The framed photos of many of the young girls who played Clara, the heroine in “The Nutcracker” ballet, are placed in the window sill behind Amelia Pelton’s desk in Miller Gym.
One of those Claras is her daughter, Olivia, now a professional actor who lives in New York.
Pelton’s office walls are lined with posters from some of the plays she has choreographed, such as “Oklahoma” and “The Music Man.”
These are just a few of the memories for Amelia Pelton, who is retiring as Georgia College’s director of dance and founder of the local production of “The Nutcracker.” Her last day was May 31.
Pelton directed 27 Nutcrackers. Natalie King, her successor, will be in charge of No. 28 in December.
“Our first little Nutcracker had 40 dancers,” Pelton said. “Now it’s almost 230. It’s like herding cats. I don’t even count. It might scare me. It just got bigger and bigger and bigger.”
Pelton taught dance at Georgia College for 29 years, plus 11 years before that for 40 years in higher education.
“I’ve cried and cried,” Pelton says of her retirement. “I feel like I’ve still got a lot of energy.”
But she says it’s time to step away. She and her husband, Mark, a retired vice president at Georgia College, want to travel. She has an almost 2-year-old grandson in town. She’s active in her church, St. Stephens Episcopal, singing in the choir.
And she loves gardening. The Peltons have won the Milledgeville Garden Club’s “Yard of the Month” three times. Now, she’ll have time to join the Garden Club, but laughs that as a member she’ll be ineligible to win again.
Pelton sighs, but quickly perks up.
“It’s been fun; I’ve loved it. Georgia College has been so good to me. And, I’m going to teach part time,” she says, her voice going up several octaves. “I can’t believe it. I’ve got to keep my big toe still in it.”
She’ll teach two ballet classes on Thursday nights.
Dance has come a long way at Georgia College under Pelton. Theater and dance used to be lumped under the music department. Now, there’s a separate Department of Theater and Dance.
Georgia College is unique in that it offers a community dance program for anyone 3 and up for non- credit as well as the credit program for students.
The dance program is only two courses from being a major. Now, students can major in liberal arts and choose dance as one of their three minors.
“Both programs run simultaneously, so it gives our students a chance to help teach the community program,” Pelton said. “We’ve got two studios going every night.”
In addition to ballet, she has taught tap, jazz, ballroom (fox trot, rumba, cha cha, tango, etc), the shag and the swing — you name it.
Pelton had a full scholarship at Southern Mississippi as a music major in organ and piano. Her mother, an opera singer, had pushed her into music, even though she always loved dance.
Finally, Pelton switched to dance, despite her mother telling her she could never make a living in dance.
“Sorry, Mom,” she said, laughing as she looked heavenward.
She was named the Most Outstanding Dance Major at Southern Miss, including being a member of the Dixie Darlings, the school’s precision kick-line dance team. She earned a MFA in dance from Florida State.
Pelton takes pride in having taught dance to community members as well as students.
“Sometimes I feel like a marriage counselor,” she said, “because I can see people dance and I can tell they’ve never, ever danced. I know it’s hard to find a place to dance, unless you’re going to something like a wedding.
“They’re looking at each other like ‘Who is this person I’m dancing with?’ Isn’t that sad? But they’d tell me, ‘We’ve stood on the side and watched other people dance, and now we really want to learn.’ It’s rewarding.”
Even more rewarding is when she hears from her former dance students after they have finished at Georgia College. Some went on to get advance degrees and some are now dancing professionally.
“They write Natalie and I, saying: ‘Thanks so much for giving us our start in dance and I’m sorry if I was a lot of trouble. I appreciate what you were trying to hammer in me.’
“That’s really rewarding. That’s the role of higher education all over the country. That makes us proud. We were a dance family.”
That’s why Amelia Pelton was shedding tears about her retirement.
She’ll now have more time for travel with Mark; following Olivia’s burgeoning career; spending time with sons Caldwell and Hampton; gardening; and singing in the church choir.
But she’ll always keep her toe in dancing.
