Heidi Strauss founded an awareness group called Earthdancers.
courtesy earthdancers

A former Humber teacher is using the art of dance to send a message to her audience.

“Dance has a way of communicating, which is something we are not used to in our everyday life,” said Heidi Strauss, a Sudbury native who taught in the theatre program. 

Strauss will be performing two dance works, collectively called Adelheid Solos, at the Harbourfront Centre’s NextStep Series in April. She will present her award-winning dance, Das Martyrium, along with her new performance, Ohne.

“I am excited to see what the response will be from the Canadian audience,” said Strauss, who performed Ohne previously in Prague.

Strauss got her start founding a company in Sudbury called Earthdancers. It is where she started her career in interpretive dance.

“I started dancing when I was four, but as I got older I wanted to do something with it,” said Strauss.

Earthdancers uses dance to raise awareness about environmental issues and last week they performed their 17th show, raising $65,000 for the environment.

 “It is rare that the arts can raise money for anything other than themselves,” said Strauss.

Earthdancers has grown since it began in 1989. Artists from across Ontario have moved to Sudbury in order to dance with the group and last year the company earned the rights to use Bruce Cockburn’s songs for their dances.
In 1994 Strauss decided to pursue her dreams of being a choreographer and after having a friend take over Earthdancers she packed up and headed off to Toronto.

After graduating from the School of Toronto Dance Theatre, Strauss performed for independent dance companies. She began working at Humber in 1999 teaching a movement class to theatre students.                                                                                                                                                                                                                         
“She is very theatrical about the way she puts her dances together, which is why she is a fantastic teacher for actors,” said Diana Belshaw, head of the theater department.

In 2007 Strauss left Humber to tour Europe and prepare for her new solo, Ohne.

Usually it takes Strauss months to choreograph a performance because she incorporates text and theatre. 

“I research the thematic ideas and I like to spend a lot of time on movement development so the language for the piece is very specific,” said Strauss.

Often Strauss uses unconventional methods, such as video, to help express her physical monologue.

“The video is fully integrated into the piece, so on its own it doesn’t make any sense,” said Jeremy Mimnagh, her video and sound artist.

The Adelheid Solos runs from April 24 to 26 at 8 p.m. After the performance in Canada, Strauss will be touring around Europe with an Italian dance company.