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How well do you know your Elon colleagues? Do you know what their jobs entail? Learn more about their positions -- and their personalities -- by reading the E-people feature in each issue of @Elon.
Change isn't something that phases Jane Wellford. Just ask her, and she'll tell you she's seen plenty of it at Elon and in the art form she loves -- dance. A lot has changed since Wellford moved into an office in the Mooney building when she arrived in 1976 to establish a dance program at Elon. "I created the first 10 dance classes here at Elon and originally, dance was taught as part of the physical education department," Wellford says. Today, there are 21 dance classes taught by eight faculty members, and dance is now part of the performing arts section of the fine arts department. She first discovered dance as a child growing up in Hickory, N.C. "I saw the ballet 'Coppelia' in the third grade, and I was so enchanted with it that I begged my mother to let me take dance. I literally cried my way into dance class," she says.
Wellford earned both her bachelor's and master's degrees in fine arts, and quickly realized that teaching was her calling. "I have a burning desire to share my love of dance with the students here," she says. "When I see students get as excited about it as I am, then it makes me that much more excited." Like any other field of study, Wellford says she must work hard to stay current on the latest trends in dance. That's why she attends a variety of professional meetings and workshops every year, including the prestigious American Dance Festival, held each summer at Duke University. "I feel it's important for me, as a teacher, to always be a student. I'd be laughed off the planet if I wasn't up on the current trends." Wellford says that dance has changed dramatically during her career. She says the evolution is similar to the changes in sports over the years. "Look at figure skating in the Olympics," Wellford says. "Today, the triple-axel is a standard move in skating, but 30 years ago, it was unheard of," she says. "It's the same with dance. Today, you really must be an athlete to dance, because men lift men and women lift women." Wellford also attributes the growth of dance to a "cross fertilization" of its various styles. "Now, ballet dancers are doing modern dance, and modern dancers are doing jazz," she says.
Wellford's professional activities keep her busy when she's away from the classroom and dance studio at Elon. She has served as a performer, director, choreographer and consultant with the Moving Liturgy Dance Ensemble. The professional troupe has traveled to churches and worship conferences up and down the Eastern Seaboard, bringing worship services alive through dance. She also just finished directing a Greensboro production of a service marking the 2,000th birthday celebration of Christ. She and her husband, the Rev. Randolph Wellford, have two children. Eric is an Elon freshman, and daughter Whitney will enroll at Elon this fall. "They've grown up around here," Wellford says. "In fact, when my office was in Mooney, they used to climb those magnolia trees in front of the building. It's going to be nice to have them around through their college years."


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