OBITUARY: Sonja D. Haydar
Fifth position – demi-plié, rond de jamb, rond de jamb, assemblé, Pas de bourrée. Ready? One and two and three and four . . . ”
In a lilting and inimitable cadence, Professor Emerita Sonja Dragomanovic Haydar struck a constantly shifting balance of respect, adoration, inspiration and fear in her dancers. Whether novices taking ballet for the first time or seasoned ballerinas dancing the classical roles of their dreams, no one came into Mrs. Haydar’s presence without leaving transformed.
Mrs. Haydar, who died Dec. 8, 2005, after a prolonged illness, was instrumental in shaping the dance program at Mary Washington. A renowned prima ballerina and a specialist in classical ballet, she taught at UMW for 21 years before her retirement in 1989.
For many students, a class with Miss Dragomanovic (or Mrs. Haydar as students later knew her) was all too fleeting. These were moments spent in the company of a true artist – an encounter with someone who saw the world through eyes different than ours, yet who wanted nothing more than for us to see the world as she did. Mrs. Haydar was the doyenne of dance, and we found ourselves supplicants to her artistry.
Once, during my undergraduate days at Mary Washington, I turned an aisle at the supermarket and clumsily bumped into Mrs. Haydar as she was shopping for groceries. I immediately was struck by the incongruity of the moment. I could not quite fathom that a woman so regal, so exquisite, so elegant would have to do something so mundane as push a cart around the aisles of a grocery store. Mrs. Haydar, a native of Croatia, thought nothing of running into me and we talked for several minutes as I fumbled to be comfortable in that startling and paradoxical moment. Our conversation ended like many we would share over the next few years. “Daahhhhling . . . why don’t you major in dance?”
Mrs. Haydar wanted me not because of the height of my échappés nor the grace of my jetés, but rather because I was a man who could support and lift her beautiful dancers. And, quite frankly, because I also could lift heavy reel-to-reel tape recorders, scenery and barres when the Dance Company embarked on its annual tour. While I knew my true value to Mrs. Haydar, her invitations allowed me to think of myself in a way I had not before, inspiring me to work harder and imagine myself in a world different from my own.
When I returned to Mary Washington to teach, Mrs. Haydar had retired. We talked many times over the years, and I fell in love again with the sheer verve she brought to her daily life. Some of these conversations happened during surprise visits to my office or at dance concerts, but they occurred most often when she strolled with her dog in front of my house. I will always remember the control and grace that was synonymous with her being – even while walking her dog along the streets of Fredericksburg.
I am convinced that when we teach, we teach for a lifetime of learning. What we share with our students may not be clear to them for many, many years. When Sonja Dragomanovic Haydar died at the age of 81, she left within thousands of students and acquaintances a lovely lilt that beckons us to discover for ourselves the magnificence of our world. What she gave through dance classes and rehearsals – and in the aisles of Giant and on the sidewalks of Fredericksburg – was the richest gift a professor can give to her students.
Contributions in Mrs. Haydar’s memory may be made to the University of Mary Washington Foundation-Sonja D. Haydar Scholarship in Dance, Jepson Alumni Executive Center, 1119 Hanover Ave., Fredericksburg, Va. 22401.
– Gregg Stull ’82, Chair, Department of Theatre and Dance