MISSION

Backhausdance’s mission is to engage and educate diverse audiences about the relevance and vitality of contemporary concert dance, both as a multi-sensory art form and as an essential connection to learning, creative expression and overall well-being.

ABOUT

““A fluid, unforced fusion of classical and contemporary dance.”

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— The Brooklyn Rail

Backhausdance, formed in 2003 as a non-profit organization by Jennifer Backhaus, award-winning choreographer and Chapman University dance faculty member, is Orange County's premier, professional, contemporary dance company. Annually, Backhausdance presents professional performances with original choreography and the work of guest choreographers at theatres and various venues throughout Southern California and beyond.

The company’s repertory offers a body of original and innovative work appealing to all ages and backgrounds, performing and teaching an eclectic and dynamic dance vocabulary with a wonderful sense of fluidity and strength. Audiences experience the joy and artistry of Backhausdance’s powerful, athletic dances, featuring deeply human and emotional creations that are infused with a sense of humor and theatricality, reflecting on aspects of our common humanity and our place in the world. Woven into the fabric of Backhausdance is advocacy for inclusivity, equity, and celebration of all perspectives, identities and ideas.

““The dancers seemed to grow before our eyes.””

— Laura Bleiberg, Los Angeles Times

HISTORY AND PARTNERSHIPS

Backhausdance is the recipient of 10 Lester Horton Awards from Dance Resource Center of Los Angeles for achievements in choreography, design and performance, quickly establishing the company to the forefront of Southern California contemporary dance. Backhausdance also offers concert pieces with a focus on younger audiences that includes a master class workshop. In 2012, Backhausdance was honored with the Outstanding Arts Organization award from Arts Orange County.

Backhausdance has performed extensively nationwide as well as internationally on its first European tour in 2017 in venues such as Teatro Verdi in Pisa, Italy; Teatr Collegium Nobilium in Warsaw, Poland; Schimmel Center at Pace University, New York; Vernon & District Performing Arts Centre, British Columbia; Pinedale Performing Arts Center, Wyoming; and Joyce SoHo, New York.

In Orange County, and throughout Southern California, the company has been part of the Irvine Barclay Theatre's dance@theBarclay series; performed at Musco Center for the Arts at Chapman University, been presented by Old Town Temecula Community Theater, the Carpenter Performing Arts Center, and appeared on the Studio Series at South Coast Repertory, Fall for Dance at Segerstrom Center for the Arts,Laguna Dance Festival, Celebrate Dance at the Alex Theatre, and the Los Angeles Arts Holiday Celebration at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion. As artist-in-residence, Backhausdance has worked with Brigham Young University, Chapman University, Moorpark College, and Santa Ana College, and as guest artist for the California Dance Educators Association.

CULTIVATING THE NEXT GENERATION

Integral to the company’s mission is its commitment to providing extensive education and community programs, providing a variety of education programs for K-12 schools, higher education and community organizations, reaching thousands of students, teachers, emerging, advanced and professional dancers, families, and adults and seniors each year. Program formats include assemblies, workshops, residencies, master classes, the annual summer intensive dance program for teens, pre-professional and advanced dancers, lecture-demonstrations, and site-specific work in the community. The company is committed to advancing career pathways through its apprenticeship and ambassador program and providing scholarships to over half of the students in the annual summer dance program, reaching over 150 students each year.

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ARTISTIC
LEADERSHIP

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JENNIFER BACKHAUS

Founder and artisic Director

Jennifer Backhaus, founder, and artistic director of Backhausdance, has been the energetic and creative force spearheading the development and growth of Orange County’s critically-acclaimed contemporary dance company and also serves on the dance faculty at Chapman University. A life-long learner, she holds a BFA in Communications and Dance from Chapman University, and received her MFA in Choreography from Hollins University.

From the inception of the company as a non-profit organization in 2003, Jennifer has been committed to choreographing and producing the fine art of contemporary concert dance with a professional company while simultaneously designing and implementing an extensive dance education and performance program for all ages. Featuring deeply human and emotional creations that are infused with a sense of humor, athleticism and theatricality, Backhausdance has received numerous awards and honors, including Outstanding Arts Organization by Arts Orange County in 2012, and recognized by Chapman University with the 2017 Distinguished Alumni Award as well as Alumni of the Year in 2007 for her artistic leadership of Backhausdance. As an award-winning and in-demand choreographer, Jennifer’s works have been commissioned and produced by Brigham Young University, Chapman University, Los Angeles Ballet, McCallum Theatre, Segerstrom Center for the Arts, TDC of the Bay Area and Utah Regional Ballet, among others.

Many of Jennifer’s works have been honored by Regional Dance America, and her piece Disintegration was selected for national performances with the American College Dance Festival at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. For Backhausdance, she has created numerous works which have received ten Lester Horton Awards from Dance Resource Center of Los Angeles for Outstanding Achievement in choreography, design, and performance. At the McCallum Theatre’s Dance Under the Stars Choreography Festival, Jennifer has been the recipient of three consecutive choreography awards for her work with Backhausdance.

AMANDA KAY WHITE

ASSOCIATE ARTISTIC DIRECTOR

Amanda Kay White is a founding/current member and associate artistic director of Backhausdance. After finding her voice first as a performer with Backhausdance, she is honored to contribute to the company beyond the stage. She has created site-sensitive works for Backhausdance since 2019 which challenge spatial perceptions and create intimate experiences for audience members.

Amanda Kay White’s creative research delves into the entanglement of bodily knowledge, embodied cognition, and spatial theory through the medium of choreography. Finding points of access to these physical collections of experience and memory makes her work strikingly inventive. Her creations have been showcased at Highways Performance Space, Orange County Museum of Art, Pasadena Dance Festival, Oulu Dance Hack, Centro Negra, Chapman Touring Company, University of Tampa, American College Dance Festival, and the Wayward Artist. Amanda is currently on faculty at Santa Ana College, Chapman University, Orange County School of the Arts, and South Coast Conservatory.

In 2009 she founded Compass Dance Company, a pre-professional contemporary dance company for emerging artists ages 14 and up. By engaging, expressing, and innovating Compass Dance Company reaches out to the community through dance.