Meet Rachel Huffman

We recently connected with Rachel Huffman and have shared our conversation below.

Rachel, thanks so much for taking the time to share your insights and lessons with us today. We’re particularly interested in hearing about how you became such a resilient person. Where do you get your resilience from?

I think that resilience is presented in many forms throughout a person’s life; often out of heartbreak.
At the age of seven, I lost my brother in a car accident. This is the first major hurdle that I can vividly remember my family facing. Though it was hard, I watched my parents push through each day and continue to find strength and joy while giving my sister and I a full and incredible childhood. Soon after, my mom enrolled me in dance lessons as a form of healing. I fell in love and eventually knew I had to continue the pursuit of dance and make it my life’s work. This wasn’t always easy considering dance was not readily accessible in the small Ohio town where I grew up and I certainly wasn’t one of the “cool kids”. My high school Guidance counselor actually chuckled when I told him I wanted to pursue dance in college and suggested that perhaps cosmetology school would be a better fit. That statement from him only fueled the fire. I realized that by taking dance classes I was learning to accept constructive criticism and to persevere physically, mentally, and artistically. I had met so many influential people through dance by the time that I was 17 who opened my eyes to a bigger world; a world that I knew I belonged in.
Dancers are tough! Throughout my college experience, I accepted more “no’s” than “yes’s”, battled injuries, and was even weighed under water as part of our Sophomore Jury acceptance exam for The College of Fine and Applied Arts. (This was a BMI calculation which is no longer a practice to my knowledge). It was a beautiful but challenging fight for my BA in Dance, but I knew that if I pushed through, I would achieve it. What I took away from that robust dance education shaped me as I looked to educate and inspire dancers of the future.
Later in life, I got married, became a mom to two beautiful daughters, and found myself divorced shortly after. There I was, a single mom who had to figure out how to give my girls a full life regardless of my heartache. By the grace of God, the opportunity to buy the dance studio which I have now proudly owned for nine years but had taught at since the early 2000’s (Martell School of Dance) was staring me in the face. I had nothing but the friendship and faith of the former owner as a down payment. There dance was, saving me again. I can’t help but think that if I hadn’t been shown resilience early on by my parents, I may not have had the courage or opportunity to build a life as the dance professional and mom I am today.

Great, so let’s take a few minutes and cover your story. What should folks know about you and what you do?

I am the Owner and Director of Martell School of Dance located in Akron, OH. In addition to running the daily operations and continuing the development of our programming, I enjoy teaching modern, jazz, and ballet as well as mentoring our Faculty and Students.

We are heading in to our 46th year of dance and we foster a wonderful community of dancers, artists, and families. Many of our students have gone on to very successful professional careers in dance and musical theatre and our Alumni continue to bring their own children back to experience the dance environment and tradition that we offer. We are a non-competition based school (meaning we don’t attend dance competitions or use the art form competitively). We offer a recreational track as well as a preprofessional track for students who simply want to dance for fun or who want to pursue a career in dance.

We have a mission to remain a philanthropy-based studio which leads us to partnerships with non-profit organizations throughout the Akron area. Our most recent partnership is through The Vincent House and their dance program, The Dance Exchange. We send our Faculty (on a weekly basis) to The Vincent House to instruct students who would otherwise not have access to dance due to various circumstances of life. Additionally, we partner with ArtSparks (I serve on their Board of Directors) to assure that children have access to dance through programming that occurs within their typical school day. You might also see our dancers performing at local charity events and Martell Gift Certificates are often available within silent auction and raffle baskets as we support various causes and more.

At Martell, we strive to keep our tuition costs low and make dance as accessible as possible to the youth of our community as well as to our Adult dancers. It is a blessing to employ nearly 25 working dance Faculty and give them the opportunity to impact future humans through their leadership and investment in dance. We will soon begin enrollment for our new season and release our 25/26 schedule. Enrollment will begin on August 2nd through our website, www.martellschoolofdance.com.

Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?

I have found that following my personal journey required an immense amount of courage, faith, and trust.
So much of my life has evolved via my response to the circumstances that were presented to me. One thing I refused to give up on was my love for dance. There was no way that I would ever let that part of me escape. Looking back on my journey now and into the future, dance is like the “tree of life”. Every branch represents a piece of me; A story, a friend, a foe, a new idea, a means of survival, a new path to explore. My roots are deep and grounded by family, my education, my artistry, and my past experiences.
To those just embarking on their journey or even seeking the right path, I would say to look for the signs. So much of my life fell into place without too much force. Anything I tried to force, proved to not be for me, but it also returned a life lesson. Mistakes are a part of life, but be intuitive enough to recognize when it’s time to go a different direction. That’s where you grow and wisdom is added to your bank of knowledge.

What is the number one obstacle or challenge you are currently facing and what are you doing to try to resolve or overcome this challenge?

I think that I am my own obstacle!

As a dancer nearing my mid 40’s, keeping up with the evolution of dance as well as the physical demands of the art form has become more of a consideration.

Focusing heavily on nutrition, sleep, strengthening my body, and being more aware of my approach to movement while teaching is at the forefront of my daily routine. Though I teach three to four nights a week, my body has to be prepared to take that on well before I head to the studio.

Since the dawn of time, humans have been dancing. New ideas and ways to move are always being defined and determining the best way to maintain the foundations of movement as the medium evolves can be a challenge within the industry. Working hard to stay relevant in this ever-changing world of dance through observation, taking classes, and attending performances helps develop my knowledge base.

In my position of business woman, mom, and studio owner/dancer there is only so much that can be accomplished in a day. Allowing myself to rely on my amazing team of Dance Faculty and Administrators to assure the daily operations of the studio are in a good place is something that I have grown more accepting of in recent years. This has allowed me to focus on my physical and mental health as well as my personal life, leading to the studio’s ability to thrive and the emergence of new leaders (and dreamers) in our dance community.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.martellschoolofdance.com
• Instagram: @martelldance1
• Facebook: Martell School of Dance

Image Credits

Vicki Lantz Photography is the OFFICIAL photographer of Martell School of Dance