Backhausdance Education Programs and Summer Intensive
Backhausdance, 5500 Irvine Center Drive, Irvine, CA 92863
About
Backhausdance Education Programs and Summer Intensive includes assemblies, workshops, residencies, master classes, lecture-demonstrations, site-specific work in the community, classes, performances, and an annual summer intensive dance program for teens, pre-professional and advanced dancers. The repertory features original and innovative contemporary dance work with powerful, athletic dances and deeply human and emotional creations infused with a sense of humor and theatricality.
• Ages: 13–18 years old
Backhausdance is a contemporary dance company rooted in Orange County, California, and is described as Orange County's premier, professional, contemporary dance company. The company integrates professional performance, multi-generational education, and community engagement, and is committed to advancing career pathways through its apprenticeship and ambassador program while providing scholarships to over half of the students in the annual summer dance program, reaching over 150 students each year.
Backhausdance was founded in 2003 as a non-profit organization by Jennifer Backhaus, an award-winning choreographer and Chapman University dance faculty member, who serves as Artistic Director, with Amanda Kay White as Associate Artistic Director. Backhausdance has had a partnership with McCallum Theatre and the McCallum Theatre Education Department in Coachella Valley for nearly 20 years, bringing educational programming such as classes, assemblies, and performances to schools and students throughout the Coachella Valley. The company provides a variety of education programs for K–12 schools, higher education, and community organizations, reaching thousands of students, teachers, emerging, advanced and professional dancers, families, and adults and seniors each year, and offers concert pieces for younger audiences that include a master class workshop.
Backhausdance states that its mission is to create, perform, and share innovative, bold dance that inspires, challenges, and uplifts, and that it believes in the transformative power of dance to foster joy, wellness, creative expression, and human connection. The organization describes itself as dedicated to creating and performing bold, innovative work and to cultivating a collaborative environment where everyone, whether participating or viewing, is an integral part of the creative process, and it notes that advocacy for inclusivity, equity, and celebration of all perspectives, identities, and ideas is woven into its work.
Backhausdance is the recipient of 10 Lester Horton Awards from the Dance Resource Center of Los Angeles for achievements in choreography, design, and performance, and in 2012 it received the Outstanding Arts Organization award from Arts Orange County. Reviews have described the company’s work as “a fluid, unforced fusion of classical and contemporary dance” (The Brooklyn Rail) and noted that “the dancers seemed to grow before our eyes” (Laura Bleiberg, Los Angeles Times).
Last updated March 16, 2026.
• Ages: 13–18 years old
Backhausdance is a contemporary dance company rooted in Orange County, California, and is described as Orange County's premier, professional, contemporary dance company. The company integrates professional performance, multi-generational education, and community engagement, and is committed to advancing career pathways through its apprenticeship and ambassador program while providing scholarships to over half of the students in the annual summer dance program, reaching over 150 students each year.
Backhausdance was founded in 2003 as a non-profit organization by Jennifer Backhaus, an award-winning choreographer and Chapman University dance faculty member, who serves as Artistic Director, with Amanda Kay White as Associate Artistic Director. Backhausdance has had a partnership with McCallum Theatre and the McCallum Theatre Education Department in Coachella Valley for nearly 20 years, bringing educational programming such as classes, assemblies, and performances to schools and students throughout the Coachella Valley. The company provides a variety of education programs for K–12 schools, higher education, and community organizations, reaching thousands of students, teachers, emerging, advanced and professional dancers, families, and adults and seniors each year, and offers concert pieces for younger audiences that include a master class workshop.
Backhausdance states that its mission is to create, perform, and share innovative, bold dance that inspires, challenges, and uplifts, and that it believes in the transformative power of dance to foster joy, wellness, creative expression, and human connection. The organization describes itself as dedicated to creating and performing bold, innovative work and to cultivating a collaborative environment where everyone, whether participating or viewing, is an integral part of the creative process, and it notes that advocacy for inclusivity, equity, and celebration of all perspectives, identities, and ideas is woven into its work.
Backhausdance is the recipient of 10 Lester Horton Awards from the Dance Resource Center of Los Angeles for achievements in choreography, design, and performance, and in 2012 it received the Outstanding Arts Organization award from Arts Orange County. Reviews have described the company’s work as “a fluid, unforced fusion of classical and contemporary dance” (The Brooklyn Rail) and noted that “the dancers seemed to grow before our eyes” (Laura Bleiberg, Los Angeles Times).
Last updated March 16, 2026.
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