Charlotte Adams, Full Professor

Professor Adams rehearsing her work for Dance Gala 2016. Photo by Carly Vanderheyden

Dance professor Charlotte Adams leans against the left wall of her large office in a small, soft pink cushioned chair.  Beside her is a long desk with books and binders about kinesiology and fall and release technique stacking about two feet high.  Three skeletons are cluttered against one another in the opposite corner.  The ceiling is high and lined with graying, floral wallpaper.  She peers out the window that hovers above four empty cardboard boxes.  In three months, these boxes will be full and duplicated.  The desk will be cleared, the skeletons will be moved, but the faded wallpaper will remain along with Adams’s imprint.  Acknowledging this, she giggles like a small child and pushes her short blonde bangs aside with her veined hands. 

Adams is one of three full professors in the department of dance at the University of Iowa.  In the department’s history, she is only the second female to earn her title following Francoise Martinet who retired in 1998.  At age 65 with numerous choreographed works, countless hours in Halsey Hall, and 21 years of teaching, Adams will be retiring. 

While dance is traditionally a female-dominated field in number, men hold the majority of power roles in companies and universities.  Growing up surrounded with powerful female mentors, Adams says she hopes she has acted the same for other faculty and students.

“The operating system has always had real inequity,” Adams said.  “Getting where I am now was not a goal.  It was a challenge.”

Originally from North Carolina, Adams was raised during a time where women had their place.  Her mother was a housewife who regretted never attending college.  Both of her parents stressed the importance of education and tradition.  Even with a degree, they still expected her to marry and have ‘mom’ be her full-time profession.

Adams began studying ballet when she was eight years old.  She also practiced gymnastics.  It wasn’t until she was receiving her undergraduate degree in psychology before she was introduced to modern dance techniques. 

“I couldn’t believe I could take my ballet shoes off,” said Adams.  “From there, it just clicked.”

Throughout her years as an undergrad, Adams had many female mentors within dance and psychology.  She described one of her professors as a “powerhouse of intellect” that she always aspired to be.

Out of college, Adams worked with high school students in juvie alongside a group of forward-thinking people including two older, supportive women.  In her work, Adams would try to incorporate movement workshops to help the struggling students.  Her co-workers, especially the two women, thought her work was amazing and encouraged her pursue dance as career.  Chasing a career in dance went against everything her parents believed in, but Adams dedicates her bravery to these two women.

“I was scared,” said Adams.  “But I was gonna be a dancer.  Don’t know how but I’m gonna do it.”

Adams performing in The World As We Know It in 2019. Photo by Jacob Rosenberg

From here, Adams joined a company that toured the world.  Adams said it was full of liberal thinkers and musicians that uplifted her.  Two years after joining, Adams and a group of women from the company based themselves in Asheville, North Carolina.  Here they created a collaborative company that pushed each other become empowering dancers and women.

Influenced by her parents’ pressure, Adams married.  Throughout the relationship she felt pushed down and trapped.  It lasted one year.

“I sat in the kitchen thinking, ‘Fuck this.  I’m going to the American Dance Festival in Durham,’” Adams said.  She got into her blue Volkswagen and never returned to their home.

At the American Dance Festival, she gravitated toward choreographers such as Jose Limon, Twyla Tharp, Merce Cunningham, and those studying fall and release technique.  From here she decided to earn her masters of art in dance at the University of Arizona.  During her time there, she had a progressive male mentor and again surrounded herself with influential female artists.

In 1996, Adams entered academia as the director of the dance program at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.  The upper administration at this university mostly consisted of men who didn’t care about dance at all.  After battling with them for two years, she left and headed to Iowa where more battles would take place.

“In Iowa, constant dripping water wears away a stone,” Adams said.

At this time, the department had a lot of men and was about to lose Martinet, the first female full professor in the department’s history.  Adams said she had the confidence to take on bigger tasks, but remained careful to not push too hard against her male colleagues.

“In the beginning, I was cautious,” said Adams.  “I didn’t question much and just did my work.”  She said this carefulness helped her gain tenure a few years later.  

The first time she went up for full professor, she was rejected.  At that time, she said about only 20 percent of full professors at the university were female.  She was discouraged from doing it by other faculty members even though she was equally qualified to the male full professors in the department.

“The sexist attitude had been ingrained,” said Adams.  “I buckled down and worked my ass off in response.”

Three years passed as Adams watched other male colleagues move up in ranking before she attempted her title again.  She blamed this on the inequity present in the operating system.  When she was granted the title of full professor, she was very proud of herself and said she thought it was deserved.

In the years since, Adams has been influential in changing the inequity within the department.  She heavily advocated hiring dance historian Rebekah Kowal, who is now the chair of the department.

“I was determined to be as vocal as possible when it came to hiring equally qualified men and women,” said Adams. “When you have equal candidates, you should offer the job to the minority.”

She says women still have to do more, be more reliable, and take more responsibility compared to their male counterparts.  She is included in this statement by choreographing multiple works, teaching modern dance technique and dance kinesiology, and directing the 200-hour Yoga Teacher Training certification program.  She is also the director of Undergraduate Studies.  Her fellow male full professors teach dance technique and one other course related to their studies including cultural dance and music. 

Adams is retiring after the spring semester.  She plans to move to Tucson, Arizona to be with her partner.  She says her decision to leave is not because of departmental issues, but she does need a break from the pressures of academia. 

Adams said she hopes she has become as empowering as her past mentors and is opening a space for another strong-willed woman to enter.