The Visual and Performing Arts Dance classes at Mission Hills High School perform several times each year.  The students train in technique in several dance genres.  They will create dances in modern, contemporary, lyrical, jazz, musical theater, and hip-hop.  Annually the students also create a dance film, which is presented at our ArtsFest performance.  Past dance films took the students around campus and devising site-specific dance in unusual and unsuspecting locations.  The students are taught to work with choreographic design, texture, background, and symmetry versus asymmetry patterns.  Our winter and spring shows features student choreography.
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Mission Hills High School provides a great opportunity for students to explore their range of creative and technical abilities.  The students create numerous dances themselves, as well as working with collegiate and professional dancers and choreographers.  Progressive Steps is an annual production in which guest artist offer master classes, as professionals teach technique and set choreography on the students.  It culminates in an evening performance including Mission Hills dancers, college dancers, and professional dancers.  It is a unique experience and a valuable connection for our students with the progression from high school, to college and universities in the area, and professional company dancers and choreographers.

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ABOUT THE TEACHER

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   Heather Zornes-Almanza is the Visual and Performing Arts Dance teacher at Mission Hills High School.  She earned her BA in Dance from San Diego State University where she was awarded the Outstanding Graduate Award in Dance.  She performed as a company member of Mojalet Dance Collective from 1999-2005 for which she served as Director’s Assistant.  Heather has performed throughout San Diego County, Los Angeles, Mexico, and East Coast.  She has performed works by Jean Isaacs (San Diego Dance Theater), Kevin Wynn (New York), Katie Stevenson-Nollet (Connecticut), and Christopher Pilafian (San Francisco). Heather performed in San Diego Dance Theater’s Trolley Dancers for 10 years including Yolande Snaith’s (internationally acclaimed choreographer) Ten Green Bottles.  Currently, Heather dances with Allyson Green Dance (Allyson Green, director and UCSD Dance Department Chair), Sadie Weinberg (San Diego, LA), and BOUND Contemporary Dance Project (Jillian Chu, director).  Heather’s choreography has been shown throughout San Diego.  Her most recent work, Sudden Take,   was selected for presentation at the San Diego Emerge Festival VI to critical acclaim as “daring, aggressive… then [falling] into smooth unison. The movement was non-stop and embraced the music, but also played with the rhythms so it was never predictable.” (Janice Stei nberg, San Diego Arts)

Heather Almanza

Dance Teacher, MHHS

​Almanza performing original choreography in Progressive Steps

​Mission Hills students performing site-specific work for dance film project