Heather Maloy is all about the narrative. As the founder, artistic director and resident choreographer of Terpsicorps Theatre of Dance, a contemporary ballet dance company based in Asheville, Heather has channeled her long dance career into a calling that utilizes all her talents. “This just tapped into all my creative juices,” she says of her company. “I love being in charge; I love to micromanage. I design the whole thing.”
Heather grew up with a mother who taught dance in Winston-Salem. Mom always gave her the option to quit dancing, but she says she’s never considered anything else. By fifth grade she was putting on neighborhood ballet productions. After graduating from the North Carolina School of the Arts, Heather joined the North Carolina Dance Theatre in 1989, where she was a dancer for 13 years.
While she uses dance as the medium to tell the big stories, every corner of her studio apartment in the River Arts District of Asheville is crammed with memorabilia and objects d’art that are rich with personal history. A small loft in her apartment holds costumes she’s worn and designed throughout her career. A bust of her muse Terpsichore sits atop an old tube radio, and dancing legs protrude from a potted palm.
The 1920s barber chair in one corner belonged to her mother and weighs “a ton,” an intrepid array of spices is displayed in the kitchen, the old touring suitcases she got from revered ballerina Patricia McBride are a reminder of nomadic days. These treasured objects are threads that Heather spins into the yarn of a creative life.
Describe your home: Attic chic. It’s a mixture of antiques, art deco and 1960s stuff.
Collections: Costumes. I have a hard time getting rid of them. And I collect spices that I get at a farmers market in Atlanta.
Favorite costume: I loved doing character roles and over-the-top comedy. One of my favorites was an ugly stepsister in Cinderella. I wore a giant headpiece and big dresses.
Most memorable performance: My first year with the NC Dance Theatre, I was understudy in Night in the Tropics and had to step in for the lead. I hadn’t done any large roles up to that time. It was simultaneously terrifying and wonderful.
Personal hero: Salvatore Aiello, NCDT artistic director who brought me on at 17, the youngest dancer in the company’s history at that time. He let me begin choreographing two years after that. He is part of the reason I started Terpsicorps—to keep his work alive.
Best thing about being a dancer/choreographer: Dancing is freedom to me. I’m in another world on the stage. The best thing about choreography is that I get to let out whatever’s inside of me.
Worst thing about being a dancer/choreographer: With dancing, the worst thing is that it ends. You work so hard and then your body gives out and you can’t do it anymore. With choreography, the worst thing is exposing myself to judgment. I’m very emotional. It’s me you see up there.
Secret fantasy: To never have known dancing—to have a totally different life—to see what else I would have done.
Morning routine: Usually I teach a ballet class every morning from 9:30 to 11. Even if no one else shows up, it’s my workout.
Evening routine: Four nights a week I teach. Other nights I go to movies…and all the local theatre.
A perfect Sunday would be: Sleep late, cook a great brunch for friends, go hiking and then go see a great movie. I’d love to meet a guy to go hiking with. I would say right now that I am one of Asheville’s most eligible bachelorettes.
Vehicle: A 1996 Honda civic filled with costumes and playbills.
Pet: Monster, my cat. He’s a story. I’d lost my cat before I moved here and one of my dancers brought me this filthy little kitten with worms. He stole my heart. We were doing Waltz of the Monsters at the time and he sat in the studio during all the rehearsals.
Can’t live without: Movies and the theatre. I’m obsessed.
Guilty pleasure: Ginger ice cream with chocolate sauce and a shot of espresso poured over it.
Drink of choice: Pomegranate sparkling water. As far as alcoholic drinks go, I like a dirty martini.
Most treasured piece of clothing: Boots—any boots. Cowboy boots, leather boots, go-go boots. I love them all.
Favorite musician: It changes all the time. I’m drawn to strong female personalities like Aretha Franklin and Amanda Palmer of the Dresden Dolls. I like Louis Prima when I’m cooking, Aretha in the morning, Nora Jones when I’m tired.
Superstitions: At every premiere I wear a ring that belonged to Salvatore Aiello. When I was dancing, I used to hammer my point shoes. If I made a sound with them, I thought I would fall.
Personal philosophy: No matter what seemingly horrific thing happens, it’s worth it if you have a good story to tell afterwards.
Memorable cathartic moment: One of my friends died when I was working on a show. The piece ended up being about funerals. It was very healing.
Most treasured memento: Right now I’d say it’s this letter A [a metal letter painted red]. My friend who died did things with found objects. He found this in a dump and I used the font for the Scarlet Letter show two years ago.
Person from history you’d like to meet: I’d like to talk to the wife of any great American hero or to the wives of the founding fathers. You know they’d have good untold stories.
If reincarnated, would like to come back as: My mother’s cat. I’d like a life where I did nothing because this one is so chaotic.
Latest project: The Recession Blues with the Firecracker Jazz Band. It will pay homage to the depression as well as current hard times. They have a new CD coming out that we’ll use that’s kind of swing.
Back-shelf project: I’m thinking of writing a one-woman show for myself called My Life in the Skinny Mirror.
Best thing about living in Western North Carolina: It feels like a big city and has all the good things of a small town at the same time.
For more information on Terpsicorps Theatre of Dance, visit terpsicorps.org.
