Portrait

Heide-Marie Heimhard grew up in Hagen in Westphalia and studied German and philosophy at Ruhr-University, Bochum. After her master's degree she followed her love for performing arts to study drama, dance and song at the Constantine school, Bochum. While there she performed her first dance-theatre piece. Shortly after, she was hired by the Hagen Theatre.

An encounter with the Raqs Sharqi dancers Erna Froehlich and Liza Wedgwood then influenced her artistic career path. In the following years, Heide-Marie furthered her dance studies with Liza in England and Erna in Munich. During the past 10 years she has performed there in a number of joint performances, dance dramas and solo programmes.

Heide-Marie moves expressively and has a strong feminine presence, naturalness and grace in the various traditional and contemporary Raqs Sharqi styles, the Egyptian theatrical dance.  
Based on this dance, which has developed as a performing art as opposed to the oriental belly dance, she has created her own style, characterised by a deep relationship with sacred feminine dance. This is evident in her stage performances, particularly deeply touching meditative dances. The audience is taken into a space of danced silence, where one can gain direct access to one’s emotions - a phenomenon that can only take place thanks to the dancer’s dedication.

For over 10 years, Heide-Marie has been teaching in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. She has a led a performance group at the School of Contemporary Dance in Berg, Lake Starnberg, for many years. Her workshops and dance weeks contribute to a new culture filled with femininity, in which dance is experienced as a spiritual path for women.
 
From this has come a complementary offer of holistic support for women based on her knowledge of authentic female spirituality. This rare combination of dance instruction and awareness work helps women to delve deeply into their souls. Thus a properly feminine way to become a true woman opens up to them. 

Heide-Marie Heimhard is the author of the books "Der Tanz der weiblichen Seele" (published 2016) and "Sacred Woman" (published 2018). An English translation of the bestseller "Sacred Woman" is in planning.