About Mojave Movement Arts Center in Mojave, California
Heather Benes - Owner / Director
Heather Benes began her study of dance with Nancy Johnson at San Diego Ballet. Teachers who have been and continue to be important to her development as an artist and teacher are Stanley Holden, Margaret Hills, and Marguerite Phares in ballet, William Kuhlke and Irene Feigenheimer in modern and improvisation, Andrew Tsubaki in Asian theatre movement, and recently Linda Tomko in Baroque dance. Ms. Benes has performed in small ballet and contemporary companies in California and Kansas; her most recent appearance was in the opera Dido and Aeneas produced by the Stanford Music Department, with choreography by Linda Tomko.
Heather Benes earned a Master of Arts degree in Dance at CSU Sacramento and a Master of Science degree in Kinesiology at UCLA. She has held teaching appointments in dance and dance-related subjects at California State University, Sacramento, University of Kansas, Lawrence, University of California, Irvine, Scripps College, Antelope Valley College, and Cerro Coso Community College. Several of her private students have been honored with scholarships for summer and year-round study at the schools of nationally and internationally renowned dance companies, including Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre, American Ballet Theatre, Boston Ballet, Colorado Ballet, Houston Ballet, Joffrey Ballet, Pacific Northwest Ballet, and Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre. Recently, one student won the prestigious Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Dance at UC Riverside; another student has been accepted into the classical dance division of the Orange County High School of the Arts. Yet another will graduate this year with a BFA in Dance from UC Irvine.
Ms. Benes has received grants from the Arts Council of Kern, the Antelope Valley Arts Council, the Drug, Alcohol and Tobacco Education fund, Los Angeles County Parks and Recreation Department and the Los Angeles County Commission on Performing Arts to support dance programs for under-served youth. In 1998, the Kern Arts Council honored her with the Individual Achievement in Art—Dance award.
Ms. Benes has choreographed and directed several musicals, plays and ballets for dance and theatre groups in the Antelope Valley and Southeast Kern County. She is a frequent guest instructor for dance workshops nationwide and has performed in several videos. Recently she was appointed director of the Palmdale Playhouse Youth and Community Dance Ensemble. The ballet and modern division has 16 members who travel from Boron, California City, and Mojave, as well as Palmdale, to dance under the direction of Ms. Benes. In 2002, Ms. Benes will again direct a full-length production of the Nutcracker ballet for the communities of southeast Kern County. Since 1988, this ballet has been offered every two years by Cerro Coso Community College to give the residents of Southeast Kern County an opportunity to experience a fully produced theatrical performance as performers and as audience members. Former students, who began their dance training following performances in the Nutcracker, often return as featured dance artists in these productions.
