Miss Rachel h

Rachel h
Instructor

Rachel is so excited to join the CMC teaching team!  Rachel began dancing at the age of 4 and quickly gravitated towards ballet. Throughout years of studying with some of the most prominent ballet instructors in the Northeast Ohio area, Rachel spent her summers dancing in programs with Ohio Dance Theatre and Broadway Dance Center.

Rachel graduated high school with plans to attend Point Park University to study ballet, when she quickly realized she wanted to pair her love of dance with her passion for music. She began a new journey at Mercyhurst University where she studied Music Education and Dance for two years. Plans changed again, excitingly, when Rachel transferred to Baldwin Wallace University in 2010 where she began studying in the BW Conservatory’s Music Education program. She continued studying Dance and Choreography under the instruction of Sara Whale at BW. Rachel choreographed in three of Baldwin Wallace’s dance concerts with her inspiration lying in collaborative and improvisational techniques. It was here that Rachel worked through a ballet injury and began training more in contemporary, modern, and choreography creation.

While studying as a pianist with Dr. Robert Mayerovitch and Professor Mary Dobrea, Rachel was exposed to Dalcroze Eurhythmics and began professional studies of the method under the instruction of Jeremy Dittus at the Dalcroze School of the Rockies in 2013. Working towards a Dalcroze Certification included combining Eurhythmics, Ear Training, and Improvisation into one approach to teaching Music and Movement. Rachel’s desire to combine her background of Music and Movement together was highly encouraged by Monica Dale, a professor at the Dalcroze School of the Rockies Professional Studies Summer Institute. Monica danced professionally and provided great inspiration to Rachel’s interest in teaching dancers to react to music in a different way.

Rachel taught Music and Movement in the Brecksville-Broadview Heights City School District, her alma mater, for 3 years from 2014-2017. She transitioned to Music Ministry in 2017. She lives in Parma with her husband Joe, son Moses, and is currently expecting her second child in March 2025!