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2000 Distinguished Alumna Award
Janet Towner, M.A. (1990)
(from Ledger Lines September, 2000)

Janet Towner received this year's Distinguished Alumnus Award at Commencement Ceremonies for the School of Music and Department of Dance, in recognition of "significant achievement in the preservation and continuation of American's dance legacy." Towner is the first dance alum to receive the award since it was instituted in 1993.

A native Oregonian, Towner attended the University of Oregon initially as an English major, but continued to dance in the developing program founded by Dr. Frances Dougherty. Towner spent a year of study at the Vienna Academy of Music and Dance, and in 1969 moved to New York City, beginning a seven-year association with dance pioneer Charles Weidman as a student, teaching assistant, and principal dancer in his company.

In 1974 she was the vehicle for his choreographic vision of Ruth St. Denis, and subsequently became the assistant artistic director of the Charles Weidman Foundation upon his death in 1975. During those years she also performed in the dance companies of Mimi Garrard, Jan Wodynski, and Gale Ormiston, and studied with many prominent modern dance artists, as well as the Dalcroze School of Music.

Towner's activities for the Weidman Foundation took her to many universities as well as dance companies—teaching, coaching, and directing dances from Weidman's diverse repertoire. UO dance students and faculty were the fortunate recipients of this legacy during her residencies as a guest artist in 1978 and 1995.

In 1990, Towner received a master's degree in dance from the University of Oregon, culminating her curriculum with a these documenting the creation of Weidman's last work—that danced vision of Ruth St. Denis.

Through her teaching, directing and writing, her contributions to a video documentary sponsored by the Weidman foundation, as well as the direction of "Dance As Social Criticism" (a videotape funded by the Oregon Committee for the Humanities), Towner has contributed a priceless treasure, linking the present generation of American dance students and artists to a major contributor to the American dance legacy.