Twyla Tharp and the Opportunities of Barnard

This past weekend, I had the opportunity to attend a lecture on campus given by alumna Twyla Tharp about her work “Treefrog in Stonehenge.” Barnard and Columbia students also performed the piece last weekend as a part of an annual show, Barnard/Columbia Dances, produced by the Barnard Dance Department.

What may be even more exciting to you, as incoming Barnard students, is that Twyla Tharp will be a guest artist at Barnard for this upcoming year! She will be involved with lectures, master classes, interdisciplinary projects, among other things.

As I sat and listened to this woman, whose presence and work is so well-known in the dance world, I thought about how this sort of opportunity wouldn’t exist for me if I weren’t at Barnard. Outside of the dance world, Barnard attracts and produces fantastic people who are very willing to share their experiences in so many subject areas. While I’ve been able to hear spectacular guests talk at Barnard, I’ve also had wonderful experiences with my professors and friends. I have gotten to learn things from conversations with my peers that I could never learn in a classroom. These friends have taught me about staying happy and working hard.



Prof W.H. Haller conducting English class in the Jungle, circa 1946.
Courtesy of the Barnard College Archives.

It’s bittersweet for me to think that with the close of my sophomore year approaching, my time at Barnard is nearing half over. I only have two more years to be surrounded by the great people and fabulous opportunities that Barnard offers.

Obviously, I hope you choose Barnard. Barnard is fantastic. The people here make it an enthusiastic, intellectually stimulating environment like I’ve never experienced elsewhere. I hope you are able to make the most of your Barnard experience in a way that works for you. And if you come to Barnard, and you see me around campus in the fall, I’d love to meet you and learn from you too!

Margeaux

My Favorite Professors

Good evening, everyone! The end of the semester rapidly approaches—only a few days of class remain!—and all of us on campus are starting to feel the final push. But I know that all of you are facing a similar feeling as the end of this month approaches, so here is a post to help with your decision making process:

Awesome Professors.

This list will by no means be inclusive—I haven’t been here for so long after all—but I would like to share two of my favorite professors I've had since joining the Barnard/Columbia community. I have yet to have a single professor who would not meet with me in office hours. So take heart: amazing teachers and mentors await on both sides of Broadway!

Professor Casey Blake, Professor of History and American Studies

Blake is the bomb. I took US Intellectual History with him last semester, and I can say in all seriousness that it was life-changing. And I know at least a dozen people who agree with me. 

A quote from CULPA (Columbia Underground Listing of Professor Ability) reads, “It took a little while to get used to Blake's lecturing style, since he talks a bit like Woody Allen and sort of stares at a point on the back of the room about 10 feet over all our heads. That being said, he's brilliant.” I could not agree more: he is definitely a genuine academic, and he teaches that way. He stands at the front of the room and lectures for the full hour and fifteen minutes; there are no flashy gimmicks, no cheesiness, and no dumbing-down of the material. But he is incredibly passionate and wonderfully well spoken (I frequently frantically copied down whole sentences, with the hope that I could learn to speak like him…though that has yet to happen). 

During the first few weeks of school, I gathered all my courage, marched myself into his office, and introduced myself, just because I was so enjoying his class. He invited me in, and we ended up spending half an hour discussing my classes and interest in history. Not every professor would take that amount of time to chat with a student who came in for no real reason, but Blake is not just any professor.

This semester I’m in a seminar with him, and he manages it brilliantly. Many profs have a hard time passing the discussion on to the students, rather than monopolizing it themselves, but not him. What a guy!

Antonio Carmena, Lecturer of Dance (Read: Ballet Teacher)

Antonio is…also the bomb? I thought I’d use a new word, but nothing else quite captures how great he is. Even if you are a less hardcore dancer (like me), Antonio squarely fits the great-professor requisites of being a) inspiring, b) helpful, and c) caring. Also he’s really, really funny.

Antonio is a soloist with New York City Ballet, which is a pretty big deal, and it is really cool to have a teacher who comes up to Barnard for an 8:40 class, and then goes downtown to rehearse and perform. 

I admit that I was rather nervous about taking his class: Am I really at the ballet five level? Am I really cut out to take class with a dancer of his caliber? Technically, the answer to both of those questions may be “no.” But it doesn’t matter, because Antonio somehow manages to be completely welcoming and relaxed, even as he urges us to work as hard as we can. Also, he recognizes that we are not 12-year-olds at a conservatory, and he treats us accordingly: he repeatedly tells us that we are adults, capable of making our own artistic decisions, and pushes us to move away from strictly academic interpretations. And though he doesn’t seems entirely clear on exactly how we spend the rest of our days, he does understand the stress we’re under and is very sweet and funny about it. A quality Antonio quote: “And then it’s spring break, and after that all your…middle-terms and things will be over!”

Ok, folks, that’s all for now. I highly recommend both of these teachers, and if you would like more recommendations, or if you have any other history or dance, professor or class questions or comments, leave me a comment! They make my days spent reading and translating much more exciting :)

Have a good one,

Chloe

My Home Away from Home

Name: Margeaux Miller

Class: 2016 (Sophomore)

Hometown: Yuma, Arizona

Major: Biochemistry

Clubs/Organizations: Barnard Dance Department, Orchesis


I first learned about Barnard when I was looking for schools that would allow me to continue studying ballet seriously, but would also challenge me academically. Since I started at Barnard last year, the dance department and community have become another home for me, far away from my home in the Southwest. I’ve been able to take dance classes with fantastic teachers and also see discounted performances around New York City through programs at Barnard. I love that there are all different levels of instruction and that students have a variety of different interests in dance. A number of my friends, who aren’t trained dancers, have also had great experiences within the dance department, whether that be an African dance class or a beginning ballet class.  

One of Barnard's multiple ballet studios.

Outside the dance department, I love the enthusiasm that Barnard students share about this community. I’m so grateful for Barnard's school spirit, which stems from things other than sports, like Big Sub and Midnight Breakfast. This sense of community is something I was seeking in my college experience and has been very different from my high school. I’ve even seen firsthand how this excitement and love for Barnard extends to alumnae. Last summer, I happened to sit on an airplane next to a Barnard alumna. We didn’t have all that much in common beyond our association with Barnard, but she was so excited to share her Barnard experiences with me, and I was more than excited to hear and learn from her.   

I was ecstatic when I found out I had gotten into Barnard, and I think a little part of me knew at that moment that I had already made my decision about where I wanted to go to college. Barnard was a place that was entirely new and exciting for me, which was exactly what I wanted. My first day on campus was invigorating, and also a little overwhelming. But I thought about the day I found out I got into Barnard, and remembered how I felt then. I felt so accomplished knowing that someone else thought that I belonged here. The friendships I’ve made and the ways that I’ve grown, through the classes I’ve taken and experiences I’ve had here, assure me that I made the right choice in choosing Barnard.   

Some friends and me on the roof of the Diana Center for a Constellation event last spring