Nancy Hauser Dance Company and School records

The Nancy Hauser Dance Company and School was founded in 1961 by Nancy Hauser. Under the artistic direction of Nancy and her daughter Heidi Hauser Jasmin, the Nancy Hauser Dance Company was a frontrunner in creating contemporary and modern works in the German Expressionist tradition. From its inception until its closing in 2011, the Company’s work is recognized throughout the local Minneapolis scene and nationally for being communicative, professional, and experimental.

Technically trained under Hanya Holm in the 1930s, Nancy developed a pedagogy strongly rooted in education, and based on the principle that artists should be stimulated and encouraged to create unique artistic forms and identities. The Nancy Hauser Dance School offered classes to adults and children alike in modern dance technique, theory, improvisation and composition. Music for dance, dance production and pedagogy were also offered. Hundreds of students were taught at the Nancy Hauser Dance School, and the school was accredited for producing members of top dance companies across the country. In an effort to make dance more available to the community, the school championed new programming to make dance more accessible to underrepresented groups, such as the deaf community and “Dance for the Ageless,” classes that targeted older adults. In addition, the School also created a Cross-Cultural Summer Camp in which students from the Nancy Hauser School would travel to Japan to study dance, and Japanese students would come to study with the Nancy Hauser School.

Nancy Hauser died on January 17, 1990 of cancer at the age of 80. Her daughter Heidi Hauser Jasmin continued to produce new choreographic works and promote contemporary dance through performances and education for two more decades. The company ceased operations in 2011.