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JENNIFER BACKHAUS
DIRECTOR
 
Jennifer Backhaus is the Founder and Artistic Director of Backhausdance, Orange County’s award-winning contemporary dance company. 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 eleven pieces, three of which (Sitting on January, Disintegration, and Love and Other Impossibilities) have received 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.

Backhausdance, now in its fifth year, has performed extensively throughout California at venues and festivals including the Orange County Performing Arts Center, Laguna Dance Festival, the Los Angeles Arts Holiday Celebration held at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, and the Celebrate Dance Festival at the Alex Theatre. The company has served as artists in residence at Santa Ana College, Mount San Antonio College, Chapman University, Brigham Young University, Moorpark College, and as guests artists for the California Dance Educators Association. Backhausdance has received 13 nominations and eight awards from the Dance Resource Center of Los Angeles for achievements in choreography, design, and performance, helping propel them to the forefront of modern dance.

Jennifer is currently on the dance faculty at Chapman University and the Program Director of West Coast Dance Academy, home of Backhausdance. She is a certified Pilates instructor and teaches modern dance technique and dance conditioning.  She is also a teaching artist with the Orange County Performing Arts Center and McCallum Theatre Institute's Aesthetic Education Programs where she shares her love for dance and choreography with local students.