eMbody Dance Company
4181 Arlingate Plaza Suite 115
Columbus, OH 43228
Voice: (614) 219-6541
Fax: (614) 388-5881
www.embodydancecompany.org
Fact Sheet - Starting Over
Starting Over
By Rachel Smith
eMbody Dance Company
2008
Overview
Starting Over is a piece about how an individual presses forward after a life changing event happens to them. When faced with a major challenge in life one must decide if they will allow the event to define who they are or decide to invent new paths to follow for a new beginning. The new pathways might take the person someplace completely new or they might deliver the person right where they started, desiring to once again start over. Starting Over suggests that the challenges in life create a cycle of starting over and finding new paths to overcome the ongoing obstacles in life.
The Choreography
The choreography in Starting Over reflects Rachel Smith’s individual artistic style and personal thought process when creating new artistic works. Starting Over is done in a Contemporary dance style with an emphasis on Modern dance technique which is a predominant choreographic style that Rachel implements in choreography. The expression and general feeling of the piece evolved from a reaction to a life changing event of the choreographer.
The Choreographer
Rachel Smith is currently the Assistant Artistic Director at Columbus DanceArts Academy. Rachel trained in Columbus at Dublin Dance Center and Otterbein College. She has performed at the Jazz Dance World Congress in Chicago. She has also performed and choreographed for Columbus Taps Festival and has been a performer for the CM2 Columbus Dances series at the King Arts Complex. She has trained at River North, Jazz Dance World Congress, Giordano Dance Center and Lou Conte Dance Studio in Chicago along with Steps on Broadway, Alvin Ailey and Broadway Dance Center in New York.
The Performances
Starting Over has been performed at the Columbus CARES! Benefit concert on May 10, 2008 at the Capitol Theatre. In its inaugural production, Columbus CARES! raised almost $15,000 for Dancers Responding to AIDS. Produced in 2008 by Meagan Grund, we all hope that Columbus CARES! can become an annual fixture in the Central Ohio dance community.
Starting Over was also staged on June 28, 2008 at the Columbus Summer Festival Dance Concert at Sullivant Theatre. This concert is the closing event for the Columbus Summer Dance Festival 2008 - a collaborative effort of the Ohio State University Department of Dance, CM2, the Dove Arts Project and Movement Research, Inc. of New York.
(c) 2008 NuGrowth Technologies