Grinnell’s first dance major didn’t even come to Grinnell to dance.
Heather Glidden ‘03 arrived four years back suffering from a strange abdominal ailment that had kept her out of dance since the middle of high school. “I went to lots of doctors and they couldn’t tell me what was wrong with me,” said Glidden. “I couldn’t really do any strenuous physical activity, and dance was pretty much out because I couldn’t stand up.”
Then, just as mysteriously as it had arrived, the injury disappeared, and three years later, after “becoming fed up with my math major,” Glidden had rediscovered the passion of her childhood and constructed an independent dance major.
“I got into dance at age five,” she said. “I was doing gymnastics, and I got burned out on it, basically. So my mom said I should try dance, and I said I didn’t want to because it’s a pansy thing. But I tried anyway and did it for the rest of my life. Don’t you hate it when moms are right?”
Glidden danced through the next decade or so, exploring ballet and tap dance, and doing her first choreography work in junior high school. Her sophomore year at Grinnell, she tried out for and made the dance troupe. Last year, as part of her major, she put on a show with Emily Austin ‘02.
The unlikelihood of her comeback is perhaps equaled by the unlikelihood of her major. For starters, she didn’t decide to diverge from her math trajectory until the second semester of her junior year, meaning that every class but one for the duration of her undergraduate career had to count for her major. Also, there are only a handful of dance courses taught at Grinnell, so the major also included history, performance studies, theatre and music courses, plus independent studies in choreography.
“As far as I know, said Glidden, “there’s never been any other dance majors, and the dance department is always in flux about whether it should continue or not. So I’m kind of surprised they let me have one.”
As to she’ll do with a dance major, Glidden isn’t sure. She’ll be spending the summer traveling in Europe, “watching dance but probably not doing much,” and then look for a job, “ideally dance related, teaching dance or Pilates.”
“If I had my choice,” she said, “I’d be in a community with a non-professional dance group that I could be in. It’s all kind of up in the air right now.” —-Joe Geni