GP Dance

I feel it is important to not only set goals for myself, but hold steady to the art of practicing.  As a dancer repetition is an important of the learning process for training the body. As an artist, I feel for me I have to keep my mind focused on the work I am creating both in and out of the studio.  

For me, I have to find a way to make my life as a artist, dancer, teacher, wife, friend, and animal lover come into balance.  Every day I have to remind myself to  train my body, keeping an open mind, and set small goals that enable me to push beyond my comfort zone.  

How I achieve those goals is through my daily practice of being a human who strives to serve a higher purpose, training my body and mind, and finding time to decompress in order to reflect.  

Some days are definitely better than others; however, my intention is set at the beginning of each day and this gives me peace about knowing I am doing the right thing at the right time.

What is it that we really need as humans?  I am currently reading a booking called Nurture, by Sally Bevere. She has an incredible way of describing all of us as mothers, daughters, fathers and sons.  It is not just about blood relation, but how we can “relate” to others in a deep spiritual way and be a “mother figure” for a daughter.  I find this completely intriguing because, as the Artistic Director of Grounding Point Dance Company and Dance / Pilates / yoga teacher, I find that my main job is to encourage, challenge, and nurture my dancers and clients to reach their highest potential.  

The idea of conscious “nurturing” in order to help people is a revolutionary idea.  If each of us really took the time with every person we came across in a day and was present in that moment, you never know how you could change someone’s life.

This happened to me with my high school dance teacher, Pam Hollerbach.  I was at Chaparral High School in Scottsdale, AZ in the 1990s, when I first experienced leadership.  Mrs. Hollerbach is a mother and she nurtured her dance students by giving us full artistic freedom in our choreography and dance performance.  I got more involved at dance in high school by auditioning and becoming a member of JAMOBA (Jazz Modern Ballet - you can only image what that was like, oh and we used to sell doughnuts as a fundraiser!).  My junior year of high school I began to lead and form relationships with people through dance. I was directing the younger dancers and they were seeking direction and positive encouragement.

I look back now and realize that is when I started to learn how to nurture other people outside of my family.  This experience was at the heart about why I like to direct dance.  I want to nurture dancers and help them reach their full potential.  By my teacher allowing me the space and trusting me to direct and choreograph, I felt supported by her and it was one of the stepping stones that made me who I am today.  THANK YOU MRS. HOLLY!

The interesting part of this story is, that I got a call from her in 2003, 9 years later.  She was leaving the Fountain Hills Unified school district and needed a dance teacher to take over.  I was able to get the position and get emergency certified by the state to start teaching high school and middle school students within a week of my interview.  I was able to pass on what she taught me to my 120 students.  So the cycle continued…

How to make art…  

I find myself searching everyday for objects, people, music that inspires me to create.  It is not a outright search, but more of a curiousity that draws me into a subject.  It might be an emotional conversation that inspires me to move or just the way the waves break on the beach (and, yes I do live in a place where I get to see the waves almost everyday, which is a blessing).  I also give myself challenges.  Especially with the video component.  I might improvising with the camera using a hand held technique, or locking down the camera having the dancer move within a certain part of the frame.  Exploring is the most exciting part of the work.

It is great to make the work, but I also enjoy reflecting about the work I have created.  Being critical artistically about what more could I have done to make this piece have deeper impact.  Sometimes I don’t get that perspective for a couple of years down the road from when it premieres.  I have a tendency to fall in love with the creative process of the work.  That is really what I love to do as an artist is CREATE.  

For me, dance is at it’s best in the rehearsal studio working at a movement until it feels just right.  For me, many great performances have happened in the dance studio with an audience of one — myself.

At the end of the day, I have to be happy with my work, and I am.  I stand by my work, it reflects my life, my morals, and being a young American woman making a statement of emotion, beauty,  and depth. 

Enjoy the show!

Grounding Point Dance Company’s Artistic Director, Carrie Smaczny, states ” I am really excited about our new project.  I am shooting footage of the company for the flash banner for our website.  This is another avenue of choreographing”.  GPDC’s forsees to have a new 25 second short every month.  

“It is a fun project to create and at the end the year, I will create a full-length work based on these improvisation pieces.  Grounding Point Dance Company wants to push the boundaries of what a dance company is.  People don’t always want to go into the theater to watch a production.  I want to give people a chance to see work quickly and on their own time”, states Smaczny.

“Madonna is my idol,” states Carrie Smaczny, Artistic Director of Grounding Point Dance Company,”She is a great master of changing looks and is on the cutting edge of style.  Her newest album HARD CANDY, had me quite disappointed initially I thought the music lyrics/ style for someone more like Brittany Spears.  However, Madge has won me over.  I now am completely addicted to using her sweet and sticky beats in my Contemporary Jazz class.  The more I listen to it, the more I get inspired to move, create, and play on the dance floor.  She may not be the best singer, but there is something so captivating about her work.”

“Everything that happens in my personal life affects my art.  I would not call my work a direct literal expression of my life, but daily challenges and triumphs surface through the work.  I am really happy with the place I am at creatively, personally, and professionally.  I thank God everyday for that” states Smaczny.

Artistic Director, Carrie Smaczny, is volunteering her time to teach Pilates and stretch at a women’s homeless shelter for the next three months. “It is important for me to share my knowledge about the body. I am excited about the opportunity give class to these special women in Santa Monica, CA.” 

“Volunteer work is so important for our communities.  I have worked with numerous organizations over the years: The Phoenix Children’s Hospital, Boys & Girls Club, University of California Irvine, Texas Christian University, Richstone, Fountain Hills Public School District, Arizona Commission on the Arts, Phoenix Public School District, Scottsdale Public School District, Orange County High School of the Arts (OCHSA), Hype Dance Studios, Loretta Livingston & Dancers, and Scottsdale Center for the Arts.  I have taught dance classes, created programs for performances, and organized events.”

“Volunteer work has always been a part of what I do, I can’t image not giving back to the community” states Carrie Smaczny.

“Music is the biggest inspiration for my work”, states Carrie Smaczny, Artistic Director of Grounding Point Dance Company.  ”I love all types of music from Country, Classical, Pop, R & B, Hip Hop, Jazz, Blues, Alternative, Indie, and Punk.  I first discover my love of music and dance as a middle schooler listening to Run DMC and Young MC.  I learned all the cool moves on MTV, and I especially loved Paula Abdul.  My tastes shifted in High School when I was immersed in Phoenix, AZ local music scene going to concerts and enjoying alternative music.  My friends and I went to many concerts Red Hot Chili Peppers, Pearl Jam, Nirvana, Smashing Pumpkins, Courtney Love, Cranberries, REM, Blind Melon, Gim Blossoms (AZ Band), Phunk Junkies (AZ Band), 311, Sound Garden and this could go on and on.  We even got to meet some of the bands too.  What struck me most about this time of my life was being drawn to the performance of live music.  It was great to listen to music on a tape then cd, but being in a space with a group of people who were excited to listen to the music as a community was so uplifting.  These artist influenced my dancing.”

“Recently I decided to go to a concert with a friend and we saw Cold Play’s opening tour of Vida La Vida in LA in July of 2008.  It was absolutely incredible.  I was swallowed up in the sound and completely absorbed in the energy.  I am still feeling the effects of that concert in my work.  What I like to do is use a piece of music especially Cold Play, anything Cold Play, to inspire the dancing then change the music when the choreography is created to a instrumental abstract piece and change the phrasing.”

More to come on Carrie Smaczny’s music inspirations.

As I have been preparing videos to be uploaded, photographs to be scanned for the new Grounding Point Dance Company website launch, I have been reflecting on my journey as a professional dancer for the past 10 years.  I recently had a photo shoot with Jody Domingue in Hollywood and I was amazed with the photographs (see my photo gallery on gpdance.com).  I had to think back to my first photo shoot for Miss Teen USA Arizona State Pageant when I was 16 years old.  I had only been dancing for three years, but looking closely at the photos I saw the same sparkle in my eyes.  

Sometimes life can get really busy and full of difficult decisions and tasks, but for me it is important to stay focused on what life is about:  God, Husband, Family, Friends, and Dance.  I am proud that at 32 that I AM A DANCER, and at when I turn 33, I know it just gets even sweeter.

DANCE ON!

Grounding Point Dance Company is currently re-staging Red, which premiered in 2002. Dancer, Crystal Truesdell, California State Fullerton dance alumni, is learning the piece from Carrie Smaczny, Artistic Director.  

Smaczny states, “As a contemporary dance artist and screen dance artist creating non-linear movement sequences interests me most.  I am shooting this piece with the HD Canon Xh-A1.  Shooting dance in High Definition gives the viewer a real time experience, which is what I am looking for.  My intention is to draw the audience in to the dancer’s intimate space and use unique camera perspective.  I love getting close to the movement, in order to capture the dancer’s kinesthetic sense of weight, space, and time.”

Red will be premiered in November on Grounding Point Dance Company’s new website.