Pamela Hetherington is a Philadelphia dancer, choreographer, and cultural leader in the field of tap dance. Under her leadership, Sound Space Performing Arts has grown into a premiere urban dance conservatory with a specific mission to preserve and advance the study of percussive and world dance forms. Her work as studio director has been covered many times by Good Day Philadelphia, The Philadelphia Inquirer, NBC 10/Philly Live (May 2020), 6ABC Action News (5/25/2019) and Dance Teacher Magazine. Since 1998, Pam has taught at countless studios, recreation centers, camps, after school programs, universities, and K-12 schools and is sought out for her expertise in dance education, children’s curricula and classroom management. She is most proud of her 6-year association with SpArc Cultural Arts as a movement instructor. Since 2008, she has been tireless at creating community outreach initiatives that make tap dance education accessible to all people, for which she received a commendation from the Pennsylvania State House of Representatives in 2019. She is a professional member of the National Dance Education Organization and Dance Masters of Pennsylvania.

Hetherington is a native of Northeast Philadelphia and a fourth-generation Philadelphian who has intentionally rooted her artistic work and life in this city, the greatest one in the world! She grew up training with Police Athletic League Talent Troupe, the Next Generation Dance Theater (Stephan Love), the Philadelphia Civic Ballet (Alicia Craig), and tap teachers Rita Rue and Robert F. Burden, Jr. She joined Philadelphia tap company, Tap Team II, in 1996, at the age of 16, and performed and toured with the company until 2012. In 2013, she founded her own dance company, The Philadelphia Jazz Tap Ensemble, and her choreography been presented and commissioned by Fairmount Waterworks, ArtYard, Arts on Site, Symphony Space, Creative Philadelphia, Dixon Place, the Philadelphia Jazz Project, Jazz Bridge, and The Barnes Foundation. She is a published jazz composer in the Philadelphia Real Book, (Temple University Press, 2022).

Pam is a 2022 national award winner of the New Music USA grant, multi-year awardee of the Philadelphia Cultural Fund and many other state and local grants, and is a 2022 graduate of the Jacob’s Pillow Curriculum in Motion Institute. She earned her B.A. in English from the University of Pennsylvania and her M.A. in English from the University of Virginia. She is the proud mom of three children, Violet, Callie Joy and Dale, Jr. See Pam’s full CV here.