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Dancers have Heike's vote

As a predicted 14 million UK TV viewers get ready to watch tomorrow night鈥檚 final of Britain鈥檚 Got Talent, one of our dance lecturers will be backing the two dance groups, Flawless and Diversity.

Heike Salzer is a senior lecturer at the University and in charge of the University鈥檚 BA (Hons) Dance degree, which has just completed its first year. Heike, 35, lives in Thornaby and is originally from Eppingen, a small village in Southern Germany. She enjoyed an international career in choreography and dance education in Germany and the Netherlands before coming to the University.

Heike said of the BGT final: 'The two groups are excellent entertainment and the choreography and skills presented are so impressive. It is great to see that young artists like Flawless and Diversity are so successful on TV. I am sure that their appearance encourages others to engage with dance and performance and create something out of their talents.' Heike fell in love with dance at the age of five: 'My mother Margit took me along to a dance class then, I was always jumping around and being energetic, I loved dance from day one. I feel really flat if I don鈥檛 dance for a couple of days.'

In her teens Heike first studied dance in Cologne and then moved to explore dance education at a Conservatoire, the Dance Academy Arnhem in the Netherlands, whose most famous graduate was the late Audrey Hepburn.

One of the early highlights of Heike鈥檚 career was performing to audiences of thousands in the contemporary dance exhibition, Expo 2000, in Hanover: 'It was my first real job, with over 50 different nationalities taking part and three performances a day. There was a wonderful atmosphere.'

Heike has also taught choreography and dance at Iceland鈥檚 National Ballet School, where she developed a contemporary dance programme. She has also taught the same areas in the Netherlands.

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