Open gallery
Heather Acomb
(She/Her/Hers)
- Lecturer
-
(585) 395-2153
hacomb@brockport.edu
Office: Hartwell Hall 146 C
Website
Bio
Heather Acomb, MFA, CET, ERYT 500, RPYT, is a Rochester-based dance artist and somatic movement educator. She has more than 20 years of experience studying, practicing and teaching somatic movement through the lenses of dance and hatha yoga. She received her MFA in dance from SUNY Brockport, and has held several full and part-time positions at institutions across the finger lakes region. She has worked extensively as a guest artist nationally.
Heather works closely with internationally known dance educator and celebrated choreographer Bill Evans. She is a former Bill Evans Dance Company member and Certified Evans Teacher, well versed in the Laban/Bartenieff framework. She continues to teach and assist alongside Evans in his annual teacher certification program.
She has performed and had her work shown in several venues including Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival, Core Project/Going Dutch in Chicago, WAX Works in New York City, Rochester Fringe Festival, Montreal Fringe Festival and Midwest RADFest.
Heather has performed the works of many dance artists in both formal and informal settings including Bill Evans, José Limón, Doris Humphrey, Claire Porter, Bill T. Jones, Larry Keigwin, Treeline Dance Works, Heather Roffe, Rose Pasquerello Beauchamp, and Missy Phol-Smith’s Biodance.
Heather is also a hatha yoga practitioner and instructor, well known for her spiritually-oriented, heart-centered, alignment-based approach to hatha yoga rooted in the Anusara and Iyenger traditions.
She enjoys exploring the intersection of dance and yoga in her all of her movement classes on both physical and philosophical planes. Her classes invite all ages and levels of movers into their physical practice with a focus on breath, body awareness and mind-body connectivity all while honoring the individual self and playfully enjoying being in the present moment.
In addition, Heather holds certifications in mat Pilates, perinatal yoga, holistic health consulting, and offers part-time support to new families as a postpartum doula. Heather is an advocate for organic farming and sustainable living. She has worked and volunteered her free time on organic farms locally and across the nation since 2012.
Heather teaches Modern dance technique and somatic practices, Improvisation, Movement Analysis, Dance History and Pedagogy.
She is the recipient of Nazareth University’s 2024 Life’s Work Champion Award, a 2025 SUNY Brockport Presidential Teaching Excellence Award nominee, and has been featured in CITY Magazine for her work in the field of wellness and mindfulness.