Heidi Duckler is the Founder and Artistic Director of Heidi Duckler Dance/Northwest, based in Portland, Oregon. A pioneer of site-specific, place-based contemporary dance practice, Duckler has been instrumental in redefining the field through expanded choreographic techniques and a methodology that views dance, rooted in lived experience, as a powerful tool for awareness and transformation. Over the course of her career, she has created more than 400 original dance works.
Duckler was the recipient of the 2021 Oregon Arts Commission Fellowship. Most recently, her film Mother/Other was selected as Best Experimental Film at the 2024 Cannes Arts Festival.
Duckler attended Reed College and was commissioned to create a new work for the opening of the college’s Performing Arts Center. She earned a Bachelor of Science in Dance from the University of Oregon and a Master of Arts in Choreography from UCLA. She has served as a Board Member of the University of Oregon School of Music and Dance Advancement Council and was honored to deliver the commencement address for the School of Music and Dance.
An American Masterpiece award from the National Endowment for the Arts enabled Duckler to set her signature work, Laundromatinee, on University of Oregon students. Additional honors include a National Historic Preservation Award for her recent work at the Keller Fountain and support from the Oregon Community Foundation for her work with the Community Transitional School.
Duckler is deeply committed to the transformative power of artistic expression and believes in its capacity to foster joy and justice through multidisciplinary collaboration between artists and communities throughout the Pacific Northwest.
Artistic Process
Her practice of choreography and creative direction is anchored in the porous boundaries between art and life. Rather than remaining within the cloistered confines of concert dance, Heidi Duckler works in the real world—creating performances with artists from diverse disciplines in alternative and site-specific spaces.
The performers and collaborators she engages co-create content in response to the goals of each project and community, the environment in which they work, and the thematic framework Duckler establishes prior to their gathering. During rehearsals, the group experiments on site with a wide range of movement possibilities, gradually distilling the work toward authenticity: the emotional core, the essential moment, and the story that needs to be told. Through this process, dominant narratives are challenged and history is reframed.
Audiences are invited to experience the work from multiple perspectives, embracing both shared and divergent points of view. Duckler uses site-specific practice not only as a creative and conceptual platform, but also as a tool for social justice, learning, and meaningful civic engagement.
