Student spotlight (kicker)

Perfecting each step for their upcoming fall concert, the pressure is on for the anxious dancers of the Zodiaque Dance Company. This is especially true for senior dance major Richard Ashworth. In addition to performing in it, Ashworth has also been chosen as one of the choreographers for the show.

It is Ashworth's first experience choreographing for a professional dancing group, and also a goal he has fostered as long as he can remember.

His routine aims to please not only the audience but the dancers as well.

"As choreographer, I have tried to create a work that is entertaining and meaningful to the audience but also fun and challenging to the dancers," Ashworth said. "I'm a little more nervous for the choreography than the dancing."

With the expressive nature of the dance company combined with the diversity of the dancers, Ashworth is confident that the company will give their audience a performance worth their money.

"Very truthfully, this company is a very devoted and capable group of dancers. The choreographers are a very diverse selection of individuals who have dedicated their time to us in crafting and molding our technical and artistic skills," Ashworth said. "All of this combined truly creates a show that everyone can find something enjoyable about. It'll be a strong representation of what we can do this year."

Dancing since the age of two, Ashworth didn't know that following in his older sister's dancing footsteps would become the path of his life. First enrolling in tap and gymnastics and then moving on to jazz and ballet, he eventually enrolled in a professional dance studio when he became a more serious student. His parents drove him half an hour outside of the small town where they lived in Hopes Valley, R.I.

"I was a little hillbilly kid," he said. "I did own shoes but walked around barefoot a lot."

Ashworth credits dance as more than an expressive art form, but a means to cope with daily life pressures.

"Dance allows me, and has for some time, to be able to let go of reality for a little bit each day, and express myself fully through movement," he said. "Even in social atmospheres such as clubs or other events. I can clear my mind and have fun in ways that I wouldn't be able to without dancing."

But in order to be a good performer, rigors and sacrifices are needed to become successful.

"There are a lot of sacrifices to be made when you dance. In high school it was almost impossible to have a girlfriend due to the hours put in at my dance studio. Time is a huge sacrifice," Ashworth said.

Likewise, at UB dancers continue to be put to the test. The company does not take missed classes lightly, and students are expected to make it to every practice, even if circumstances involve illness or sometimes injury.

In spite of these hardships and sacrifices, Ashworth does not let the pressures of dance stress him out. With his experience in performance, he is not only a performer in the company but a leader.

"The pressure that is involved in making a show is very much dependent on the individual. I take shows very lightly in the sense that this is what I have been trained to do, and I know for a fact that the training of the company will allow me to perform to the best of my abilities," Ashworth said.

The Zodiaque Dance Company is providing Ashworth with the opportunity to raise his credibility on his resume. After graduation he plans to audition in Buffalo and Toronto, with cruise ship shows as a safety net. Ultimately, he strives to one day become part of a dance company in New York or Chicago.

No matter how far he goes, or how successful he becomes, a part of Ashworth will always be the two-year old kid running around without his shoes.

"I'm still kind of a bumpkin in the back of my mind. Occasionally I will be walking around campus barefoot and people will stare," Ashworth said.

The Zodiaque Dance Company will present their annual fall concert Nov. 13 through the 16 in the drama theater at the Center for the Arts.

"The Zodiaque Company at UB is pretty well rounded, they teach us to do anything in different scenarios," Ashworth said. "I would like to consider myself a pretty well rounded dancer and I have the talent to back that up."