Founder & Artistic Director

Pamela Hetherington is an authentic Philadelphia artist who has devoted a lifetime, thirty plus years, to her art, her 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 inventive and celebrated work for the The Philadelphia Jazz Tap Ensemble and nder her direction, the PJTE has been commissioned by many cultural institutions, received multiple federal, state and city grant awards and state legislative commendations, 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. 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.

A native of Northeast Philadelphia and a fourth-generation Philadelphian, Philly dance is part of her DNA. 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 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 three children, Violet, Callie Joy and Dale, Jr.