Meriam Rosen papers

Meriam "Mim" Rosen was a modern dance choreographer and Professor Emerita at the University of Maryland, College Park. Born in Chattanooga, Tennessee on April 27, 1927, Rosen (nee Levine) studied ballet until entering the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. The university did not offer ballet classes, so she began studying modern dance. She graduated in 1948 with a B.S. in physical education and a minor in dance. Rosen remained in Illinois until 1953, where she taught dance at the affiliated University High School.

In 1954, she began working at the University of Maryland, College Park as a modern dance instructor. In 1955, Rosen left the university and joined the staff of Mount Vernon Junior College in Washington, D.C., where she was Instructor of Dance and Head of Physical Education. She remained at Mount Vernon until 1961. In 1962, she returned to the University of Maryland as Guest Lecturer and Acting Head of the Dance Program within the Department of Physical Education. In 1965, she received an M.A. in Theater from the university, focusing on modern dance. When the Department of Dance was created in 1967, Rosen was promoted to Assistant Professor. She served as Acting Chair of the department from 1969 to 1970, and in 1988 she became a full professor.

In addition to her university training, Rosen's career as a dancer was cultivated at the Humphrey-Weidman Studio in New York, under Doris Humphrey and Charles Weidman, and at the Connecticut College School for the Dance, under Martha Graham, Doris Humphrey, Jose Limon, and Louis Horst. In 1956, she and three other dancers founded Dance Quartet, for which she both danced and choreographed; one of the company's goals was to make modern dance accessible within schools and colleges. She also performed with the Ethel Butler Studio.

As a choreographer, Rosen explored improvisational dance in addition to more traditional modern dance technique. In 1978, Rosen founded Improvisations Unlimited, a university-based company that performed extensively and conducted workshops for dancers and community members until its dissolution in 1992. In recognition of her contributions to the modern dance community, Rosen was awarded the Pola Nirenska Award for Lifetime Achievement in 2004 by the Washington Performing Arts Society, the Maryland Council for Dance Award for Outstanding Service to Dance in 2007, and the Dance Place Dance Educators Award, also in 2007. Rosen retired from UMD in 2009 and was designated Professor Emerita. She died from congestive heart failure on March 12, 2015.

Sources Meriam Rosen papers. Washington-area bituaries of note. "Meriam L. Rosen, dance professor." Washington Post, March 2015. Accessed online 19 June 2019.