Heidi Weiss

Heidi Weiss earned her B.F.A. in modern dance from The University of the Arts, Philadelphia in 1992. Upon graduation she performed, choreographed and toured with Group Motion Company from 1992-95. In her last year with the company, she trained and performed Butoh dance with the master Masaki Iwana.

As a Philadelphia young artist, Heidi received several grants for her work, including an Independent Performing Arts grant and a Pew Fellowship.

In addition to choreographing her own work, Heidi danced with local artists such as Rennie Harris, Karen Bamonte and SCRAP performance group. In 1997 Heidi relocated to Germany, where she co-founded Zen in the Basement Company*(ZIB) with Jennifer Mann and Sebastian Gäbel. Heidi has been teaching her own unique style of Contemporary   technique for many years in professional studios, Dance Academies, Universities and for Companies. She has been a faculty member at Etage, Danceworks and HDK (Berlin).

From 2004-2007 Heidi was Professor for Contemporary Dance at Palucca   Schule Dresden, where she taught in both the Stage Dance and Pedagogy Departments. In the Fall of 2007, Heidi was a guest artist in residence at Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) in Virginia/USA , where, in addition to   teaching, she also created a student work. Other schools where she has been a guest teacher include- University of the Arts in Philadelphia, SEAD in Salzburg, Austria, Duncan Conservatory in Prag, Chech Republic and The Place in London.

Heidi has given training to such well renowned companies such as Itzik Galleli (Grönigen, Holland), Sasha Waltz and guests (Berlin) and DV8 (London/UK). In September 2008 Heidi led contemporary workshops as part of Dublin´s Fringe Festival. Heidi has enjoyed collaberating with Philadelphia company SUBCIRCLE, with whom she worked on the film project "HERE" shot in Berlin and Potsdam.

In June 2008 Heidi was on stage in a music and dance extravaganza "Mass of Joy"choreographed by Jean Marc Lebon.

After a long break from creating, Heidi teamed up with ZIB partner Jennifer Mann, to show their latest work" DO or DIE" in Philadelphia in January, 2009. Currently, Heidi is teaching at Balance 1. She continues to teach for festivals and schools throughout Germany and abroad.

Besides her busy life as an artist, Heidi is the proud mom of two sons, Lucas and Spencer.