Heather Telford was born in Vancouver, Canada and has a formation in dance from BCSD, Arts Umbrella Youth Dance Company, L’Ecole Superieure de Danse du Quebec. She has danced professionally with international companies; Les Grands Ballets Canadiens (Montreal, Canada), Le Grands Theatre de Geneve (Geneva, Switzerland), and more recently with Göteborgs Operans Danskompani (Göteborg, Sweden). She has had the opportunity to work with many choreographers such as Jiri Kylian, Mats Ek, William Forsythe, Wim Vandekebus, Marie Chouinard, Sabouro Teshigawara, Ohad Naharin, Jo Strømgren, Ina Christel Johannesson, Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui, Johan Inger, Nacho Duato, Örjan Andersson, Jo Kanamori, Martin Forsberg, Tero Saarinen, and Alex Ekman among many others. She has had workshops/seminars from Alan Lucien Øyen, Tanztheater Wuppertal Pina Bausch, Hannes Langol and Lloyd Newson (DV8 Physical theatre), Michael Schumacher, Crystal Pite, Germaine Spivey, Sharon Eyal, Sasha Waltz, and Marcos Morau among many others. Her choreographic work has been presented at the Banff Festival of the Arts in Canada, Nudans, the Gothenburg Dance and Theatre Festival, and the Schmiede Festival in Austria (multimedia arts festival). She has had the opportunity to create a set design for NDT choreographic workshop, and directing and editing a short dance film “Impermanence”, as well as, film documentation as part of the improvisational project “Antechamber.”(2015).

She is now working as a freelance teacher and is a practicing Biodynamic Craniosacral Therapist (BCST, RCST®.) has been teaching yoga for over 10 years (certified yoga teacher 500h+ Yoga Alliance). She continues her studies in yoga therapy as well as many somatic practices. She has been freelance teaching, since 2014 with Balettakademien in Göteborg, Regionteater Väst, Arts Umbrella Summer dance program(Vancouver), Montreal summer dance programs, and Danscentrum Väst.

Class description:

My classes are open to any type of dancer, taking the language of ballet and approaching it from a more contemporary perspective. I like to play with dynamics and rhythms but also give space for each individual to find their own body within a sensory experience. I focus more on moving and shifting space as well as the connection of movement to breath. I try to create a class where each individual can tune into what your body needs for that day with inner awareness and playing with musicality!