Artistic Leadership
Heather Stewart (she/they) is a contemporary choreographer, writer, and the founder/director of little house dance. She works in the United States and Canada. After several years of working as an independent artist Heather established little house dance in order to formalize her collaborative relationships with other dancers, musicians, visual artists, and writers.
Born in Canada, Heather grew up across the South Pacific where she lived in Australia, Papua New Guinea, and Indonesia. After attending Etobicoke School for the Arts in Ontario, Canada and later graduating from the London Contemporary Dance School (MA Dance Studies, choreography focus) she went on to live and work in Montreal, London, Boston and Portland (ME).
Heather has been making original work for live performance since 2012. Her choreographic process has been fostered by: Portland Ovations,The Boston Center for the Arts, New Movement Collaborative, Espace Marie Chouinard, The Place, Centre de Création O Vertigo (CCOV), Earthdance, Tufts University, Maine Mechanics Hall, Casco Bay Movers, The Boston Conservatory at Berkeley, Art Factory Malakta, and Tanzzentrale der region Nürnberg. She has presented internationally at several performing arts festivals including State of Play, Conduit Dance+, The Expanse Festival, The Saint John Contemporary Dance Festival, Resolutions!, Beta Publica, and HubWeek Boston.
Over the past decade, she has garnered recognition and financial support from The Foundation for Contemporary Art, SPACE Gallery, The Maine Arts Commission,The New England Foundation for the Arts, The Boston Foundation, The Canada Council for the Arts, and The Somerville Arts Council. In 2015 her work was shortlisted for the Deustche Bank Award for Creative Enterprises.
Heather’s dances have been described as “openhearted and palpab[ly] vulnerable” (Camille Howard), “personal, sensitive narratives” (Emilyn Claid) characterized by “exacting, challenging, and physically demanding choreography” (David Henry). She has been recognized for her complex dance/sound intersections. For seven years, Heather developed her work in collaboration with the late Marc Bartissol aka dull. Together they worked from a shared vision of performance as a place of refuge from the outside world. Their ongoing partnership was defined by a rigorous, generous, and reciprocal collaboration in which the music and choreography were given equal space and importance. Formerly a Montreal-based DJ named little house, Marc’s name remains imprinted on Heather’s company in remembrance of his lasting contributions to the work.
About
little house dance is an artist-led contemporary dance company. Founded by Heather Stewart in 2020, little house is a professional company established on principles of democratic process, mental wellness, and high caliber dance performance in service of a strong arts ecosystem in Maine. The organization exists to challenge the notion that quality dance can only arise in cities that have already been categorized as designated dance hubs.
As dance is inherently a social art, little house’s work forges new community connections and partnerships in dance programming and production in regional and national spheres. little house seeks to build mindful working partnerships with venues, presenters, audiences, patrons, and production, particularly in Maine. Our aim is to create meaningful and deeply physical dance experiences with the people around us.
Exploring human disorder and melancholy, little house dance draws viewers into dark and intimate worlds of movement ritual and duration. Movement vocabulary is created and performed with a clear, rigorous approach to choreography and performance presence. little house dance creates work for audiences who are invested in seeing performance that stretches the boundaries of movement potential while touching on experiences that are uniquely human.
little house values the dynamics of the creative process and an artist’s need for dedicated time, space, money, and artistic growth in concert with other artists. From creation to performance, little house dance’s work is rooted in collaboration. As a small project based company, little house dance is committed to creating healthy, sustainable employment opportunities for artists. The company’s aim is to foster a democratic working environment where the individual voice is as important as the collective. The company has a particular interest in the prioritization of mental health and meeting the needs of neurodivergent artists and individuals living with mental illness.
The name, little house dance, is created in memory of Montreal-based sound artist Marc Bartissol aka dull, Heather’s longtime creative partner, confidant, composer, and best friend. Long before he took on the stage name dull, Marc got his start as a Montreal-based DJ named little house. From 2012 until his suicide in 2019, Heather create several dances with Marc, who remains a profound influence on her work. dull is little house dance’s posthumous resident sound artist.
Collaborators
Collaboration is a vital part of little house dance. The company’s work has been shaped by the input of many dancers, choreographers, performers, artists, advisors, and important friends.
Current Dancers & Collaborators
Isabel Hunter (dancer & teaching artist), Nolan Eisenhaur (dancer), Maddy Joss (dancer), Mia Muntu (dancer), Kylie Grossman (dancer), Taylor Butterfield(dancer), Dareon Blowe (dancer), Ty Morrison (dancer), Harrison Pearse Burke (lighting designer), Courtney Swain (composer), Palaver Strings (collaborator)
Artistic Mentors, Important Friends, & Significant Collaborators
Emily Gualtieri, Louis Elyan-Martin, Jenna Pollack, Cacia LaCount, Will Farris, Helen Cox, Holly Greco, Natasha Luckhardt, Patrick Lloyd Brennan, Emilyn Claid, Rebecca Steinberg, Michael Figueroa, Riley Watts, Emily Jerant-Hendrickson, Alyx Henigman, Maya French, Jenna Moen, Jen Passios
dull
Heather developed her work in collaboration with Montreal based composer dull from 2012 until his sudden passing in 2019. Together they worked from a shared vision of performance as a place of refuge from the outside world. Their ongoing partnership was defined by a rigorous, generous, and reciprocal collaboration in which the music and choreography were given equal space and importance.
Born in Provence, France in the early 90s dull defied his chosen name in minimalist music that unfolded slowly, taking backroads and sinking boats on an epic journey through experimental electronic and acoustic territory. Playing with the familiarity of daily sounds, he created ambiguities through juxtaposition and texture, drawing listeners into a mysteriously intimate, lush sonic environment of muffled vocals, idiosyncratic piano and loose rhythms.
