Dieter Heitkamp studied Physical Education and Biology at the Free University Berlin and Visual Arts (with Dieter Appelt) at the University of Arts in Berlin. He has been a member of Tanzfabrik Berlin from its foundation in 1978 until 1998 and one of its artistic directors until 1995.
He started his dance education in 1977 with Contact Improvisation followed by contemporary techniques and Body Awareness methods. Since over 40 years he is deeply involved in the practice, teaching and performance of Contact Improvisation.
In 2014 he created the installation "going into contact" which can be seen as an approach to combine theory with practice, an artistic research aound the topic "Performing the Archive". He is a member of the Steering Committee of the Round Robin Project