Miss Harper

I’ve been thinking about this post for some time now. The idea of it started two topics ago with “culture” but never got written.  In considering that topic, I thought about whether or not I am a cultured person and if so how I came to be and I remembered Miss Harper. In fact I’ve never forgotten her, but she came quickly and clearly to mind in that context. And now with the topic of “learning” I think the time has come to tell you something about her...

Julia Mildred Harper was my ballet teacher. From the age of just about 4, I think, until 16 or so. I remember everything about that experience, vividly. The studio, the waiting room with its photographs and reproduction prints of ballets and ballerinas. The double doors that led into the studio and the long bench where the parents sat on visitation days. The piano and the pianist, the barre and the shiny wood floor. But most of all I remember Miss Harper and what she taught. Not dancing, though I did all right with that. What she taught was how to be a dancer or, in truth, how to be a lady.

She had rules: No fidgeting, of course, and no talking. Lineup at the barre was from shortest to tallest as were the lines of girls across the room when we moved out to the floor. One did not slouch. One wore only pink tights and a long sleeved black leotard. No skirts or spaghetti straps, no sparkle or lace. And if one wore underpants beneath the tights, they should not, under any circumstances, hang down so that they showed around the legs of the leotard. It was advisable to have a tissue handy if needed, but there was only one place to put it and that was tucked carefully into the wristband of your leotard.

All of these rules might have been oppressive I suppose (and I am sure that there were some families for whom they just did not work), but Miss Harper held herself to these standards as well. She wore pink tights and a black leotard herself, though hers did have a skirt. And she wore flat ballet slippers, but they laced up her ankles just like pointe shoes, which, of course, we all wished we could wear. She had short, perfectly styled silver hair and her makeup was impeccable with lipstick carefully applied. And large earrings – usually some sort of pearls clustered into flowers. She was quite statuesque, had perfect posture and a commanding voice. And she was magnificent. Truly.

From her and from that experience I gained a love of dance and movement that continues to this day. Maybe I would have cultivated that same love at a different dance school with a different teacher, but I think what I learned from Miss Harper was something else entirely. Respect. For dance and for the discipline that it took. And through that, for myself.

Comments

[Angela Wolff]

Oh how I long for a dance school like The Mildred Harper School of Dance. I cannot abide my daughter's current dance school, and practically want to weep for how opposite it is from my experieince at Miss Harper's.

You are so right that dance was only a small part of the eduction we received there. We were so lucky. I hope I can find something similar for Bean before she thinks that ballet is all about the attire -- and, God forbid, hula hoops, freeze dance, and pretending to dance like an ever changing list of animals.

[Elizabeth Page]

This brought me back to my days in ballet class. I also danced from ages 4-15ish, but I had a few different teachers. The one I remember most was young and very short, with wispy blond hair that she wore in a bun. Even being young and short she managed to come across as statuesque (it must be the good posture). Although I was never going to be a ballerina I learned so much about poise, focus, and the necessity of practice in that class.

Eventually we moved to Virginia and I graduated to a terrifying Romanian woman named Mrs. Ament, who was a whole other story. Her focus was on weeding out the uncommitted and whipping the remaining few into serious dancers. I dutifully weeded myself out after a few years of that. Its funny that I remember learning much, much more from my first dance teacher than in those last few years with drill-sargeant Mrs. Ament.

[Emily]

I just read that Shirely MacLaine attended Miss Harper's school at age 3.

[Gail Smith]

I am trying to locate information on Julia Mildred Harper Marston. If anyone reading these posts has information on how I can get in touch with her (if she is still alive) or someone else in her family (such as her daughter, Perry Marston-Johnson) - please contact me via email at happycat33@hotmail.com

Thank you!!!

[Cindy G.]

I knew Ms. Harper and her family quite well. Her son was my dad's best friend. The studio & house are currently owned by her daughter - in - law and granddaughter! Although I never took dance lessons from her, I learned many life lessons from her. What a great woman!! Thanks for sharing your experience!