Heather Rastovac Akbarzadeh is an interdisciplinary scholar-artist and an Assistant Professor in Critical Dance Studies at the University of California, Riverside, with faculty affiliation in UCR’s Program of Middle East and Islamic Studies. Extending upon more than two decades as a dance-maker, artistic director, and dramaturg among diasporic SWANA (particularly Iranian American) communities, her scholarly research and publications examine diasporic SWANA performances of refusal that are choreographically oriented toward undermining neocolonial structures of seeing, feeling, and knowing the “Middle East.” Heather earned her Ph.D. in Performance Studies from UC Berkeley with a Designated Emphasis in Women, Gender, and Sexuality, followed by a Mellon Postdoctoral Fellowship in Dance Studies at Stanford University and a UC Chancellor's Postdoctoral Fellowship in the Department of Asian American Studies at UC Davis. She served as Golden Thread Production’s Fairytale Players program manager from December 2021 to December 2023. Throughout her career, she has performed in DIY street performances, activist circuses, MENA/SWANA cultural events, and full evening dance works on concert stages. Her diverse experience as an educator has ranged from performing in the Folklife-in-the-Schools program in her hometown of Seattle to teaching performance and dance theory and practice at UC Berkeley, Stanford, and UC Riverside.