Mary Cochran who taught dance at Mills College in Oakland, California, and Barnard College in New York City, died last month in her apartment in New York. She was 54 years old.
A native of Dallas, she went to the North Carolina School of the Arts for high school and was accepted at the Juilliard School. But she opted to join a professional dance company. After three years, she joined the Paul Taylor Dance Company, where she performed for 12 years.
Cochran’s academic career began as a visiting professor at the University of Michigan. She then joined the faculty at Mills College. Cochran directed the dance program at Barnard College from 2003 to 2013. During this time she earned a master’s degree in choreography and performance from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.