Heidi Strauss
Stories & Testimonials
HEIDI STRAUSS
- Toronto, ON
- Contemporary dance/performance, Digital media-influenced installation
- Career Pathway: Creation, Artistic Direction
Heidi Strauss (she/her) is a dancer, choreographer, and performance maker. Her research-based practice has been influenced by iterative and collaborative models of creation with an interest in audience experience. She is the artistic director of project-based company adelheid and holds an MFA in Creative Practice from TransartInstitute/Liverpool John Moore’s University.
HEIDI’S STORY
“My career transition journey started with a need to challenge myself in new ways. With the pandemic interrupting adelheid’s activities so significantly, I had reflection time to realize that personal growth, professional development, and the possibility of contributing more significantly to the sector, all required a sidestep. I unplugged from the arts creation and production treadmill and took what might be considered a sabbatical in academic circles – except for me, it involved going to school. I embarked on graduate studies to expand my frames of reference, deciding on an international low-residency practice-based program. It has opened many doors in terms of teaching, publishing work, and building new professional relationships, but mostly the biggest gift has been the change in perspective it provided.
The DTRC’s support provided new challenges for me through engaging in academic life the way I would in any dance work – fully and completely. The program’s international scope offered a broad range of critical perspectives that have equipped me to think about my own context differently. As part of a low-residency interdisciplinary program, I entered new-to-me conversations and did research that has changed my thinking and career path as a result.
The support has changed my frames of reference, offered opportunity for deeper analysis of my choreographic thinking and practice, connected me with interdisciplinary artists and practices, ongoing research and publishing opportunities. It has also uplifted skills in critical thinking that has brought about teaching and consultancy contracts.”
DTRC’S SUPPORT
- Retraining (Study) Grant
- Subsistence Grant: Parallel Pathway
