Heidi Cruz-Austin
Heidi Cruz-Austin began her dance training at the age of four at The Dolly Haltzman Dance Academy in Allentown, PA. She went on to study at the School of American Ballet and The Pennsylvania Ballet. She received an apprenticeship with Pennsylvania Ballet in 1994 and joined the Company as a member of the Corps de Ballet in 1995. Cruz-Austin danced numerous featured roles in her tenure there including leads for various choreographers such as Val Caniparoli, Ben Stevenson, Alvin Ailey, Margo Sappington, Christopher d’Amboise, and Matthew Neenan. She has also had featured roles in many George Balanchine ballets, including The Nutcracker, Hippolyta in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Choleric from The Four Temperaments, and leading roles in Serenade, Who Cares?, Western Symphony, Scotch Symphony, and Divertimento #15. In addition to dancing with PAB, she danced with the Ballet X and has performed as a guest artist throughout the USA and Europe. Cruz-Austin has been a principal teacher for the Earl Mosley Institute of the Arts since 2009. She has also taught ballet at Bryn Mawr College and is currently a ballet adjunct professor at Muhlenberg College and The University of the Arts. She was a winner in the 2003 Ballet Builders showcase in New York City, in which she presented her work. Cruz-Austin has been commissioned to create works for Franklin and Marshall College, Bryn Mawr College, Muhlenberg College, Earl Mosley Institute of the Arts, and Repertory Dance Theater. She was a recipient of the 2004-2005 New Edge Residency at The Community Education Center of Philadelphia and received a 2008 Fellowship from the New Jersey State Council on the Arts for her choreography. Cruz-Austin is currently the co artistic director as well as the resident choreographer of DanceSpora dance company.