On the same weekend George Foreman won the heavy-weight title in boxing, Marianne Hraibi performed at the Boston Conservatory's alumni gala concert,"Dancing Through the Decades." Although those who invited her to dance in the show had not seen her perform since 1969, reputation served her well. Hraibi summed up the two disparate events: "It was a great weekend for 40-year-olds."
Much of the College community knows Hraibi by her day job at Inter-Library Loan in Baker Library, but few know of her long, successful career as a dancer. Prior to the events of Nov. 5, the last time Hraibi performed was in March 1994 at a show honoring Martha Graham at Dartmouth College. That performance marked the first time in 20 years that Hraibi danced for an audience. Yet, despite the absence of actual performances, dancing has always played a large role in Hraibi's life and she attested proudly that she "never goes anywhere without her leotard."
Hraibi has been trained in a very specific modern dance technique pioneered by Martha Graham in the 1920s and '30s. She credits her success, as well as her ability to remain a strong dancer in her 40s, to the legitimacy of the Graham technique.
"Technique isn't simply a style....there is a philosophy based on logic and correct body alignment," explained Hraibi, "[It] is something that reigns the body like grammar in a language -- you cannot learn a language without learning grammar. Modern dance as an art form was an expression of movement away from the rigidity and the limits of ballet. What [Martha Graham] did was devise and explore ranges of body movement and she created a law of movement that progressed from one exercise to another as she was [moving] through the natural patterns of body expression."
Hraibi was first introduced to the Graham technique when she began dancing during the summer between her junior and senior years of high school. However, she says that from a very early age there was no question in her mind that she was going to be a dancer.
"The body remembers more than the brain does, so if you start off with bad teaching, it's far harder to unlearn bad training than it is to [be trained originally]. I was very lucky that I started off with Graham technique. It is so specific and refined that my first exposure to dance was very correct."
Hraibi attended Hood College, but then transferred to the Boston Conservatory to earn a degree in dance. Following graduation, she headed to New York City where she began taking classes at the Martha Graham School, where she still studies. She also went on to perform with a number of companies, including Yuriko & Company, Paul Taylor & Company, Richard Englund & Company, June Lewis & Company, and Toby Armour & Company.
When Hraibi discussed her success in such a fickle and temperamental industry, she was humble. "Nothing radiated from me; no brilliant feet or legs or long limbs," she said modestly, "The fact is that there was just an impulse to move."
In 1973, Hraibi moved to Beirut, Lebanon with her Lebanese husband, Saher Hraibi. While overseas, Hraibi taught at the Beirut University College and the Royal Academy Ballet Studio. She also worked with Ziad Rahbani, a composer/playwright in Beirut Lebanon. Although she loves Beirut and is looking forward to the day when she can go back, she returned to the United States in 1986 to provide her sons, Ramzi and Nadim, a safer and more stable environment.
While talking with Hraibi over coffee amidst the bustle of students in Collis, her eyes welled up three times. The first was when she began talking about the support she receives from her sons; the second time, it was the strength and love she receives from her husband; the third, was when she summed up her life as a student of dance.
"The day I'm not [evolving as a dancer]," she said as her eyes glazed over with tears, "I will be dead. The mere fact that I can be in Hanover and functioning professionally is a gift from God. There's something about being a student in a class and always feeling like you're going on and pushing yourself - doing somebody else's work. There's nothing more exciting, especially at my age, than to do somebody else's work and to see if I can do it up to par."
Since Hraibi has been back in the States, she has guest-taught at a number of places, including Lebanon College, Kimball Union Academy, Skidmore College and the Boston Conservatory of Music, to name a few. To help bring dance to the Hanover community and to keep in shape, Hraibi teaches three classes a week to students of all ages from beginner to accelerated levels. Although Hraibi has taught a few Dartmouth students, the largest percentage of her students are Dartmouth faculty and their children.
Some of Hraibi's students have gone on to join the companies of Martha Graham, the Dayton Contemporary Dance Theatre, the Boston Ballet, the Atlanta Ballet, the Pittsburgh Ballet and Hubbard Street Dance, among others.
Despite an invitation to teach full-time at the Boston Conservatory, Hraibi said she prefers to remain in Hanover.
"My joy is the fact that I have been able to combine safety for my children [in a] wonderful community like Hanover, a wonderful working environment, and wonderful students," she said.
Students at the College could easily spend their entire four years here and never cross paths with Marianne Hraibi. For those men and women with an interest in dance, that would be a loss.
