, said, “”I can’t imagine coming to a college that didn’t have theater and dance.”

At the dinner, Thompson spoke of “the door being open” at the college and how quickly “the foundation was beginning to be set.”  He hailed Dworin’s work and “that tenacity, that talent, that dedication, that makes the world a better place.”

During his two days in Hartford, Thompson addressed a class open to the Trinity community about his career, participated in a dance improvisation jam led by Dworin, and was among the guest speakers in a panel discussion, “Dance in the Academy: Breaking Ground and Making a Difference,” a roundtable discussion including faculty from Trinity, Oberlin College, Wesleyan University, and Wake Forest University.

At the latter, Thompson reminisced that he was “brought onto the campus because jocks were playing (sports) and injuring themselves  - they didn’t know how to warm up - and then Trinity got liberated!”  He noted how Dworin excelled in his classes.

Another promising student was John Simon, then a sophomore and self-professed “jock” who thought his “social life would improve by taking dance classes with 20 women in leotards and tights.

“Someone became a professional dancer with Hartford Ballet, later a dance administrator, and since 2005 is executive director of Connecticut Main Street Center.”  The “40 Forward!” events also served as a reunion for Thompson with Simon.

Igniting the spark

At the culminating performance showcasing professional work by Trinity Theater and Dance faculty across the years, Dworin presented Thompson with Trinity’s Pioneer Dance Award.

“For the brief time that the awe-inspiring dance master Clive Thompson was here, he started in motion something extremely special… ostensibly ’something for women,’ but mostly men and some women flocked to the classes.  I was one of those first few women,” Dworin said.

“Many more followed.  And the spark that was ignited by those two years of leaps and turns and choreographic journeying was to travel on 40 years hence to this wonderful celebration this evening.

“We are honored by the unexpected and truly wonderful return of Clive from Jamaica to join us for this event.  We are extremely indebted to Clive, and to Liz who could not be here tonight, for breaking ground for dance at the College - for making something happen that may have never happened otherwise, and that has changed the lives of so many then and through the years - myself included.  Clive - we thank you and celebrate you with this award,” Dworin concluded.