Jan Van Dyke: Dancing Through Life

Jan Van Dyke was one of the most prolific and well-known faculty members in the UNCG Department of Dance. Van Dyke had a long history with UNCG, beginning in 1989 when she received a doctorate in education.

Jan Van Dyke, ca. 1950s.

Van Dyke was born in Washington, D.C., on April 15, 1941, but spent much of her early youth in Germany. From an early age, much of her energy was spent focused on dance. She attended high school in Virginia, taking dance lessons at the Washington School of Ballet. Van Dyke earned a bachelor's degree in dance from the University of Wisconsin in 1963 and a master's degree in dance education from George Washington University.

Van Dyke often struggled to break into the dance world – working hard to get a foothold in New York City, the Midwest, and Washington, D.C. During her career, she was responsible for founding or co-founding numerous dance groups, including the John Gamble/Jan Van Dyke Dance Group, Jan Van Dyke and Dancers, and the Jan Van Dyke Dance Group.

She was particularly interested in the difficulties faced by women dancers – despite the stereotyping of dancing as a feminine career, she often wrote about the inequalities within the dance profession and the struggles women faced.

Van Dyke’s dance studies and career not only took her around the country, but also around the world. In the 1990s, Van Dyke traveled to Portugal as a Fulbright scholar. Her career was punctuated by other interesting tidbits, such as her stint as choreographer of a Rick Springfield video, Bop ‘Til You Drop.

Program outlining the offerings of Jan Van Dyke and Dancers, ca. 1970s.

With tons of interesting asides, it’s easy to forget that the bedrock of Van Dyke’s career was always rooted in teaching and a love of dance. Some of the earliest newspaper clippings chronicle Van Dyke’s early work teaching basic dance to “housewives” in the Midwest.
Van Dyke’s teaching career culminated in her arrival at UNCG as a student in the School of Education. Van Dyke received her doctorate in Education in 1989, then joined UNCG as a full assistant professor that same year.

While with the Department of Dance at UNCG, she taught a variety of courses, including technique, choreography, repertory, career management, and dance administration. Van Dyke was named head of the Department of Dance in 2006 and served until 2011. She retired from UNCG in 2012.

In addition to teaching, Van Dyke also worked as a producer, administrator, and artist in the Greensboro community. Van Dyke founded and directed the dance company Dance Project, which is responsible for the N.C. Dance Festival, Van Dyke Dance Group, and School at City Arts.

The Van Dyke Performance Space, located in the cultural arts center in downtown Greensboro, was named after Van Dyke and opened in 2016. Van Dyke donated one million dollars for its creation and worked tirelessly to gain a dedicated performing arts space in downtown Greensboro.

Van Dyke’s impact on the dance community, specifically the North Carolina dance community, is undeniable. Her choreography has been used by a variety of groups, ranging from the Washington Ballet to students at the Western Australian Academy for the Performing Arts in Perth. She was instrumental in founding the N.C. Dance Festival.

Van Dyke teaching students in Washington. D.C., ca. 1970s.

She earned numerous accolades in her field, including: North Carolina Choreography Fellowship, 1993 Fulbright Scholar, North Carolina Dance Alliance Annual Award 2001, 2008 Dance Teacher Award for Higher Education from Dance Teacher Magazine, and the Betty Cone Medal of Arts Award in 2011. UNCG awarded Van Dyke the Gladys Strawn Bullard Award for leadership and service in 2010.

Van Dyke donated her personal and professional papers to the Martha Blakeney Hodges Special Collections and University Archives in 2014-2015. Van Dyke passed away after a lengthy battle with cancer in July 2015.

The Jan Van Dyke Papers contains materials related to Van Dyke's personal life and professional career as a dancer, teacher, and administrator. The collection contains Van Dyke's choreography, correspondence, faculty materials, teaching materials, photographs, newspaper clippings, and video recordings.

Van Dyke’s materials, which afford a unique glance into a life dedicated to dance, reach back to her earliest childhood years in the 1940s and 1950s – from a photographs of childhood dance recitals to faculty materials and video recordings from her time at UNCG in the late 2010s.

The History of Dance on Campus

Student Dancer, 1928

Dance has always been a very important part of the history of The University of North Carolina at Greensboro (UNCG). When the college opened in 1892 as the State Normal and Industrial School, “movement” was taught as part of the Physiology and Hygiene curriculum under the direction of resident physician Dr. Anna Gove. The program stressed posture, calisthenics, gymnastics, and walking. This cutting edge curriculum was a product of several important conferences held during the mid-nineteenth century, which attempted to refine different physical education ideologies prevalent in the United States and Europe.

Only a decade after the school opened, Physical Culture had broken away from Physiology and Hygiene, concentrating on “the development of grace, precision, alertness, agility, and endurance.” This plan of study also included sports such as tennis, field hockey, and basketball. Physical education was stressed so that the students could both keep in shape and learn basic athletic skills that would prepare them for their career as teachers. By 1911, the school’s “Physical Training” program included rhythmical movements and folk dancing, as well as singing and games. These areas remained an important part of teacher training through the 1920s.

Folk Dancers

During these years, dance also emerged as an important part of school pageants and productions. Park Night, May Day, Field Day, and school clubs provided opportunities to bring both music and dance to campus events. Park Night festivities began with the “Dance to the Past,” followed by a large procession of students carrying torches. The event continued with lyrical poetry, presentations, and a solo dance, ending with the “Dance to the Future.”  The elaborate May Day celebrations included students dancing around colorful, ribboned poles, as well as group dances performed as part of smaller productions held around the campus. Even Field Day, primarily an athletic event, incorporated a “dance drama” performed by the Orchesus Club. This exclusive campus group was founded for students interested in interpretive dance.

Mary Channing Coleman

In 1920, college president Julius Foust lured Mary Channing Coleman away from her position at Columbia University to be the director of the school’s Physical Education Department, and the wheels were in motion to move the program into one of national importance. Under Coleman’s direction, dance became a growth area within the physical education curriculum, offering a variety of choices such as rhythmics (including interpretive dance), clogging, and folk dancing. Dances such as clogging and square dancing, which were both closely connected to the mountain culture of the state, were particularly popular.

The students’ interest in dance was fueled by the visit to the college by several important dance troops, including the Duncan Dancers, which had been organized by the internationally renowned American dancer, Isadore Duncan; the Denishawn Players, featuring Ruth St. Denis and Ted Shawn; and the famous Russian ballerina Anna Pavlova.

Virginia Moomaw

The curriculum continued to grow under Coleman’s strong management and in 1945 Virginia Moomaw was brought to the college to develop an official dance program. Shortly after her hire, the interdisciplinary Graduate Creative Arts Program was approved, which established dance as an MFA degree program and in 1957, students had the opportunity to declare dance as their major. Moomaw was also very involved with dance outside of the school. She was active in the early years of the National Dance Association as well as the AAHPERD (American Association of Health, Physical Educations, Recreation, and Dance). Her reputation for excellence and her creative curriculum made the college’s dance program one of the best in the nation.

Student Dancer, 1990s

In the following decades, dance became a part of several administrative changes. In 1963, the program was included in the Physical Education Department with health education, physical education and recreation but by 1970, dance became part of the School of Heath, Physical Education, and Recreation, which was renamed the School of Health, Physical Education, Recreation, and Dance in 1980. When in 1991, the School of Health and Human Performance was formed, dance was included and remained as part of the department until 2010 when it joined the School of Music, Theatre, and Dance.  In 2016, the Department of Art merged with the School of Music, Theatre, and Dance to form the College of Visual and Performing Arts, the largest performing arts programs in the state and one of the largest programs in the region and in the country.*

* The University of North Carolina at Greensboro (20 January 2015). "UNCG: GRAMMY nods for four with ties to School of Music, Theatre... -- GREENSBORO, N.C., Jan. 20, 2015 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ --".