Snygg’s laugh still resonates through ArtsWeek

Fran Snygg had a laugh that rippled through every corridor she walked down. It was childlike, the kind of uproariously whimsical sound that would inspire laughter from others. The outgoing New York dancer, choreographer and artist never met a stranger.
But Fran died at 53 in 1996 of diabetic complications.

Her home was filled with photographs of dancers and mementos of New York City — a print of the Brooklyn Bridge hung above her fireplace.

“You would’ve liked her, I guarantee you would’ve,” said Mary Strow, IU’s head reference librarian. “When she talked to you, it was like you were the most important person in the whole world.”

Today marks the beginning of the 26th-annual ArtsWeek, a project Fran pioneered and directed during the final 10 years of her life as a tribute to the diverse artistic culture in Bloomington.

The theme of this year’s ArtsWeek is “Arts and the Environment” and will feature everything from a stage production of “The Drawer Boy” to a Trashion/ReFashion show.

The event reflects the many social circles Fran connected with. After her death, her life was celebrated in a ceremony by a myriad of talents in theater, music, fine art and dance.

Mary and Gwen Hamm, a professor and undergraduate studies coordinator in the Department of Kinesiology, believe today’s ArtsWeek is just as Fran would’ve liked it — a celebration and collaboration of the arts.

Fran, Mary and Gwen comprised the Three Amigos — a bond of intellectual companionship and sisterhood.

“Our dance styles as choreographers and students are both different and complementary to one another’s,” Gwen said. “Our friendship was the same way.”

Fran often thought in conceptual, highly stylized forms, while Gwen’s approach relied more on physicality. Mary rested somewhere in the middle.

Gwen was a freshman studying dance when she met Fran.

Fran would later go on to pursue a graduate degree in dance theater at New York University, then dance in Spain before returning to IU as a faculty member.

“I always admired her from afar,” Gwen said.

Pilates instructor Emily Bogard experienced Fran as a fellow classmate, and later, when pursuing her graduate degree at IU as a teacher. Emily remembers how Fran always listened and cared.

Fran taught Emily a dance inspired by the late Isadora Duncan, the heralded creator of modern dance. The dance was softer, like Fran, Emily says. It was a beautiful, tough solo piece. Fran matched it with Emily’s ability.

“Fran was so open to what a dancer, or anyone for that matter, could suggest,” Emily said. “She often thought, ‘This was the vision, now how do we get there?’”

Thus, Fran shattered the stereotype of a cane-tapping, shrill-voiced dance instructor, opting for a soft intensity that attracted one’s full attention.

When Fran was up for promotion and tenure — always a stressful time, Mary said — she lost her dossier. Mary laughed when recalling the events that ensued.

“We ended up having to go to a landfill, dressed in high heels and office attire, digging through banana peels to find this document that she needed for promotion,” she said. “Can you imagine? I’m sure it was quite a sight to see.”

Friends say Fran never took herself too seriously, but when it came to helping others, she was passionate.

In her last years, Fran was the head of an ArtsWeek committee that mapped out scholarships for promising talent in her honor.

Mary was part of the six-person team that developed the Fran Snygg Endowment Fund and the Grant for Artistic Collaboration awards. Selene Carter, a visiting guest lecturer in the kinesiology department, won both of them.

Today in the Jordan Hall Atrium, Selene will showcase her work on a project called Dancescience Lab during afternoon and evening sessions. The event will kick off ArtsWeek. Students from the IU Contemporary Dance Program will perform Selene’s choreography, based on the cycle of life.

The location of the atrium is fitting for Selene, because it is a place that explores the developmental movements of all living things. This was something Selene saw in Fran’s work.

“Dance shows the growing and shrinking that happens in breathing,” Selene said. “We all breathe and move, so dance is, at its essence, a celebration of life.”