Heather is originally from Ontario, where she received her initial dance training. Heather performed with a local ballet company, Danse Elite, as first soloist and member of the corps de ballet in the company’s production of The Nutcracker and was a guest performer in the Niagara Symphony children’s production, Garfield. Prior to leaving Ontario, Heather received a Bachelor of Recreation and Leisure Studies degree from Brock University (1997), then moved to British Columbia to continue her dance training and postsecondary education at Simon Fraser University (SFU). She received a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree, with a major in Dance and minor in Kinesiology (2002), as well as a Certificate in Health and Fitness (2002) from SFU. Heather attained her Associate status with ISTD, Cecchetti Branch in 2005 and was granted top honours by receiving a “pass with distinction”. In 2006 she received her Associate Diploma status and in 2012 attained her Licentiate status with the Cecchetti Society of Canada. In 2019, Heather successfully attained the Enrico Cecchetti Final Diploma. She has her Licentiate membership in the Ballet and Modern Divisions CDTA, BC Branch. Heather continues to upgrade, and seeks to diversify, her teaching certifications. She has completed a 200- hour Yoga Teacher Training program and is a registered instructor with Yoga Alliance. Heather has completed a 20-hour Yin Yoga teacher-training program as well as a 20-hour Restorative Yoga teacher training program. She is a certified Pilates Level 1: Mat instructor through Body Harmonics and has completed certificates in Gait Analysis, SI Joint: The Critical Functional Link and Self-care Strategies for Jaw Pain. She completed the PBT (Progressing Ballet Technique) Teacher Training Certification Program as well as received certificates from Allegro Performance & Wellness, including Module 1: Healthy Dance Practice and Injury Management for Dance Teachers and Module 2: Training Flexibility Safely. Heather has served on the executive boards of various dance organizations. She volunteered as a member of the Katherine Labelle Dance Society, which became Modus Dance, the Canadian Dance Teacher’s Association, BC Branch and the National CDTA Modern and Ballet Committees. During that time, Heather had the honour of being a BC Representative at the National CDTA ballet syllabus meetings and took part in the development of the National CDTA Ballet Examination Syllabus. Heather also served as the Secretary for the Cecchetti Canada BC Committee Heather was responsible for proposing, implementing and developing the Modern Division of the CDTA BC Branch, which then led to the development of similar divisions across Canada. As the Modern Division Chairperson for CDTA, BC Branch she wrote the Professional Membership Examination requirements for the Modern Division. Heather also wrote the Junior Modern Examination Syllabus and a portion of the Senior Syllabus for students studying modern dance, which is now being used Nationally by the CDTA. She was the National CDTA Modern Consultant for 2 years. Heather was also a Ballet and Modern Examiner for CDTA but resigned in 2014 to focus on teaching. Heather gained ample performance experience by working with Danse Elite, Off Centre Performance Company, The Company Experience, Ballet du Printemps and CollabArt Creations. She performed in works by Shannon McMurchy, Claire French, Sylvain Brochu, Santa Aloi and Cheryl Prophet. She has had much success with her former company, DansArts et al., and now Inertia Dance Co. Heather has 20+ years experience as a well-respected dance instructor responsible for developing strong, artistic young dancers in a kinesthetically appropriate manner. Many of her students have been accepted into professional training institutions, gone on to perform professionally and have even become dance instructors. Heather is excited to be joining the teaching faculty of Peak Dance Company!