Twenty-four years ago, I nervously went to my first assignment as a writer: a look at the Washington Ballet School and Company for the Christmas issue of Georgetown Magazine.
Mary Day, who died last week at the age of 96, was director of both school and company, and therefore my first stop.
The year before, she had shepherded Amanda McKerrow to the Moscow International Dance Competition and watched her win the gold medal.
Day was already a legendary teacher in the Washington area, but now she was known worldwide.
I was not yet a published writer (unless you count my salmon mousse recipe in The Washington Post.) Mother to two young children, a recent Ph.D. and part-time English teacher at George Mason University, I had always loved ballet, but hadn’t written about it professionally.
Day was phenomenally gracious, and gave me the framework for my article: “Why don’t you interview three dancers at different stages in the growth process: one quite young, with great promise, one on the verge of taking off professionally, and one veteran, just starting to teach within the company?”
Her idea was perfect as a vehicle to capture the depth of the company, and those three interviews led to a later interview with McKerrow, who had by then joined American Ballet Theatre. (Before publication of my second article, the magazine folded, a victim of its glossy format and beautiful, expensive photography.)
But what those interviews primarily displayed was the power of a great teacher.
“Here everyone is given a chance,” Day explained to me. “We really have no corps de ballet where they stand in the background and hold a spear. I think that’s what keeps a dancer happy.”
Julie Miles, the oldest of the three students I interviewed, explained Day’s philosophy further: “There’s a lot of room given to the artists to make mistakes, fall down, go through slumps. Miss Day lets them go through it. She treats every student as a part of the family.”
Perhaps the greatest accolades that can be given to any teacher are the eloquent words of a disciple. Virginia Johnson, for many years principal dancer with Dance Theatre of Harlem and a former student of Day’s, wrote an article about her mentor for The Washington Post last Wednesday.
She spoke of Day’s influence on her as an aspiring dancer and person. When she was the only African-American student auditioning for a spot at the Washington Ballet School, Day “gave me more than a scholarship that day — she gave me a world.”
That is what great teachers do — they give their students “a world.” And they never stop teaching. When I presented myself to Day as a new dance writer, she knew what would make a good article.
She became my teacher, too, on that day in 1982. From her I learned about the Washington Ballet School and Company, and from her students I learned about the dance world and about their regard for their teacher.
But I also learned that teaching is not about the teacher, it is about the student.And that’s a lesson that has not died with the passing of Mary Day.
Erica Jacobs teaches at Oakton High School and George Mason University. E-mail her at [email protected].
