Saturday, April 14, 2018

Wow, two BYU dance educators die at age 100!

Mary Bee Jensen was my folk dance teacher when I arrived at BYU in 1960 as a transfer student from El Camino Jr. College in Southern California. I had majored At ECC in Math-Science hoping to become an engineer, but didn't enjoy my classes. After graduation I decided to transfer to BYU and major in Dance since I had taken up balled and loved it as a teenager. BYU didn't have a ballet major but did have a dance major which included modern, folk, social, square and tap dance. Mary Bee Jensen was a super enthusiastic dabce teacher and soon I was part of her International Folk Dance group that eventually toured Europe in 1964. She just died at age 100 yesterday on my hubby's birthday. What a talented woman and such longevity!

Another modern dance teacher that I came to know is Aline Coleman Smith. A true pioneer who started the dance program at BYU under the leadership of Leona Holbrook( who died young of cancer.) Listen to Aline's interview and see her dance at age 100. Alilne died several years ago, but was such a sweet lovely person.




2 comments:

  1. A lovely post, Lin. It was nice to see the interview with Aline Coleman. Your teachers lived a ripe age, no doubt their dancing helped keep them young and strong.

    Wishing you a lovely day...
    Brenda xox

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  2. This is interesting, Lin. I'm in the process of listening to and watching snippets about Barbara Bush's death today at age 92. I enjoyed learning a bit about your college experiences. Thanks for sharing it.

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