Gerri Houlihan: from teacher to student and back again.

SOMETIME LAST SPRING, I ran into Gerri Houlihan on the campus of Virginia Commonwealth University and stopped to talk. Not for long, though. Glancing down at her watch she said cheerfully, "I've got to go take a tap quiz," and then headed off to the Dance Center.

For a college student, Gerri Houlihan ("Teacher's Wisdom," May 2005) has an impressive C.V. Her eight-page resume encompasses a career so full of performance (Metropolitan Opera Ballet, Lar Lubovitch Dance Company, for example), choreography, and teaching (American Dance Festival, Bates Dance Festival, New World School of the Arts, and many others), that it's no wonder she has only recently found time to complete her BFA. Over the last three years, Houlihan has been working on her degree in dance and choreography at VCU during the spring semesters, while also teaching there as guest artist-in-residence.

In 1966, Antony Tudor sent his young Juilliard student to audition for the Metropolitan Opera Ballet. Houlihan went, thinking he was simply trying to give her a good experience, and was amazed when she got in. She remembers thinking, "Well, I'll go back and get my degree later. Forty years later," she exclaims, laughing.

In 2003, Houlihan had been guest teaching at University of North Carolina at Greensboro, when a full-time position opened up and she was invited to apply. UNCG regretfully told her that though she was at the top of their candidate list, they could not hire her because she didn't have a degree. Irritated with the system at first, she later realized, "This is a sign."

Then she called up VGU, which had invited her back after a successful residency the previous spring, and told them she was available to return. Acting department chair Chris Burnside heard her story, and together with Martha Curtis (current department chair who was on sabbatical at the time), worked out a customized program for Houlihan not only to return and teach at VCU, but to take classes that, combined with her professional experience, would eventually complete her BFA.

"My ballet and modern credits were taken care of," she says with an almost straight face, and her composition credits were fulfilled by one year of studying ballet arrangement with Tudor at Juilliard in the mid-'60s, and two years of composition study with Louis Horst. So, at VCU she began taking classes in art history, ethics, even math, and then anatomy and kinesiology, improvisation, and, yes, tap dance.

Was it strange taking classes with many of the same students to whom she was teaching modern technique? The first year (Spring 2004), she says, "was a little bizarre. The students were as confused as I was. Whenever I turned up in a classroom they assumed I was teaching." But it has gotten easier each year--for Houlihan and for the students. The VCU Dance faculty have also adjusted to Houlihan's dual roles, and students and professors alike all comment on her vibrant presence and tremendous love of learning.

"She delights in learning; her face actually lights up," says assistant professor James Frazier, who, when Houlihan first turned up in his African American Presence in American Dance class, called up a friend excitedly and said, "You won't believe this--Gerri Houlihan is taking my class!"

Martha Curtis, who serves as Houlihan's advisor and instructor for video choreography this semester, says her "enthusiasm and ability to use this opportunity to learn rather than just receive a credential has been remarkable." Houlihan herself says that, while someone in her situation could easily think, "I've been working professionally in this field for 40 years, and why should I have to do this?" Flipping the coin and seeing all the areas of learning that have opened up to her has been truly exciting.

Her math class, for example, involved learning about tessellations--patterns created when a shape is repeated over and over again, covering a plane without any gaps or overlaps. "The project was fabulous," she says, "because I didn't even know what a tessellation was, and the last time I studied math was in 1962." An ethics class--the first class Houlihan ever took outside a dance department--provided a new challenge, and she says she was scared. But she got an A and remarks that to brave an intimidating environment and to do well was empowering. "Not only can I do this," she realized. "But I'm having a great time!"

Associate professor Melanie Richards, who taught Houlihan in tap class, says, "She brought to a whole new experience the innocence and enthusiasm of a child." This enthusiasm encourages Houlihan's fellow students who, though younger, often struggle with feeling jaded and overwhelmed by their workload. In a characteristic understatement, Houlihan says, "My excitement about being in class and learning is somewhat contagious."

"The best part was seeing her make connections between classes she was in to classes she was teaching," says senior Eleanor Smith, who has been in class with Houlihan as both teacher and fellow student. Particularly in anatomy and kinesiology, there were many "ah-ha" moments. "I've always been teaching that, but now I understand why I've been teaching that," says Houlihan. "No matter what class I've taken, it inevitably shows up in my teaching."

Gracefully, as she seems to do most things, Houlihan has found a lovely balance between her roles that appears certain to continue. After graduating from VCU this spring, Houlihan will go on to complete her MFA through a new collaboration between the American Dance Festival and Hollins University. "Learning and teaching at the same time has been great. It's nice to be both things at once," she says.

Lea Marshall is a freelance dance writer and acting producer at Virginia Commonwealth University's Department of Dance & Choreography.