Joan Miller

Joan Miller (September 30, 1936 – March 23, 2014) was an American dancer, choreographer, and educator. She was the artistic director of The Joan Miller Chamber Arts/Dance Players, a mixed-media dance company that used satire to make social commentary and provoke social change, from 1970 to 2007. Miller was also the founder and director of the dance program at Lehman College from 1970 to 2000. Early life Joan Miller was born Joan Ann Bernadette Theresa Floissac on September 30, 1936, in Harlem, New York City, to Beryl and Hubert Floissac. Joan's mother, Beryl, was of Jamaican heritage while her father, Hubert, claimed ancestry from St. Lucia. She began dancing in a Girl Scout troop on 135th Street. After high school, Miller's parents encouraged her to pursue a stable occupation as an educator. She graduated from Brooklyn College in 1958 with an undergraduate degree in physical education. She received a master's degree in dance education from Teachers College, Columbia University, in 1960, directly followed by attending the Juilliard School on a John Hay Whitney fellowship. Career