Saying Goodbye - Faculty and students honor beloved Professor’s retirement

“Letting Go: Dancing with Rivers” ran in the MCFA Dance Theatre last Saturday, April 24. The show was part of a series honoring College Professor John Elder as he retires from the College this year.

Elder, revered by faculty and students alike, taught at Middlebury for 37 years. His vivacity and love of nature affected everyone around him, both the faculty with whom he interacted and the students he taught.

“Dancing with Rivers” was a stunning and evocative mix of speech and dance presented in five scenes. Each act flowed from one to the next, uninterrupted by audience applause or introductory narrations. It began with a reading from Jefferson Hunter, which was overlapped by a primal dance duet from Jeremy Cline ’11 and Christian Woodard ’11 and accompanied by Elder’s son, Caleb, on viola. Novelist Scott Russell Sanders read next, a prelude to a whirling solo dance from Lisa Gonzales ’94.

Lauret Savoy then read, followed by a performance from Kathleen and William F. Truscott Professor of Dance Andrea Olson that was beautifully interspersed with remarks on human passion. Peter Schmitz’s reading led into Paul Matteson’s ’00 performance done not to music, but to a quirky recording of a child’s voice layered over a musicbox tune.

The show’s spectacular finale ended with a reading from Dane Springmeyer ’02 and a joyful final dance number with 37 vividly dressed dancers, each representing a year that Elder taught at Middlebury. For the finale, the dancers emerged from various places in the theatre, some from the audience, others from the wings, as each year of Elder’s Middlebury career was called out.

“One … two … three…” Somewhere between the 33rd and 34th year, Elder himself danced his way onstage to join the celebration.

The show was followed by a reception catered by the Middlebury Natural Foods Co-op, as well as visual art displays in the CFA including works by Louisa Conrad and Lucas Farrell ’04, Xander Manshel ’09, Angela Evancie ’10 and Charles A. Dana Professor of History of Art and Architecture Kirsten Hoving. Afterward, the audience was invited to a dinner at American Flatbread to continue the celebration of Elder’s career.

Professor John Elder joined the Middlebury faculty in 1973. Originally hired in the English Department, he received a split-appointment with Environmental Studies, and he is now a non-departmental College Professor.

During his career at Middlebury, he chaired the English and American Literatures Department as well as directed the Program in Environmental Studies. Elder also taught at the Bread Loaf School of English over the summers, on the campuses in New Mexico, Alaska, North Carolina, as well as close to home in Ripton.

He has written numerous books including Imagining the Earth: Poetry and the Vision of Nature, and his essays have appeared in publications ranging from Vermont Life to Wild Earth to Orion.

His interests include American nature writing, Japanese haikus, Wordsworth and Robert Frost. Elder was named Vermont Teacher of the Year in 2008.

Many of Elder’s friends and colleagues who attended

“Dancing with Rivers,” as well as his past and present students, agreed that it was a stunning performance truly fitting of Elder’s love of nature and creativity.

The College may be “letting go” of Elder this year, but his legacy at Middlebury will never fade.