Susan McGuire

Susan McGuire's career is a textbook case of passion trumping credentials. She started ballet classes comparatively late in life (she was 12), didn't go to college, got into the Martha Graham Dance Company at age 27, danced till she was 44 and became artistic head of the London Contemporary Dance School despite having no administrative experience.

"In every single one of those situations," the associate professor of dance says, "I was absolutely terrified, thinking, I'm just not equipped to do this. But you know, you learn. You persevere, and if you have enough passion, somehow you find your way through all of that. Now, I find myself here, and this is the perfect place to be."

McGuire, who joined Butler's faculty in the fall of 2004, grew up in Cleveland. "I was one of the lucky people who was sort of 'touched'" by dance, she says. "I was dancing from the time I was very small. My parents were musicians and there was always music in the house. My response was to move to it."

In her 20s, she got married, had a son and mostly gave up on having a professional dance career. Then the Martha Graham company came through Cleveland, and McGuire decided she had to dance. She moved to New York and within six months was a member of Graham's company. Three years later, she moved on to the Paul Taylor Dance Company. McGuire danced for 11 years and served as rehearsal director for another year before she and her second husband, Ulf Goebel, decided to leave New York City for Germany.

Shortly after arriving in Berlin, the London Contemporary Dance School called, looking for a new artistic director. She got the job and spent the next eight years in London before returning to New York to direct Paul Taylor's second company and the Taylor School.

McGuire liked the Taylor School, but she wanted to be part of a faculty that provided full-time training. She applied to several universities, and when Butler called, she eagerly accepted. "I still can't quite believe it," she says. "But it's exactly what I wanted."