ABOUT

Heather Tatreau is a modern dance choreographer, arts advocate, and educator. She has taught in universities across NC for 19 years. She was on the faculty at UNC-Chapel Hill for ten years, teaching the modern dance technique and theory courses, as well as choreographing for productions across campus. She has worked with StreetSigns, The Process Series, The Ackland Art Museum, and the Kenan Theater Company. In addition, she worked closely with Carolina Performing Arts to promote student and faculty engagement with visiting dance artists and to create interdisciplinary collaborations. Heather enjoyed mentoring students as the faculty advisor for MX Dance Company. She has also been involved with Tobacco Road Dance Productions for three seasons, twice as a panelist and once as a choreographer.

Heather's passion for supporting other artists led to a three year run as producer for the UNC Process Series: New Works in Development alongside Joseph Megel and working with local arts non-profit organizations. She served as the Director of Education and Community Engagement at the ArtsCenter in Carrboro, seeing the organization through a major move. Heather took over the role as Executive Director at the Hillsborough Arts Council in 2024 and is thrilled to be leading this team in community-driven programming. Her priority as an arts administrator is to create an equitable platform for diverse voices in the performing arts and to make the arts accessible to all.

Recent Dance Projects

Heather worked with the Women's Theatre Festival to transform her dance The Debate into a live streaming virtual version of the piece - winning the jury selection award for outstanding set design in the 2020 WTF Fringe Festival and Outstanding Choreography from Chatham Life and Style's Best of the Year 2020. WTF also produced The Debate 2.0 with Heather for Vimeo On Demand and partnered with her to offer workshops on virtual theater and social justice performance.

Heather's site-specific series, Voices: A Walking Tour, elevates diverse community perspectives of the Chapel Hill landscape through collaborations in dance, music, and spoken word. This is an ongoing series of performances with the most recent iteration recognized by Chatham Life and Style's Best of 2021 for Outstanding Ensemble Performance.

Education and Scholarship

Heather has a Master's Degree in Dance Education from New York University. While living in NYC, her training focused on Limon technique, Cunningham technique, improvisational performance, Laban Movement Analysis, and curriculum development. She has performed with post-modern dance pioneer Douglas Dunn in NYC and Italy. She is also a certified Yoga and Pilates instructor.

Heather is active in the dance education community as a board member of the North Carolina chapter of the National Dance Education Organization, co-chairing the IDEA Committee for inclusion, diversity, equity, and access. She presents regularly at local and national conferences and recently published a journal article: Heather Tatreau (2022) Virtual Performance as Social Activism, Dance Education in Practice, 8:3, 13-17, DOI: 10.1080/23734833.2022.2078108

Artist Statement

My mission as a choreographer is to create work within a broader social context. For this reason, the primary genres I work in are experimental dance-theatre and site-specific pieces. I have created three evening length dance dramas. Each hour-long piece is organized around a theme, using text, movement, and theatrical design to convey meaning and encourage questioning. In my site-specific work, I explore the relationship of dancer to place. By creating movement for a particular place outside the confines of the theater, I aim to create new and multiple meanings for the audience when in that space. I see each creation of a new work as an opportunity for collaboration, embodied learning, and investigation. My research interests focus on dance education and performance as pedagogical practices that can be implemented across disciplines.