ResDance Series 5: Episode 5: Rediscovering why dance matters with Heather Harrington  In this episode, Heather shares insight into her experiences as a dancer, scholar, figure skater, choreographer, and educator who believes in the value of movement and wider dance practices in shifting societal norms.  Heather discusses the approaches and methodologies employed in her research and the importance of working in a cross-collaborative manner, drawing knowledge from a variety of disciplines in fostering her curiosity. Heather shares honest reflections on both her life and experiences in dance and thought-provoking considerations around agency of the female body and her research interests on elevating the dancer above forces of exploitation, specifically the female dancer. Heather Harrington is a dancer, scholar, figure skater, choreographer, and educator who believes that movement has the power to shift societal norms. Harrington has been steeped in the repertory of iconic dance legends, dancing with the Doris Humphrey Repertory Company, the Martha Graham Ensemble, the Pearl Lang Dance Theater, and the Bella Lewitzky Dance Company. She created her own contemporary dance company in New York City performing nationally and internationally. Being drawn to movement in the public space inspired her to create site-specific work, from creating a piece on the steps of the Federal Hall Memorial on Wall Street, NYC to staging a gun violence protest in Newark, NJ. As a figure skater, Harrington has performed, taught, and choreographed for The Ice Theatre of New York, coached for Sky Rink, NYC and Figure Skating in Harlem. Her interest in dance in the MENA region, has led to teaching and choreographing in Tunisia and Lebanon. Her artistic and scholarly collaboration with Lebanese dance artist and professor Nadra Assaf has led to performances, articles, and conferences across the globe. Assaf and Harrington have continued to create work that speaks against the violence that hauntingly remains embodied in women. She has been on faculty at Kean University, Seton Hall University, and Drew University. She received her MFA from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and her BA in psychology from Boston University. Her scholarship examining gender and dance, dance as protest, consumer dance, and the choreographic process has been published by Choreographic Practices, Dancer Citizen, Research in Dance Education, Dance Research Journal, Nordic Journal of Dance, Journal of Dance Education, Beauty Demands, and Dance Education in Practice. A focus of her scholarship has been on elevating the dancer above forces of exploitation, specifically the female dancer. Contact details: Email - [email protected] Social media https://www.instagram.com/heat201101/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/heather-harrington-5738316/ https://www.facebook.com/heatherharringtondance https://twitter.com/GmailHeatherhah Other resources  https://www.heatherharrington.com/ https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7396-5642 https://wadedance.org/wia2023events/dec1performance2 https://wadedance.org/wia2023events https://o-dcs.org/2023/01/misahat-noon-artistic-bootcamp/ Please share this episode with students, educators, practitioners, performers, and interdisciplinary researchers curious to learn more about dance research in action.