Accomplished dancer to visit WMU twice
Nov. 15, 2001
KALAMAZOO -- An accomplished dancer will share her expertise with Western Michigan University students when she visits the campus Nov. 23 to Dec. 1.
Mary Cochran, currently an assistant professor at Mills College, was a principal dancer with the Paul Taylor Dance Company from 1984 to 1996 and directed Taylor 2 during its 1998-99 season. Called "an interpreter of Paul Taylor's work who absorbs technique into her bones," Cochran has performed and taught on every continent except Antarctica.
Cochran is a certified reconstructor of Taylor works and has staged numerous Taylor dances for Taylor 2 and university dance departments throughout the country. Currently director of the Mills Repertory Dance Company, she has created works for the Oakland Ballet, Tenth Street Danceworks, Southern Methodist University, the University of Michigan, Purchase College and for her own company, NCNY Dance, among others.
During 2001-02, she has been invited as a guest artist to Harvard University, Princeton University, Swarthmore College, Dickinson College and Illinois State University, as well as WMU. This summer at Mills College, she will direct the first Paul Taylor West Coast Intensive.
Cochran, who will revisit WMU Jan. 19-24, will instruct students in two dances by Taylor, a modern dance icon. Those dances are "Junction" and "Three Epitaphs." Dr. Nina Nelson, WMU professor of dance, will serve as rehearsal director for both works.
Media contact: Mark Schwerin, 616 387-8400, mark.schwerin@wmich.edu