Dance classes began for Heidi at the age of two. During her time as a student, Heidi completed her examinations in dance to Advanced and Teaching Diploma levels. Heidi’s education from Year 1 – 12 was at Immanuel Lutheran College in Maroochydore, where she was house captain in both junior and secondary school and also College Captain. Tertiary education was important to Heidi so she studied at QUT in Brisbane and also at USC where she graduated with a BA Com and Grad Studies in Education. This held Heidi in good stead to take on a position as a teacher at Immanuel Lutheran College where she developed their Dance program in the senior school. Heidi married in 2011 and remained on the Sunshine Coast both school teaching and dance teaching. Heidi now has two young children; Emmy aged 6 and Cari aged 3. Currently Heidi is the owner/principal of Dance 3D in Maroochydore and also recently became an examiner for the Australian Teachers of Dancing allowing her to travel for work as well.

Heidi, tell us about Dance 3D and how you became involved in dancing?

I started dancing with my mum, Andrea Dalton, who had a very prominent Dance studio which opened nearly 40 years ago. It has always been a love of dance and working with young people that has sparked me. I absolutely love teaching. I took over Mum’s business and created Dance3D when I had my first daughter – the third generation of dancers now. Both our girls love their dance classes and love their dance friends and it’s so lovely to experience the dance journey from the parent point of view too. We love the family feeling we have created at Dance3D – we aim to help every child shine when they dance and develop a strong sense of self confidence amongst our dancers.

What are some of the challenges you are facing in the current climate and how will you overcome?

Our business had to close its doors quite early unfortunately and we moved immediately to an online option. We use Zoom to host group classes. Our teachers are still teaching in the studio and we are so pleased to be able to keep our students dancing when they haven’t got much else on at the moment. Whilst it’s certainly not the same, it gives our dancers a chance to continue working on their skills and keeps us all connected too.

The amazing bonus of this is that I am now offering online classes to remote students – we have a group in the Northern Territory who have never danced before who are now able to attend dance classes from their own homes! The chance to reach more students and involve more families is one of the many silver linings we have found during this time.

You work hours that are outside of regular school hours, and have a young family, how do you manage the juggle and do you have outside help to assist?

Life can certainly get busy. However, my husband (who’s a builder) is in charge at home in the evenings that I’m teaching and my parents are around to help with school pick up on the days we can’t wrangle it… thankfully my girls love to dance too so they attend classes while I’m there some afternoons also. And to top that off, we have a lot of wonderful young adults/teenagers who are more than happy to hang out with my children at the studio.

What do you think are traits of being an effective leader?
Listening is a big one for me. I try really hard to support my team and also listen to what our clients/students need. Consistency around what we do and why we do it means that we can all operate at a higher level and know exactly what to expect.

And what’s next on the agenda for Heidi O’Hehir?

I’m currently focusing on our re-opening strategy as well as developing our plan to continue our online classes to support students who live remotely.Our second semester will likely look fairly different to previous years so making sure our students come back to class refreshed, motivated and excited for the future is our main priority.

Favourite place that you have travelled to and why?

New York! I have taken a couple of groups there on dance tours and it is just a hub of learning in The Arts.

What do you do in your spare time?

I love to read although I don’t usually get much time to do that… that’s been one of the nice things about the restrictions – I’ve read a lot more!

What mantra do you live by?

Never stop learning!

To find out more about Heidi and Dance 3D head to:

Website
http://dance3d.com.au/

Facebook
@Dance3D