UpDate - Vol. 13, No. 17, Page 1
January 20, 1994
Broadway choreographer challenges grads to 'fly'

     Two women at the top of their professions were highlighted at the
University's Winter Commencement ceremony, held Saturday, Jan. 8, in the
Bob Carpenter Sports/Convocation Center. Award-winning choreographer and
alumna Susan Stroman gave the Commencement address, and Jane Richards Roth,
judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, was presented
with an honorary degree.
     Attending the afternoon ceremony were approximately 450 students who
had completed their degree requirements in August and December, as well as
some 3,500 friends and relatives.
     Stroman, a 1976 graduate of the University, won the Tony Award, the
Drama Desk Award and the Outer Critics Circle Award for outstanding
choreography for the Broadway hit musical, Crazy for You, and the London
production of that show won her the coveted Laurence Olivier Award. She
received the 1992 Dance Educators of America Award for her dedicated
service in dance, and last May, she was inducted into the University's Wall
of Fame.
     Whether choosing the "bizarre career" of show business or a more
normal career, Stroman told the graduates that the road to the top is the
same and that only the tools are different. Success demands courage,
preparation and imagination, she said.
     "You just can't step into that so-called 'real world' with just your
dreams. You not only have the dreams, but you have to have the guts to
pursue those dreams," Stroman said. "The real key to survival is not being
afraid to take a chance. The dice count for nothing unless they are tossed.
Be adventurous and be alert at the same time. Don't be over conservative...
     "Learn to follow your instincts. People will say it takes luck to
succeed... But I feel that luck is really that ability to instinctively
take the chance or make the right move-developing an instinct for timing.
In the musical comedy world, we say that timing is everything. Timing can
lead to a thunderous applause or it could lead to a house full of silence,
too."
     She described how her passion for music and the arts began when she
was a child. "To this day, when I hear music, hordes of people dance
through my head-dances with complete scenarios. I've always felt that I'm
the only one who really understands that poetic phrase 'and visions of
sugar plums danced through their heads.' Because of this vision of music, I
always dreamed of becoming a choreographer, and, actually now, I feel I had
no choice."
     Her ambition took her to New York, and after performing there for
about five years, she decided to stop performing and began taking only
choreography jobs.
     "Of course, I was young," she said. "And I imagined myself
indestructible. When I danced, I felt like I could fly. Of course, now
being much older, I feel a little more earthbound. But I have strong,
strong memories of flying. And because I imagined it, I could fly....
     "Before the success of Crazy for You on Broadway, I had some projects
that did not succeed. I have to say I thought about chucking it all in
several times and taking up creative-earring arts and crafts, making
earrings out of old sheet music or something...," Stroman said. "But now I
realize that I could not have gotten here without the knowledge of what I
learned from some of my failures. Now my work is seen on PBS, BBC, the New
York City Opera, Radio City Music Hall, off-Broadway and on Broadway. Crazy
for You now plays in New York, London, Canada, Tokyo and soon Australia.
The thrill of knowing that at all times during the day someone will be
doing my choreography to "I Got Rhythm" is overwhelming to me. It is a
dream realized."
     The greatest reward her success has given her is "the ability to give
back," she said. "To give back to my family who instilled the passion in
music into me to begin with; to give back to my community who embraced me
so; to give back to my supportive and loving friends. In essence, to work
for the benefit of all instead of just the benefit of one."
     Stroman concluded her remarks by wishing the new graduates success and
offering them some advice: "Remember, it takes more than wishing on a star
to make (your dreams) come true: (It takes) courage. Don't confuse fear
with merely something you don't understand; preparation-as Edison said,
genius is 10 percent inspiration and 90 percent perspiration; and
imagination-there is great truth in imagination. It will bring you comfort.
I imagined I could fly, and you could fly too. Good luck to all of you."
     Also at the ceremony, Andrew B. Kirkpatrick Jr., chairman of the
University's Board of Trustees, conferred an honorary doctor of laws degree
upon Jane Richards Roth, calling her a "true daughter of the First State,"
a "respected public servant" and an "esteemed lawyer."
     Her citation read in part, "Highly regarded jurist, you were first
appointed to the bench as a judge of the United States District Court,
District of Delaware, in 1985-a position you served with great distinction.
You were then appointed in 1991 to serve as a judge of the United States
Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit. You were the first Delaware woman
to be named to either position....
     "Devoted wife, mother and friend, it has been said that you have for
yourself changed a world of 'no' to a world of 'why not?,' and with
intelligence, determination, as characteristic good humor and wit, you have
created a vital legacy of learning, teaching and living for your children,
Katy and Bud, your husband, Bill, and for all those whose lives you have
touched."
     "I feel very honored today to receive the degree of doctor of laws,"
Roth said. "For me, the law is a vocation and an avocation. I have loved my
days in court as a lawyer and a judge; I have loved working with law
students and young lawyers to help them polish their professional skills; I
have loved traveling to other countries to meet with judges and lawyers
there to promote the rule of law.
     Lawyers focus issues and define them, she said. "In our legal system,
it is the lawyers, not the judges, who drive the system. As the law has
developed in this country, lawyers are in the forefront of crafting new
principles and legal thinking. Lawyers are taking the initiative to find
new ways to protect the rights of their clients. Many times, the judge gets
the credit for establishing new legal precedents, but it is the lawyers in
the case who have raised the issue in the first place...."
     Calling lawyers "the greatest protectors of our civil rights and our
civil liberties," she said it is imperative that legislators, judges and
lawyers "be driven by more than their own self-interest."
     "We must create and maintain standards in the legal profession that
will bring back the respect that our profession should command," Roth said.
"I'm sure that a number of you graduates here today are going on to study
law. I hope you will keep these high standards as a goal before you."