Series 4: Nellie-Bond Dickinson Materials, 1937-2004

Biographical / historical:

Nellie-Bond Dickinson was born in 1912 in Wilson, North Carolina. She received her Bachelor's degree from the Woman's College at the University of North Carolina and a Master's degree from the Teacher's College at Columbia University. In 1935, Dickinson moved to Tallahassee to teach dance at Florida State University. During her thirty years on the faculty, the program was modernized, and more emphasis was placed on creative expression. She is known for establishing high artistic standards that influence the School of Dance today.

Dickinson's emphasis in dance study was with Louis Horst and Martha Graham, whom she brought twice to campus. She was instrumental in bringing other renowned artists in modern dance to Tallahassee through events like the FSU Artist Series. Dickinson also established the Theatre Dance Group for which she choreographed and toured in the southeastern United States. She planned and directed the first Evening of Dance with the group, which the School of Dance still performs annually. After retiring from FSU as professor emerita in 1963, Dickinson continued teaching at Marymount College in Arlington, Virginia. She returned to live in Tallahassee in 2000 and passed away in 2003.

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