Martie Fellom recently  retired from the university as the Head of the Dance program. She performed the piece “White Illumination”  in 1989 with the Moving South Dance Company, which is based in Lafayette, under Kathy Burke’s choreography.
Courtesy of Martie Fellom

One of Dr. Martie Fellom’s shining moments occurred prior to a duty that she has become accustomed to: gathering with students before concerts, as Head of the Dance Program at the university. During the gathering, two students’ perspectives of her guidance shaped her principle of education. 

“So, we’re going around the circle, and one of the students said to me, ‘Thank you Dr. Fellom for not asking me to change anything, I am so grateful,’” said Fellom. “The person right next to her, this choreographer, said, ‘I thank you Dr. Fellom for asking me to make those changes because you opened the door for me to think about it in a different way.’” 

Fellom, now former Head of the Dance Program at the university, officially retired on Dec. 16, 2016. 

“I’ve been here since 1985 and I’ve seen lots of changes,” said Fellom. “I came in 1985. I had finished my coursework at New York University, and I was going to graduate in December and I flew back to New York to defend my dissertation.”

Fellom was one of the first dance majors to graduate at Southeastern. She recalls doing entertainment pieces during the beginning of her career, prompting her to examine her dance aesthetic and career choices.

“I did want to be a chorus girl in Broadway, but I could not even hum on tune,” said Fellom. “You had to be able to sing, so forget about that. I couldn’t do that and I wasn’t tall enough for a Rockette, but that’s okay, because at one point, I decided that I didn’t want to smile anymore in performance.”

According to Fellom, during the beginning of her performances in the Vonnie Borden Theatre, she realized that she had begun to influence the dance program on campus by opening the door for dance to be viewed as a movement through the point of view for social, political or global commentary. 

“At the end of my first concert in Vonnie Borden Theatre Spring of 1986, an audience member came to me backstage and said, ‘Thank you for bringing dance as an art form to Southeastern,’” said Fellom.“In that first concert, I choreographed two abstract works, “Four in Black,” a solo I performed to a four-part drum composition performed live by a drummer, and also a political work entitled ‘Last Gasp.’ I suppose the nature of the works aligned with original movement vocabulary and spoken voice in my solo inspired the audience member to say those words to me.”

Despite her retirement, Fellom’s legacy continues to remain at the program that she has spent several decades being a part of and leading. Fellom continued to inspire and guide her students after they leave her classroom as was the case with current Head of the dance program and dance instructor Keith “Skip” Costa.

“I feel like the roots that she has planted here at Southeastern for over 30 years will continue to grow and my commitment to creativity will just strengthen these roots just like the great oaks in Friendship Circle,” said Costa.  “She is an incredible woman and a humanitarian that has such a kind heart.  She will be missed by myself and our students.  I really hope Southeastern awards her the honor of Professor Emeritus for all of her contributions to dance education and continuing the support of dance as an academic field of study in which the first college degree was awarded over 100 years ago.”

Fellom praised Costa for his twenty-year successful career in dance performance and dance education. She is pleased by his new leadership role and remains in awe of his creativity. 

“He has been an original creator of art since I first saw him and he’s continued in that direction of making original statements,” said Fellom. “The fact that he came back into this area is just a blessing because he’s the person that I always would just do a wonderful job here at Southeastern because he’s got that artistry, he’s got credible, confident energy. He excites the students, and I just think that the fact that he was here and he had been part time for years, working so hard. I said, ‘I need to say adieu, I need to say au revoir, but in a good way.’ I know that the dance program is going to be on solid ground. Solid ground with his leadership and creativity, so that’s why it was time for me to go, it was time for me to retire.”

Fellom views her decision to retire as bittersweet. She admited that she has loved educating her students, witnessing them embrace dance in a new light and enjoys the lessons that she has learned from them.

“As a teacher, you share your knowledge about a subject matter,” said Fellom. “You listen and learn from the students, and you try to do your best to help them on their journey in life. All in all, to be a good human being, so they can learn by how a teacher treats another person in the class, no yelling, no being condescending to another human being. You have to treat everybody with respect and embrace them fully. That’s what I want them to do as a human being too.”

Fellom has admitted that she has many favorite moments from her time in the dance department at the university. These include her negotiation with the American College Dance Association to have the South-Central Region Conference held at the University in 1992 and 2000. 

“Over 500 students and faculty from 25 universities across the region attended,” said Fellom. “The four day conference involved adjudicated concerts and master classes. For the 1992 conference, I lost 10 pounds, lots of work for me, as the Regional Coordinator.”

Fellom will continue to work with her dance school Fellom Ballet, as well as remain involved with the dance program on campus. Fellom Ballet was founded in 1965 by Fellom and her two sisters Artie and Cynthia Fellom.

One of her plans has been to create a performance with non-dancers. She was inspired by what she refers to as the “hippy movement” that includes performance art in a collective body of work. 

“I still want to do that because I want a work that’s going to be created from the people that attend and for it to be about things that are important to them in their lives,” said Fellom. “That’s what I want to do and call attention to things that we didn’t think about, and so all the movement in it and the talking or music that emerges would emerge or visual design would emerge from the people that came to that audition that want to be part of an art piece.”

Costa hopes to see a wider appreciation for dance as an academic field of study from students outside of the dance program. He has a new course in the works that he hopes to be classified in the same category as other art appreciation elective courses. 

“I will finally be able to teach a course fall 2017 which I developed over two years ago called Dance 100 – introduction to dance,” said Costa. “It is a lecture course designed to give non-dance program students a better understanding of dance and where it originated and what is happening currently in the dance world. It also has a business component that will allow students from our disciplines to realize that organizational skills and budgets are a part of every area of study on this campus but we just solve issues with creative solutions.”

During gatherings before concerts with her students, lesson plans inside of classrooms and life lessons in the field of dance, Fellom has learned from students like Costa to lead students by allowing them to create their own paths. 

“I learned from Skip that you can’t really make somebody change things,” said Fellom. “All you can do is offer thoughts to investigate. Some people need a certain type of guidance that can lead them closer to what they want to be. As a teacher, that can be real important to a student, so you have to see when you want to speak about it because not every time have I needed to do that for a student and I saw that they have done their investigation, and I don’t need to say anything, and that’s what I celebrate.”

Former Head of the Dance Program Martie Fellom performed “Four in Black”   in 1986 with percussionist Keith Mallory.  The performance included four abstracts. 
Courtesy of Martie Fellom

Former Head of the dance program Martie Fellom retired from the university on Dec. 16, 2016. Fellom recently worked with Options as a volunteer dance instructor, and has continued leading Fellom Ballet School with her sisters.
Larshell Green/The Lion's Roar