Free Madonna by Mark Bego

announcement that he was leaving his studio to become an instructor in the dance department at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, Madonna was granted her scholarship to the same college. Like Merlin and young King Arthur, the student and her mentor uprooted themselves for their creative reign in a new kingdom.
    The move to college killed several birds with a single stone. Besides providing her with valuable training, attending the university pleased Madonna’s father and allowed her to leave her hometown and her family behind her. Escaping from a life under her father’s thumb excited her, yet she had the security of having Flynn along to challenge, guide, and direct her.
    Mr. Ciccone placed a lot of stress on the importance of his children’s schoolwork. He wanted them to use their intelligence to get the most out of their lives. As Madonna reflects, “My father never brought me up to get married and have kids. We utilized our intelligence.” 22
    Not only did her scholarship represent a fantastic opportunity, it also afforded her the freedom to make several new choices about what she wanted to do with her life. The first thing she eliminated from her existence was the repressive influence of religion. Although Madonna missed her family, leaving home—and Sunday morning church services—wasn’t difficult.
    In the fall of 1976 Madonna resided in a dormitory room at the U of M’s Stockwell Hall. She quickly made friends with several of the other girls in her dance classes, and in order to have spending money she landed a job at Miller’s Ice Cream Parlor. She became fast friends with another dance student who scooped ice cream at Miller’s, Whitley Setrakian. Also during that year, Madonna became friends with another girl from her dance classes, Linda Alaniz, and took a job as a bar waitress at a local college hangout called Dooley’s.
    Madonna and Linda would study classical dance by day, and by night they would dance their butts off at Ann Arbor clubs, including the Blue Frogge and the Ruvia. Linda recalls, “We’d dance six hours at school, then go home and eat, then dance another four hours at night. The woman just loved to dance!” 45
    The University of Michigan is known as a party school, and Madonna immediately got into the swing of things. When she got out on the dance floor of a local club, people cleared out of her way as though she were a whirling dervish.
    One night while she was boogieing at the Blue Frogge, Madonna spotted a black waiter who looked as if he was more fun than the rest of the patrons. “He was real cute,” she recalls, “someone all soulful and funky looking you couldn’t help but notice. First time in my life I asked a guy to buy me a drink.” 29 The man’s name was Steve Bray, and at the time he was also the drummer in a local band.
    Madonna didn’t realize it at the time, but in Bray she had just met someone who was destined to become a lifelong friend and cohort in music. Footloose and brazen Madonna and even-tempered Bray were destined to become lovers.
    During the first semester of her sophomore year, Whitley asked Madonna if she wanted to share an apartment in University Towers. “One of the first things I noticed,” says Setrakian of Madonna, “was she really said what was on her mind. We filled needs for each other. I felt like she just needed somebody to accept her, no questions asked.” 45
    After Madonna moved into the University Towers apartment with Whitley, they found that they shared a lot in common. They both loved dance, and both read poetry. Madonna was still amid her initial vegetarian kick, and she would live on granola and popcorn. Whitley had her own nickname for her nonconformist roommate. She would refer to her as “my little bowl of bear mush,” 45 a name coined for Madonna’s eating habits at the time.
    In July 1978 Madonna was one of the students from