I started dancing when about 7 years old, at a local dance studio. Classes included both ballet and tap. Those awkward plies and brush-brush-stamps remain in my memory to this day. But my viewpoint was on my family, my neighborhood, school, and love of reading.
In public high school, as a sophomore, I was able to switch from gym to dance (minus the Margaret H’Doubler skeleton. Ms. H’Doubler, however, probably indirectly influenced the nature of the class and the fact that it existed at all.)
That lead me to try out for and dance at my school’s annual SING, in which each grade presented a musical extravaganza, costumes, skits, and all. The next day or so, a next-door neighbor told someone in my family how good he thought I was. At my request, my parents agreed to dance lessons for a birthday gift. They were at the Marjorie Mazia Dance Studio. (She had been in Martha Graham’s company.) As a result, when it came time to apply for colleges, I only chose schools that offered dance classes.
At college freshman registration, I was closed out of the non-major class, since it was completely filled. So the department chair convinced me to become a dance major, with a minor in English literature. She remains an influence to this day, as do a few other dance professors and later teachers. Amazingly, after several weeks, I began to think of myself as a dancer.
Perhaps that perspective was influenced by other students who also categorized me as a dancer. Moreover, I remember exploring the attic storage space, above the stage, and finding a wonderful costume, which (like magic) fit perfectly and which I now know to be very reminiscent of early modern dance. It was a fit-and-flare black dress that felt like something between a textured thick silk and rayon, with a flame of colors up the front bodice. Perhaps it was then that I truly felt like a performer. The costume even helped me visualize my choreography of a short piece that traversed the stage, and included some expansive movements. I suppose it sent me “across the floor,” back to my classes with Marjorie Mazia.
I also noticed, after several performances, that I lost the sense of time on stage, while busy feeling the movement. That happened sometimes in class too.
Copyright © 2025 Arli Epton. All Rights Reserved.
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Guest Author Biography:
Arli Epton has been involved with dance throughout her life. Besides the college experiences mentioned above, she connected many of her academic subjects with dance. Beyond that, she was a scholarship student at the Clark Center as well as the New Dance Group, both in Manhattan; and was taught by many well-respected dancers/teachers. She has especially fond memories of Jimmy Truitte, Thelma Hill, Zena Rommett, and Nadine Ravene.
After graduating Bard College and after her dance career (ended as a result of back/neck pain), Ms. Epton received a master’s in Philosophy and the Arts (under the Liberal Studies umbrella), at the Graduate Faculty of the New School. For her 1985 thesis, she wrote: Placing the History of Dance in the Hegelian System. In addition, she taught dance to fellow employees and students at an NYU division.
Currently she studies ballroom dancing and with the Parkinson’s Dance Foundation, through the Mark Morris Dance Group. The former organization allows her to participate, given the aforementioned pain, rather than actually suffering from the disease.
Terpsichore works in strange ways!
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