Heather Shaw

With diverse experience as a choreographer, performer, filmmaker, and curator, Heather Shaw received her early dance training at Santa Cruz Ballet Theater and TDC of the Bay Area. Heather gained her BA in Philosophy (with a Theater/Dance minor) from UC Berkeley. Additionally, she is a graduate of the two year acting program at The Meisner Technique Studio in San Francisco. 

Heather’s professional dance experience includes performing with MKM Bollystars and Daurden Contemporary Dance Theater in Los Angeles, and currently with ArcTangent Dance in San Jose, CA. In 2016, she received a MASA grant to participate in the Vertigo International Dance Program in Jerusalem, Israel. In 2020, Heather was selected as one of five Project Tier Choreographers from across the country for Regional Dance America’s NCI under the direction of Stephanie Martinez. 

Heather is the co-director of the activist screendance documentary, Telephone, with Krishna Washburn. The first of its kind, Telephone celebrates the art form of audio description for dance, allowing blind and visually impaired people to be included fully in the joy of artistic expression. The forty-five minute film premiered at New York University in December of 2022, and has since been screened at various organizations across the country. 

Heather is currently the Artistic Director of Montage Contemporary Company and teaches ballet and contemporary at Montage Dance Studios, Ayana Ballet, and TDC of Los Gatos. Heather previously taught Barre and movement classes across the Los Angeles area, including at Equinox and on the FOX Studios lot. Her choreography has been performed at YAGP, California Dance Classics, ONYX Dance Co and more. 

As a curator, Heather has served as Performing Arts Manager at the Oshman Family JCC and Co-Curator of TEDxPaloAlto. Her artistic interests include exploring the intersection of movement, sentience, cultural behavior, and aesthetics,  and creating a dance community that is accessible to all. 

More information at www.heathershaw.us and www.telephonefilm.com.