Late-bloomer Rooks a renowned performer, professor

Stephen Rooks was a music major at Darmouth College when a friend invited him to a dance performance. "The curtains went up and my life was changed. It was an epiphany; I knew this was what I wanted to do," said Rooks. So at 20, an age that most people would agree is too late to begin dancing, Rooks decided to become a dancer. "I was a late bloomer," said Rooks, who eventually became a principle dancer in the Martha Graham Dance Company. He went on to perform at a number of prestigious national and international dance festivals and eventually took on the mantle of director of Vassar's Dance Department.

Rooks began studying modern dance at the Alvin Ailey School and then moved on to the Martha Graham School of Dance. He firmly believes that hard work is the biggest deciding factor when it comes to excellence. "It is having that hunger and sticking with it and not stopping even when your body is screaming for you to stop," he explained. He took 18 classes a week at the Martha Graham School and lost nearly 20 pounds in his first month there. "Starting late didn't intimidate me. The advantage of starting late is that you don't have time to waste, you're desperate and you've just got to take that decision to stick to it no matter what," said Rooks.

 It seemed to Rooks as if modern dance, with all its drama and passion, was an extension of his personality and was exactly what he wanted and needed to do.

With a career that spanned from 1981 to 1991, Rooks danced with the Martha Graham Company. One of Rooks' favorite roles with the company was in "Deaths and Entrances," a ballet about the Brontë sisters. Rooks played one of the central male characters, Poetic Beloved, a guiding, older brother figure to the female leads of the ballet. "The movements were rhapsodic. It was the deepest expression of the kind of dance I wanted to do. The ballet was neo-classic because we wore period costumes, which was unusual for modern dance," said Rooks.

Rooks also choreographed a piece called "Outside" for the Martha Graham Dance Company. The piece was based on a parable that Jesus taught and Rooks dedicated it to his wife. "Outside" was selected to be presented at the 1989 New Choreographers series during the Graham Company's fall season at City Center Theater in New York. While with the Martha Graham Dance troupe, Rooks traveled the world and performed across continents and countries. He has had almost 23 European tours under his belt, and given a televised performance in Japan.

"It was an uphill journey because I started dancing for the Martha Graham company just four years after I'd started dancing. But I was never a nervous wreck. I felt very at home on stage and I just wanted to get out there and go for it," said Rooks.

He attributes his remarkable growth as both a dancer and a performer to his years with the Martha Graham Company. "I learned so many things: understood the specificity of the stage, how much I could push my body. I began green and young and by the end of it I was a seasoned dancer. I remember thinking, ‘I look like a dancer now.' Whoa when did that happen?" said Rooks.

However Rooks always knew that he wanted to teach. "Teaching was always a goal. I knew I wanted this career in performing and then when it was time to move on, I had always known I'd wanted to teach," Rooks said. "I was happy to teach because it was time to start sharing what I knew and all those amazing experiences I had."

As a professor and the chair of the Dance Department, Rooks understands the fine nuances of teaching dance and how teaching differs from performing. "When youíre performing, the central focus is yourself, improving your own technique. But when you teach it isn't about yourself, the primary focus are those students and allowing yourself to be their servant," explained Rooks.

Rooks is also the resident choreographer of the Vassar Repertory Dance Theatre (VRDT) and choreographs a piece for it every year. For the recently held VRDT showing, Rooks choreographed a piece called "Social Network(s)." "I wanted it to be an abstract homage to the way we network these days. You can walk through the Library and you can see students watching a very serious video one minute. But then with just a click of a button they can switch to an MTV video. The piece is not a qualitative judgment, it is just a unique observation of out ways of interaction," explained Rooks.

Rooks enjoys working with Vassar students because he believes they are a bright and committed bunch. "There is no drama with them. When I walk in and ask them to dance there is no eye rolling or anything," said Rooks.

This enthusiasm is reflected in the small cluster of students sitting outside Rooks's office. "I have so much to say about him," said Jeremy Busch '14. "If there is one word to define Stephen Rooks, it is statuesque. That has been the general go-to word thrown about in the department for Rooks for a while now. Everything he does is just so architectural."

"I love students and I love dance. I love getting people excited about dancing. What I enjoy the most is watching students who are initially intimidated turn fearless," concluded Rooks.