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DANCE WORKSHOP

with TERESA L. HEILAND, Ph.D.​

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TERESA L. HEILAND, Ph.D.​

Dance Artist | Somatic Educator | Voice & Movement Specialist
Greensboro, NC | TeresaHeiland@gmail.com

Teresa is an accomplished professional in dance, somatics, and the performing arts. Holding a Ph.D. in Dance, Voice, & Visual Arts, she is a Registered Somatic Movement Therapist (ISMETA) and certified in the Language of Dance®, Franklin Method®, and Cortical Field Re-education, as well as skilled in Laban Bartenieff Movement Analysis. Currently, Teresa co-teaches at the Language of Dance Center USA and serves as a full professor at UNC Greensboro School of Dance, where she leads pioneering initiatives in performing arts, teacher education, somatics, creative practice, and dance wellness. With a commitment to artistic expression and social consciousness, Teresa curates collaborative dance events exploring themes of nature and environmental concerns. Since 2003, she has made significant contributions to the global dance community through teaching, presenting, and performing internationally. Teresa's artistic portfolio includes over 40 choreographed dances and the authorship of "Leaping into Dance Literacy through the Language of Dance." She has also written extensively on dance, training methodologies, and pedagogy, demonstrating her expertise across various dance techniques, from modern pioneers to traditional Javanese dance, enriched by her studies in Indonesia.

EDUCATION

Ph.D. in Dance in Higher Education, New York University
Dissertation: Intertwining Choreography and Writing Workshop Methods

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M.A. in Dance and Dance Education, New York University

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B.F.A. in Communication Design (Studio Art), Kutztown University

HONORS, RECOGNITION & AWARDS

  • Master Somatic Movement Educator & Therapist (ISMETA, 2023)

  • NDEO Leadership Award in Higher Education (2024)

  • Book Award, Honorable Mention: Leaping into Dance Literacy (Intellect Books, 2024)

  • Dance Project/NC Dance Festival Artist-in-Residence (2024–2025)

RETREAT MISSION

Join us for a week of creativity, healing, and discovery at a beautiful homestead retreat center in California. Each day we’ll gather outdoors to explore the deep connections between body, voice, movement, and drawing. In this immersive retreat, artmaking and somatic practice become pathways to presence—inviting you to listen more closely to yourself, to others, and to the natural world that surrounds us. Whether you are new to these practices or experienced in the arts, you’ll find space here to play, to rest, and to create in community.

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RETREAT PURPOSE

Across five days, we will create together—sharing voice, movement, drawing, and somaticpractice in a cycle of improvisation, reflection, and exploration. The retreat culminates in a collaborative sharing, where participants bring together their week’s explorations in a workshop
sharing that is both intimate and expansive. This is a chance to step into artmaking as a form of healing and play, to cultivate trust in your own creative voice, and to discover new forms of connection with others and with the natural world.

Voice and Movement

Through experimental vocal work and movement improvisation, participants will be guided into expressive states that blur the lines between vocalizing, breath, movement, and expression. Inspired by practices of Meredith Monk, Pauline Oliveros, Odeya Nini, and others, we will explore resonance, rhythm, and vocal textures that invite the body into sound and the voice into motion. This work allows for both catharsis and quiet reflection, awakening new ways of expressing and listening.

RETREAT HIGHLIGHTS

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