OhioDance believes in the power of dance to effect change. OhioDance is a statewide service agency and a socially-concerned community organization. Through festivals and conferences, educational resources, networking opportunities, dance artist services, and community outreach efforts, OhioDance serves all organizations and individuals that share our commitment to the transformational art of dance.
The OhioDance Festival and Conference is inherently creative as the brightest talents in dance converge on Columbus to share new ideas and innovations in the field of dance. When you come be prepared to see a range from traditional ballet to performers dancing upside down.
The festival is in its fifth year partnering with BalletMet Columbus to present and host in their space. Young artists will have the opportunity to interact with some of the most successful artists and choreographers in the field and find opportunities for jobs and internships, cultivate knowledge about small business ownership, as well as seeing how they may contribute to the vibrant Columbus and statewide creative arts economy.
The guest artist, Liz Lerman is a renowned choreographer, performer, writer, educator and speaker. She knows how to bring together people from different fields in collaboration with the arts. Her work has resulted in both research and outcomes that are participatory, relevant, urgent, and usable by others. Lerman has shared her process with everyone from shipbuilders to physicists, construction workers to ballerinas. She is the recipient of numerous honors, including a 2002 MacArthur “Genius Grant” Fellowship.
Participants will have the opportunity to attend a book reading and signing of her book Hiking the Horizontal. Lerman will also be teaching a master class on choreographic tools and will serve as the festival’s guest speaker. Lerman will reflect on her life-long exploration of dance as a vehicle for human insight and understanding. Her work is of particular interest to the dance community, but her unique use of people from all walks of life make her just as appealing to the non dancer.
OhioDance is in its third year in partnership with Amethyst Inc. in Columbus, a residential addiction recovery center for women and their children. This collaboration illustrates the transformation dance can make. One woman said that the program, “taught me that I can dance sober.”OhioDance will provide dance instruction from January through April and a performance opportunity at the OhioDance festival for the resident women and their children. The OSU performing arts medicine team will provide sessions for the women and a well established Columbus dance educator, Mimi Chenfeld will provide sessions for the women and children. The women will be invited to listen and work with Liz Lerman at the conference.
2015 OhioDance Festival and Conference will take place at BalletMet, located at 322 Mt. Vernon Ave, Columbus, OH 43215 on April 24-26, 2015. For more information about Liz Lerman or her work visit lizlerman.com and for more information about the 2015 OhioDance Spring Festival and Conference visit ohiodance.org, email Jane D’Angelo or call at (614)-224-2913.
GCAC Presents is a bi-weekly column brought to you by the Greater Columbus Arts Council – supporting art and advancing culture in Columbus – in partnership with the Columbus Arts Marketing Association, a professional development and networking association of arts marketers. Each column will be written by a different local arts organization to give you an insiders look at the arts in Columbus.