Pamela Hetherington is an authentic Philadelphia artist who has devoted her life to tap dance, her artistic work and the communities in which she serves. She is an internationally-recognized leader in the fields of tap dance and jazz music, taking her responsibility in this regard seriously, she focuses on telling ‘jazz stories’ that fuse tap dance, original music, text, transformative grooves and historical contexts, all while providing accessible and inclusive environments for the work.

Since 2013, she has created award-winning, inventive and celebrated work for the The Philadelphia Jazz Tap Ensemble and under her direction, the PJTE has been commissioned by many cultural institutions, received multiple federal, state and city grant awards, and most importantly, the concert work has fostered deep connections between Philadelphia tap dancers and world-class jazz musicians, thus building bridges between the audiences of dance and music. The PJTE was the 2023 Overall “Fringie” Award winner, given by the Philadelphia Fringe Festival, for her piece, “Terry Pollard: A Jazz Epistolary.” For the company, she has choreographed multiple commissions for the Fairmount Waterworks, Philadelphia Jazz Project, Creative Philadelphia, and PhillyCAM and her work has been presented by ArtYard, Symphony Space, the Barnes Foundation, Allentown Art Museum and more. Through the company, she spearheaded the re-staging of choreography by Dorothy Wasserman, Jane Goldberg and Heather Cornell and brought their work to new audiences.

Her nine years of work as the trailblazing studio director of Sound Space Performing Arts was covered many times by Good Day Philadelphia, WHYY, WRTI, The Philadelphia Inquirer, Philadelphia Magazine, NBC 10/Philly Live ), 6ABC Action News and Dance Teacher Magazine. Radical community access to arts education and performance has been an important part of this work, she received a commendation from the Pennsylvania State House of Representatives in 2019. Her 26 years of cumulative work as a master dance educator in countless learning environments, from public school gyms to universities, is now focused on developing The Philadelphia Youth Tap Exchange, a tuition-free tap dance program for youths in the 19121 zip code. She is a 2022 graduate of the first cohort of the Jacob’s Pillow Curriculum in Motion Institute and is now a Fellow and a community engagement teaching artist with Jacob’s Pillow.

A native of Northeast Philadelphia and a fourth-generation Philadelphian, Philly dance is a part of her DNA. Her fascination with dance, especially tap dance, was identified at an early age. Starting at age 7, she was performing all over the city with small bands of similarly ambitious children, organized by the Department of Recreation, and then, the Police Athletic League Traveling Talent Troupe, which led her to the Next Generation Dance Theater (Stephan Love), the Philadelphia Civic Ballet (Alicia Craig), and tap teachers Rita Rue and Robert F. Burden, Jr. In 1996, at age 16, she was invited to join Philadelphia tap company Tap Team Two, and she toured with the company until 2012. She is a published jazz composer in the Philadelphia Real Book, (Temple University Press, 2022) and is a contributor to the Broad Street Review. 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 3 children, Violet, Callie Joy and Dale, Jr.