Jennifer Backhaus is the Founder and Artistic Director of Backhausdance, Orange County’s award winning contemporary dance company. Jennifer was included in OC Metro’s 40 Under 40 in 2009 and was recently honored by Chapman University, where she is a faculty member of the dance department, as Alumni of the Year for her success with Backhausdance. As a choreographer, Jennifer’s works have been commissioned and produced by the Los Angeles Ballet, Orange County Regional Ballet, the McCallum Theatre, Orange County Performing Arts Center, Utah Regional Ballet, Chapman University, Mount San Antonio College, Santa Ana College, Impact Dance Theater, TDC of the Bay Area, Brigham Young University, 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 twelve pieces, three of which (Sitting on January, Love and Other Impossibilities and Shift) have received multiple Lester Horton Awards for Outstanding Achievement in Choreography. 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. 

Jennifer is currently on the dance faculty at Chapman University and she is a certified Pilates instructor and teaches modern dance technique and dance conditioning. She is also a teaching artist for the Orange County Performing Arts Center’s Education Programs where she shares her love for dance and choreography with local students. 

Jennifer’s pug, R2D2 is the unofficial Backhausdance mascot. He makes intriguing and hilarious vocalizations that inspires Jenny everyday.

Photo © Tim Agler