Profiles of 2004 Graduating Students

Nathalie Fassié is choreographing a future in law and policy-making

By Franklin Crawford

Michael Kammen says that he's "never seen a better honors thesis" than that submitted by College Scholar Nathalie Fassié.

Senior Nathalie Fassié, a College Scholar in the College of Arts and Sciences, visits one of her haunts -- Cornell's Schwartz Center for the Performing Arts. Frank DiMeo/University Photography

"I've been truly astonished and delighted by Nathalie's creativity, versatility and work ethic -- both as a researcher and as a choreographer," said Kammen, the Newton C. Farr Professor of American History and Culture at Cornell. "Her honors thesis is an amazing achievement in comparative scholarship, and it has significant policy implications. It's a genuine contribution to knowledge."

Fassié's 160-page thesis, titled "When Push Comes to Shove: A Comparative Analysis of the Changing Role of Dance Within the French and American Funding Institutions," earned her a summa cum laude. College Scholars are freed from the normal restrictions of degree and distribution requirements and Fassié created a program that focused on French and American cultural studies. She also completed a dance major, in addition to fulfilling a concentration in modern European studies.

In May she received two awards from the Department of History: the Messenger-Chalmers Undergraduate Prize and the Frederick G. Marcham Prize for "being an outstanding student with notable extracurricular activities," Kammen said.

Ask Fassié direct questions about her student career and she demurs.

"I think my work speaks for itself. I'm not yet at a point in my life to concretely assess my accomplishments, but I do realize how dedicated I am to what I do," said Fassié. "Being a College Scholar has enabled me to pursue a subject I am passionate about -- the interweaving of politics and culture. My work is more complex and engaging because I draw from this subject when I write or choreograph."

She recently choreographed an original work titled "Cycle" in Dance 2004, a main stage production at Cornell's Schwartz Center for the Performing Arts. It is considered an honor for undergraduate dance majors to present main stage works in the center's annual faculty-student showcase. Fassié is a director of Impact Dance Troupe and regularly performed in and choreographed works "practically every semester," she said. She also choreographed a work titled "Deconstructing Tara," which was chosen to represent Cornell at the North Eastern American College Dance Festival in 2002.

Her ambitious thesis was more than an academic exercise. In it, Fassié outlined the work she'd like to take on in the future.

"Eventually I want to work in arts administration, to remedy some of the policy problems that affect funding for dance at the national and regional level," said Fassié, who will study law at the College of William and Mary in the fall.