This post was updated Dec. 1 at 9:33 p.m.

For Haleyann Hart, a stage floor is more than a performing space – it’s a mosaic of equity and community.

The UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television alumnus said she has been dancing as long as she can remember, combining her passion with community service and theater as she pursues her career on and off the stage in New York City. From working in childhood “Cabaret” benefits rooted in theater, to choreographing for UCLA’s “Bruins Care” to now working with Embody Dance Conference to foster equitable environments, Hart believes service, dance and theater are innately intertwined. Now, as she finishes her current venture choreographing her first off-Broadway show, “Skyscraper,” she said she hopes to continue looking at the arts through a philanthropic lens.

“I think theater is such a wonderful magical place where anything can happen,” Hart said. “So if anything can happen, we have to make sure that anyone can access it.”

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Growing up predominantly in Las Vegas, Hart said her opera-singing mother enrolled her in dance classes when she was just three years old. Hart said she found home in this dance studio and through competitive dance, cementing dancing as a staple in her life. In high school, however, Hart said her love for choreographing and acting grew to complement her passion for dance. It was these coinciding passions that prompted her to apply for UCLA’s theater program.

“With the theater major at UCLA, you get to dip your toes in everything and every part of theater,” Hart said. “I got to stage manage. I got to learn about history. I got to work in the costume shop and I got to work in the scene shop and help paint sets for the musical I was in.”

Hart’s creative dexterity appeared in every crevice of her college experience – even in her freshman course, which she said gave her agency to freely collaborate and create alongside her peers. Hart said this was where she could first independently innovate and make something of her own. By her senior year, this unique approach to crafting art grew increasingly evident.

Irvin Mason Jr. a fellow UCLA alumnus and longtime collaborator of Hart, described a project they worked on together during their time at UCLA. Mason said they took a unique approach in their production – instead of using a puppet to depict the gargantuan, elusive plant in the play, they used actors and dances that Hart choreographed. Mason said they knew they took a precarious risk, but they made it work nonetheless.

“I think what’s so beautiful is that Haleyann has really allowed me to unlock how I can express a story and communicate through movement,” Mason said.

Hart said she continued to pursue her fervor for community and the arts despite graduating in 2020, a time when everything was shut down and nothing was promised. Her flame ignited, she said, as she continued to help her community, teaching dance to fifth and seventh graders online via Zoom. She added that although she felt unnerved about her future in the artistic field, seeing these kids express gratitude and joy through dance put things in perspective, prompting her to continue pursuing philanthropy, choreography and theater, albeit from the comfort of her home and not a booming stage .

Hart finally moved to in New York in the summer of 2021 and joined the first wave of bringing theater back. Hart said being a part of this movement was terrifying for her, yet she continued to employ a positive lens regarding how COVID-19 ultimately improved altruism in the arts.

“(The arts) were able to restructure in a way that I think going forward has made the industry improve,” Hart said. “There’s still a lot to be done, obviously, but it allowed us some time to reflect.”

Hart said she was able to choreograph and contribute to a plethora of shows, including some poignantly comedic ones such as “A Tale of Two Cities,” which she worked on with collaborator and theater director Kelsey Robins. Robins said Hart led with a caring demeanor, using empathy as a compass in fostering an equitable community on the dance floor.

In tandem with inclusive strides, Hart said she keeps her art joyful and humorous by choreographing everyday pedestrian movements into her pieces. She said art is something enigmatic and illustrious but also something that can boost spirits and be laughed at.

“So much of theater is taking something that’s in our everyday lives and heightening it and turning it into something we can reflect on,” Hart said. “That’s what I enjoy about those comedic moments – it’s actually rooted in reality, and it’s rooted in something that we all do, but we get to laugh at it.”

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Hart, now finishing her choreography for “Skyscraper,” said she employed these elements of humor and euphoria in her work on the show. As Hart’s future in choreographing, teaching, acting, dancing and philanthropy awaits her, Robins said she hopes Hart will continue to use her rapport with others to her advantage. The arts naturally possess a community-oriented culture, Hart added, so without actively ensuring their maintenance by approaching them with inclusive and positive lenses, theater and dance can succumb to a withering peril.

“I try to use what I’ve learned to inform what I do next and always come at projects with a sense of gratitude, making sure I’m doing my best to bring accessibility and inclusion and equity to the projects that I’m a part of and making sure that I’m a part of things that are rooted in my values,” Hart said.