Laurel Kehoe
Dance Manager
&
Co-Owner

Intermediate through Advanced 2, Pointe 1 & 2
Adult Beginning and Intermediate

                 Laurel Kehoe began attending dance classes at three years old, and has been dancing ever since. Dance styles studied include Ballet, Modern, Lyrical, Jazz, and Contemporary,  as well as all American Ballroom dance styles, and quite a variety of Folk Dancing.

Laurel has a significant amount of acting experience as well; She started with Heartland’s Family Theatre summer workshops, performing in their Frog Prince, The Patchwork Girl of Oz, and Alice In Wonderland. She has now been involved in community theatre since the ‘90s, and has been directing Heartland Dance’s annual fairytale dance recitals since 2018.  Laurel has choreographed for several community theatre productions, such as Grease, Chicago (Connect the Dots Theatre Company), Alice in Wonderland (Human Circus Mask Co.), The Hobbit (Barnstormer’s Theater), Seven Brides for Seven Brothers (Rogue Music Theater), as well as multiple productions with Stardust Repertory Theatre.

Laurel has now been dancing for over thirty years, and teaching for twenty. Her first instructing position was at Club Northwest - teaching Beginning Ballet & Jazz classes, for students ages 4 through 12. She trained with Nancy Gordon for a number of years, enjoying private lessons in Dance, Acting, and Teaching Fundamentals. Laurel has completed the Basic Pointe Shoe Fitter Training program with The Pointe Shop/Josephine Lee, and is working towards becoming a certified pointe shoe fitter.

In the professional field, Laurel has worked in management for over ten years. She has been the Operations Manager for the Seattle JoAnn Fabric & Craft (Store #1711), Packaging Manager for The Fremont UPS Store, Production Manager for Cary’s of Oregon, and Administrative/Registration Manager for The Good Earth Organics just to name a few. She has now branched out into Bookkeeping (managing the books for the Grants Pass Vitality Center and Heartland Dance).

Laurel loves the way Heartland Dance approaches teaching ballet from a modern dance perspective; including imagery and anatomical information to help the dancers find and use the correct muscles from the beginning. She finds great joy in seeing her students progress and encouraging their love of dance as an art form.

Hannalisa Bekker
Modern Dance

Having grown up as the daughter of Heartland’s founder Nancy Gordon, Hannalisa started dancing at the early age of 4 years old. She quickly developed a passion for the art, and danced at Heartland for 14 years. 

She continued to study dance at the University of Oregon, where her focus was in Modern Dance technique and performance, and simultaneously earned her BA in English Literature. 

In 2013 she co-founded The Dance Movement in Eugene, Oregon. This cooperative provided a space for advanced level, technically trained Modern dancers to come together, collaborate, and teach the general public. The Dance Movement provided free classes to high school students at the local arts high school, and offered classes and choreographic opportunities to members of the community. 

Hannalisa went on to study in a graduate medical program, and now works full time as a Licensed Acupuncturist, licensed through the Oregon Medical Board and National Licensing Board. During her graduate education, she also became certified through the Ling Gui International Healing Qigong School as a teacher of the 1000 Hands Buddha Qigong. 

Hannalisa has a passion for merging her dance background with her healing practice, promoting the use of dance for personal growth and self-expression. She has a great love for teaching dance, and has taught many forms over the last 16 years. She is thrilled to be back in the Rogue Valley where she can bring her love of dance to her hometown community. 

Brent Kehoe
Co-Owner

Advanced Instructor
Curriculum Director
Ballet Partnering

Brent grew up training in both dance and martial arts. Other dance styles included folk dancing and clogging. Brent has a musical theatre background, having performed in numerous productions around Southern Oregon.
In 2013 Brent received his Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) in Dance Education from Cornish College of the Arts, in Seattle WA.
In College Brent studied in many areas of body mechanics and dance technique - from Ballet, Modern, Modern & Ballet Partnering, Lyrical, Contemporary to Laban/Bartenieff Movement Analysis, Feldenkrais, Kinesiology, Pilates mat work, Dance Teaching Fundamentals and more.
During his Junior year, Brent was employed with the Merce Cunningham Trust under direction of Patricia Lent and performed in the popular Cunningham MinEvent Series, which performed at the Paramount Theaters, Seattle Arts Museum, and ACT Theater.

In 2013, Brent had the honor of dancing Patricia Hon’s Original work of “Destination Unknown”, Choreography for Zeks Yiddishe Lider un Tantz from The Golem by Betty Olivero. Performing at the Music of Remembrance concert suite in downtown Seattle.

While in Seattle, Brent collaborated and performed in many Choreographer Showcases for the 501(c)3 non-profit organization Men In Dance - Against the grain.

In 2014, Brent had the honor of premiering and collaborating a new work for Catapult Dance, which performed at the Broadway Performance Hall and surrounding Washington area.

Brent’s has been employed as “Guest Artist” and "Guest Choreographer” for many dance studios over the years and has performed in over 18 Nutcrackers. Brent feels blessed to have worked with such amazing companies as Bainbridge Ballet, Blue Heron Dance Studio, Velocity Dance Center, Dance Fremont, Century Ballroom and much more.

Brent is an American Ballet Theatre Certified Teacher, Pre-Primary through Level 3 of the ABT National Training Curriculum. 

Brent has studied and taught in Ohad Naharin’s GagaLabs, Gaga/people and has performed in Ohad Naharin’s Echad Mi Yodea.

In the Grants Pass Community, Brent has Choreographed for many local theaters such as the GPHS Theatre Arts, Rogue Music Theatre, One Eleven Evelyn Theatre, Barnstormers, Stillpoint Dance Studio, and Heartland Dance Studio.

Brent has been the Executive Director for Heartland Dance since 2018, and really enjoys co-directing for their showcases and Annual Fairytale Dance Recitals.
-Wonderful Wizard of Oz (2018)
-Pinocchio (2019)
-Cinderella (2021)

Nancy Gordon

Dance Educator

Nancy has a Bachelor of Arts from the University of California in Santa Cruz, as well as a Lifetime Teaching Credential. She went on to perform professionally in Los Angeles with the Ellen Segal Dance Company, and throughout the Northwest. When she moved to Grants Pass in 1977, she opened Heartland Dance Studio. Her creativity and dramatic flair are treasured by all of Heartland's students.

Patricia Wilson
Ballet Mistress

Intermediate - Advanced Instructor

Introduced to dance at an early age, It was love at first step!
Patricia has been teaching dance since the nineties. Artistic Director and choreographer for over twenty Heartland Dance shows. She has also been a choreographer for many local theaters. Patricia's kind spirit and encouraging classes inspire her dancers to reach their fullest potential. She is also the 2015 Discount Dance Supply Teacher of the Year.