Backhaus Dance

MANAGEMENT

CEO/Executive Director

Jennifer Backhaus

CEO/Executive Director Experience

Jennifer Backhaus, founder, artistic director, and CEO of Backhausdance, has been a vital, creative force with the first and leading contemporary dance company in Orange County. From the inception of her company as a non-profit organization in 2003, she has been committed to choreographing and producing the fine art of contemporary concert dance with a professional company and also designing and implementing an extensive dance education for all ages, providing dance programs through assemblies, residencies, workshops and partnership programs with the Orange County community and beyond. Featuring deeply human, inventive and emotional pieces as a 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 with awards, and her piece Disintegration was presented at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. For Backhausdance, she has created numerous works, three of which 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. Currently a full-time dance faculty member at Chapman University, Jennifer and Backhausdance are teaching artists for the Segerstrom Center for the Arts Education Programs, where the company shares their love of dance and choreography with thousands of students in public and private schools across Southern California. A life-long learner, Jennifer holds a BFA in Communications and Dance from Chapman University, and received her MFA in Choreography from Hollins University.

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