Middle Child Dance Theatre is an emerging NYC-based company founded by Heather Dutton. Our work is all about negotiation, sensitivity, toggling, and finding something to laugh about. It is a home base for the kids in us who never quite knew which lane we fell into. We prioritize collaboration with womxn and queer artists, and aim to create work that builds community. We launched last April with the premiere of "You're Actually the Last Person I Wanted to See Today" supported by Mare Nostrum Elements and Flushing Town Hall. Recently, we’ve performed in the Philadelphia Fringe Festival, the Fact SF Summer Dance Festival at ODC Theatre, the Made By Women festival, and the International Human Rights Arts Festival.

Heather Dutton (she/they) is a Brooklyn based queer and gender fluid dance theater artist driven by a deep fascination with human nature. Their multidisciplinary approach to movement calls on their background in theater, comedy, creative writing, and a range of dance techniques to tell stories with humor, sensitivity, and an attention to detail. She strives to tackle complex concepts in logical and digestible ways, with an eye toward simultaneously challenging and entertaining audiences. Her recent work has considered themes of gender fluidity, queer intimacy through the lens of public vs. private, and queer fantasy.  She holds a B.A. in Dance (Choreography and Education) from Muhlenberg College, where she also minored in Women’s and Gender Studies. She was a recent artist in residence with the American Dance Festival and Mare Nostrum Elements. Their work has also been seen at Arts on Site, Here Arts Center (Sublet Series), the Craft NYC, Dixon Place, LaGuardia Performing Arts Center, Spark Theater Festival, the Tank, the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, and more.

Sanctuary is a new evening length piece that explores the experience of being a queer person raised in the Christian church. It highlights the parallels between queerness and spirituality, and comedically calls out the inherent contradictions in the Christian church’s definitions and expressions of love. The work features three dancers and three musicians and is set to a combination of church songs and original music by Julia Finegan, Marth Finegan, and Syl Fisher. Developed in collaboration with other queer folk raised in the church, the work is informed by the structures and rhythms of the churches we grew up in. As our sociopolitical climate continues to weaponize religion against marginalized communities, we’re interested in finding ways to push against that. We intend to perform the work in old churches and will structure the performance in a way that invites audience participation and conversation. It is our hope that this piece can serve as a sanctuary of its own kind for queer people, reimagining what it is to be in communion with one another.

We began developing Sanctuary in 2025 and shared an early iteration of it in the Spark Theatre Festival that March. Since then, we have had a handful of short residency periods, most recently supported by Mare Nostrum Elements. After presenting a second 15 minute version of the work in the Made By Women festival in March of 2026, we realized the piece has more to say. We are eager to develop the work into an hour long show with an eye toward creating a uniquely immersive experience for our audiences. We plan to premiere Sanctuary this September in the Philadelphia Fringe Festival. From there, we hope to tour the work, bringing it into queer-friendly churches around the country. Unfortunately, funding for dance artists is more limited now than ever, so we heavily rely on community support to make work like this possible. 

We're so glad you asked! We are currently preparing for the following expenses: 

Your tax-deductible donation made through this platform will directly fund all of the costs listed above. Gifts of any and all sizes are welcome and appreciated, especially since just a little support can go a long, long way. Over the past few years, it is only because of our community that we have been able to make work-- every single donation, text message, ticket sale, Instagram story, and much more has made a monumental difference to us both. 

Finally, if you are unable to make a fiscal contribution but you would still like to support, please help us reach new people and build our audiences! Here are other things you can do: