Driving force at the 92nd Street Y: Joan Finkelstein approaches her tenth anniversary as director of the Harkness Dance Center, and the Y has cause to celebrate

Dance Magazine, March, 2002 by Doris Hering

Imagine sitting opposite a Modigliani woman with her long, strong neck, oval, almost ascetic face, slate blue eyes. Imagine her crossed with Duchamp's Nude Descending a Staircase: all action, keeping several themes vibrantly alive as she talked, her fingers flashing five rings as they accented her words, her torso contracting and curving, adding the ultimate accent.

When she came to my home to discuss New York's 92nd Street Y and its dance projects, Joan Finkelstein talked almost nonstop for five hours. Her thoughts were orderly and logical; they also crackled with ideas for the future.

It was easy to see why Finkelstein has brought a special brand of vitality to the 92nd Street Harkness Dance Center and why she has restored--and in some ways gone beyond--the prestige it enjoyed from 1936 to 1969 under founding director William Kolodney. His fertile mind and his willingness to listen to his consultants created a prestigious--and possibly the only one in the country--modern dance concert series at the Y's Kaufmann Concert Hall (or Theresa L. Kaufmann Auditorium, as it was initially known). He also developed a school in which Martha Graham, Doris Humphrey, Charles Weidman, Hanya Holm, and Anna Sokolow played impressive early roles; New York Times dance critic John Martin was a valued consultant, as was composer Louis Horst, Martha Graham's music director.

Under Kolodney, Doris Humphrey taught her uniquely commonsense approach to choreography, and Lucille Nathanson and Bonnie Bird developed a creative method for teaching children. Fred Berk pioneered classes in Israeli folk dance for adults and young people. The Merry-Go-Rounders, a dance company whose repertoire was for children, used the Y as home base but also toured extensively for twenty years. And a variety of artists, such as Carmelita Maracci, Sophie Maslow, La Argentinita, Carmen Amaya, Pearl Primus, Valerie Bettis, Janet Collins, Rosario and Antonio, and Hadassah performed there.

The curriculum of the dance center received a major boost in 1984 when the Harkness Ballet School closed. The Harkness Foundation for Dance began to subsidize ballet teaching and a few other projects at the Y. But the Y's most influential activity, its dance subscription series, had received a major blow in 1977. The Kaufman Concert Hall was unionized and became too costly for most dance companies.

A strange pattern also turned up in the administrative area. Between 1976 and 1992, the dance center went through five directors: Susan Schickele (1976-78), Sharon Gersten Luckman (1978-86), Jane Kosminsky (1986-88), Ilona Copen (1988-91), and Cathryn Williams (1991-93). It looked as though one of New York's most important dance environments had slipped out of the mainstream. When Williams, the fifth director, was about to leave, heading her list of recommendations for the job was Joan Finkelstein.

AT THAT TIME, FINKELSTEIN WAS at loose ends. She had two small daughters to care for, and her husband, Alan Kifferstein, was building a new business. The prospect of administrative work was not especially appealing to Finkelstein, who had danced since early childhood. As she described it, "Sitting behind a desk, who wanted it? But you don't realize how creative it can be. It put me right back into the center of the dance world."

At a very early age, Finkelstein was introduced to piano, Dalcroze eurythmics, and ballet. She embraced them all with unusual skill. Her ballet teacher, recognizing her talent, suggested that she transfer to the Ballet Theatre school. But her mother felt the required four classes a week were excessive, and the ballet lessons were discontinued, much to Finkelstein's sorrow. She tried to fill the void by attending as many dance performances as possible.

One of these was at the Delacorte, an outdoor theater in Central Park. Jean-Leon Destine and his Afro-Haitian Dance Company were appearing, and she found herself mesmerized by the sinuous style. How exciting it would be to study with him!

A few weeks later, she visited the New Dance Group, a school that provided inexpensive classes principally for working people. Who was on the staff but Destine? She plunged into his work.

She also enrolled at New York University Tisch School of the Arts and was stimulated by the varied roster of guest teachers. Two of them, Elina Mooney and Cliff Keuter, invited her to join their companies. Finkelstein remained with them for six years; she also met her future husband, who was Keuter's company manager.

Then a different style of movement began to intrigue her. Don Redlich, who had trained with Hanya Holm, "knew how to carve space," as Finkelstein put it. She became a member of his company.

It was a happy time. Because the National Endowment for the Arts was so generous in the 1970s, the company had a good spate of touring, and the Artists in the Schools program gave its members ample opportunity to work with children. They also had a two-year teaching and performing residency at the Y, and they spent the summers in the Rocky Mountains working with Hanya Holm at Colorado College. By the '80s, dance touring had begun to dry up. So when Finkelstein was offered a summer of teaching at the University of Wisconsin, she accepted it and left Redlich's company.