About

MOVING WITHIN COLLABORATION: DANCES OPEN TO POSSIBILITY

Heather Trommer-Beardslee is an educator, choreographer, dancer, interdisciplinary artist, arts administrator, and scholar. She is the Coordinator of the Central Michigan University Dance Program, Artistic Director of the University Theatre Dance Company, and author of a textbook and journal articles.   She earned her MA in English Language and Literature from Central Michigan University and her MFA in Interdisciplinary Art (dance focus) from Goddard College.

Heather’s dance works have been performed nationally and internationally and her choreography was featured in Eric Limarenko’s film, Waiting in the Rain. Current choreography projects include jazz and tap dance for a performance in Nagoya, Japan with the Mishiro Dance Company, interdisciplinary projects bridging the gap between biology and the performing arts, and an educational opera based on the anatomy of the human vocal folds. Select academic theatre credits include Pericles, A Chorus Line, The Marvelous Wonderettes, The Country Wife, The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, and over 25 concert dances. 

She has had articles published in the Journal of Dance Education, Teaching Artist Journal, and Dance Education in Practice and she is currently under contract with the University Press of Florida to co-write the book, Getting Down, Going Forward: Jump Rhythm Technique. Conference presentations include the National Dance Education Organization Annual Conference (2014, 2015, 2018, 2019), the Great Lakes College Music Society Annual Conference (2018), the New Music Gathering Conference (2017), and the Great Lakes Conference on Teaching and Learning (2015, 2016). 

Heather is an arts administrator with significant experience in performing arts management. For ten years, she worked for the Emmy-Award winning, Chicago-based dance company, Jump Rhythm Jazz Project as their Booking Manager and Executive Director. She managed development campaigns, booked national and international performance tours, developed and managed public relations and marketing initiatives and managed the administrative office. Heather used many of these experiences and her work as a manager and teacher at two dance studios in writing her textbook, Dance Production and Management (Princeton Book Company, 2013).