Dance Chronicle's stalwart copy editor Naomi Mindlin passed away on August 22, 2022 at the age of 73, after more than a year of receiving treatment for brain cancer. Beyond a beloved copy editor, Naomi took up many roles as a dancer, choreographer, teacher, critic, and historian. Beginning as a child with ballet in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, she found modern dance in her adult years, after graduating from Liberty High School in 1966 and Brandeis University in 1970. She studied with New York-based teachers including Marjorie Mussman, Maggie Black, Margaret Beals, Bertram Ross, Mary Hinkson, and Carla Maxwell. Naomi joined the José Limón Company and traveled with the company on tours to Canada, Brazil, Spain, and France. She received her Masters in Dance from the Gallatin School at New York University and began choreographing her own pieces. She taught dance at the University of the Arts and set her choreography on student performers. She also served as Assistant Director of Dance Conduit, performing and choreographing for the Philadelphia-based modern dance company. As Naomi became a parent of two daughters, she taught creative dance classes for children, inspired by the pedagogical approach of Virginia Tanner.
She continued to expand her roles in the dance world, taking on new projects. She learned Labanotation and Pilates. She spearheaded two exhibitions of dance photography featuring the work of Lois Greenfield and Barbara Morgan. In 1995, the Pew Charitable Trust awarded Naomi a grant to support the reconstruction of two Doris Humphrey solos: The Call/Breath of Fire (1930) and Quasi-Valse (1929).
Naomi was also active as a dance writer and editor. Her articles included “The Process of Dance Reconstruction,” in Dance Notation Journal 2 (Spring 1984); “Choreographics,” cowritten with her husband Stephen Perloff, in The Photo Review (Spring 1986); “Mapplethorpe, Dance and Censorship,” in The Photo Review (Summer 1991); and “José Limón’s The Moor’s Pavane: An Interview with Lucas Hoving,” in Dance Research Journal (Spring 1992). Naomi wrote reviews and features for the Philadelphia Dance Alliance Newsletter (1988–1995) and the Bucks County Courier Times (1989–1995). She was a lead editor for two books—The Vision of Modern Dance: In the Words of Its Creators (1979) and Doris Humphrey: A Centennial Issue for Choreography and Dance (1998). In addition to Dance Chronicle, she served as a freelance copy editor for Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group, Princeton Book Company, Ballet Review, The Photograph Collector, and The Photo Review.
Beyond dance and writing, Naomi had many engagements. She helped to found synagogue Tzedek v’Shalom in Newtown, Pennsylvania, serving as an essential member of its community. She found other creative outlets including knitting, felting, sewing, and baking.
Naomi played a vital role at Dance Chronicle. Mentored as an editor by Barbara Palfy, Naomi was a guardian of continuity and consistency. Often the role of copy editors is obscured within publishing. They serve an indispensable function that keeps a publication legible, polished, and worthy of readers’ time and attention. Former Dance Chronicle editor Lynn Brooks recalled Naomi’s eagle eye, when reading text, in spotting inconsistencies, typographical errors, and even questionable claims. Always, Naomi worked promptly, meticulously, and with a kind, sparkling humor that lightened the tensions of journal editing and publication. Whenever asked, she offered suggestions with grace and generosity. Former editor Joellen A. Meglin here shares her recollections of working with Naomi.
I cherish those people from whom I have learned. Naomi was one. That was a joy of working on the editorial team at Dance Chronicle: learning from one’s colleagues. We editors used to meet to pick over editorial points at Spanish restaurants in downtown Philadelphia.
But what comes to mind most vividly was Naomi’s generosity. Always giving to authors and to her work beyond the call of duty.
Once in an editorial introduction, I wrote in passing of an upcoming performance at the 92nd Street Y of Ruth Page’s Expanding Universe, a dance I had reconstructed. Naomi did her usual fine-tuned job of copyediting the piece. Was I surprised and delighted when she came up to me after the performance. “Naomi, you’re here!” We had a delightful discussion about the dance. It was then that she revealed to me her love of this sort of reconstruction scholarship.
Naomi had all the makings of a dance scholar: a precise, detailed mind; meticulous use of sources; critical thinking; thorough grounding in the embodied experience. Had she not spent her time as a professional dancer, teacher, editor, and mother, she would have pursued this avenue, too.
Naomi, I salute you! And I miss you.
–Olive Demar