An Extended Welcome

When Dervilla McCann '77 got engaged, she first brought her fiancee to her parents' home, then to Marcy and Leonard Plavin's house on Mountain Avenue. "He felt more pressure at Marcy and Leonard's," McCann laughs.

The Plavins' 104-year-old house on Mountain Avenue is a second home to the extended family of Bates dancers. It's easy to envision a happening scene -- their famous New Year's Eve party, perhaps -- in the Plavin living room: It's big and open and the woodwork is exquisite. Spare modernist art lends color to the walls, and a stereo is at the ready. Its air of 1960s chic seems made to order for the gatherings that are part of the Plavin mystique.

Visiting dancers or returning alumni routinely overnight there, and dancers' parents are always welcome at the famous post-performance parties. It's all another aspect of Plavin role modeling, says McCann. "She showed us how to entertain graciously. She was highly welcoming, and you became part of her life. I mean, I know where she keeps her spoons."

"Marcy might have been the first adult who wanted me to call her by her first name," says Geri FitzGerald '75. "In many ways, she was the first adult friend that I had."

-- Doug Hubley