Meet the Faculty Mentors
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Natalie Gotter is a dance performer, choreographer, instructor, filmmaker and researcher interested in social perceptions of the physical form and how relationships through movement provide insight into the individual. She received her MFA in Modern Dance with emphasis on Gender Studies and Screendance Certification from the University of Utah. Her work has been presented at the Dance in the Desert Festival, Utah Dance Film Festival (recipient of 2019 Audience Choice award), Great Salt Lake Fringe Festival, and commissioned and presented by companies in New Orleans, Salt Lake City, Chicago, and Minneapolis. She has performed with Tsunami Dance Company, MotionVivid Dance Company, and was a featured dancer in the Alwin Nikolais Centennial Celebration in 2011.
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Heidi Cruz-Austin has studied at the School of American Ballet and The Pennsylvania Ballet, where she received an apprenticeship in 1994 and joined the Company as a member of the Corps de Ballet in 1995. She has danced numerous featured roles for various choreographers, including Val Caniparoli, Ben Stevenson, Alvin Ailey, Margo Sappington, Christopher d'Amboise, and Matthew Neenan. She has also had featured roles in many George Balanchine ballets. Heidi has also danced with the Philadelphia-based company Ballet X and has performed as a guest artist through the United States and Europe.
As a choreographer, she was a winner in the 2003 Ballet Builders showcase in New York City and has been commissioned to create works for Muhlenberg College, Franklin and Marshall College, Bryn Mawr College, and Repertory Dance Theatre. She was a recipient of the 2004-2005 New Edge Residency at the Community Education Center of Philadelphia and a 2008 Fellowship from the New Jersey State Council on the Arts. She is currently a Co-Director of a Trenton-based Contemporary Ballet company called, DanceSpora, which is the resident dance company of the Passage Theater Company in Trenton, NJ. |
