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2024 National Award Recipients

Congratulations to our 2024 Awardees! Our National Award Recipients were selected from a 2-part application and nomination process, reviewed by our Awards Committee

To view the recording of the national awards ceremony please click on the following link: 2024 Awards Ceremony

This ceremony also includes recognition of the 2024 Thom Cobb Scholarship recipient, Bhargavi Gopalan, click here to learn more about this scholarship.

This year we celebrate the following 19 dance educators...

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2024 Awards Ceremony

Patricia G Cohen - Lifetime Achievement

Patricia G Cohen is a founding member of NDEO and self-described lifelong learner. Initially enrolled in Miss Brown’s Dancing School in Brooklyn, NY because she was a clumsy child (she maintains her clumsy adult status), teenage Patricia studied ballet at Ballet Arts in Carnegie Recital Hall, NYC. College introduced her to modern dance improvisation, an unsettling experience. Concert jazz dance followed soon after, as she studied extensively with Matt Mattox, Luigi, and Lynn Simonson. Eventually, she was exposed to rooted jazz dance, thanks primarily to Karen Hubbard’s and others’ mentorship. In recent years, she has become an avid practitioner of Iyengar yoga. Cohen’s first graduate degree was in Speech Pathology and Audiology (Stanford University), which she practiced in northern California, New York City, and Rhode Island for many years. She earned an MA degree in dance education (Teachers College, Columbia University) much later. She is now an adjunct faculty member in NYU/Steinhardt’s MA dance education program, where she created and/or teaches three courses that respectively, prioritize cultural integrity in jazz dance, that explore arts resources beyond pedagogy, per se, and that mentor students in their culminating internships. Cohen has developed and teaches courses for NDEO’s OPDI, including the recently revised, Dance History: Furthering Equity Through Cultural Awareness. She presents regularly at NDEO and other national and international conferences, most recently at daCi’s Ljubljana 2024 conference, where she led a workshop in rooted jazz dance. Cohen contributed chapters to the 2014 book, Jazz Dance: A History of Roots and Branches, Guarino and Oliver, editors, and to Rooted Jazz Dance: Africanist Aesthetic and Equity in the 21st Century, Guarino, Jones, and Oliver, editors. She co-created NDEO’s 2016 and 2019 special topics Jazz Dance conferences, which were based conceptually in rooted jazz dance and related contemporary issues. She is active on the editorial board of NDEO’s Dance Education in Practice journal. Cohen has served on the NDEO Board of Directors, including the Executive Board. She is a Past President of NYSDEA, the NY state affiliate, which she helped establish. She received the 2011 NDEO Leadership Award.

Joy Guarino - Lifetime Achievement

Joy Guarino is the Director of Global Engagement and a Professor of Dance at SUNY Buffalo State University. Working in higher education for the past thirty-five years, she orchestrates experiences that bring creative curricula and engaging opportunities, benefitting faculty, staff, students, and local, national, and international community organizations with the goal of forming meaningful partnerships and collaborations. In addition to the teaching and learning of dance technique and pedagogy, she impresses upon her students that a culture’s values are embodied in its dance forms and guides them to embrace dance as a conduit to cultural humility and an empathetic global perspective. Dedicated to providing this worldview for students, she developed a dance program at Buffalo State that centered on a civic and community engagement philosophy and advanced a curriculum that is taught through a decolonizing lens and is rooted in JEDI principals. Joy guides students to fulfill their distinct aspirations and to pursue their desired career paths, while addressing societal priorities through service-learning, scholarly outreach projects, and choreography/performance. She views international experiences as a pathway to cultural awareness, civic engagement, and mutual respect. As a result, she embeds local and international service-learning partnerships into the curriculum and has led numerous short-term study abroad experiences with the goal of developing students as well-rounded individuals and enhancing their global proficiency. As an advocate for the dance and the Child international (daCi) vision, every child has the right to dance…within a spirit of international understanding, she served on the daCi USA board of directors as a member at large, chair-elect, chair, and is currently serving as national representative and liaison to the international organization. Joy is committed to scholarship that advances research on dance education's connection to 21st century skills, critical thinking, community building, and all that makes us human. Joy continues to present and publish her research on kinesthetic learning, global learning for all, service-learning, and developing dance students as active citizens nationally and internationally. Photo credit: Bruce A. Fox

Kevin Locke - Lifetime Achievement (Posthumous)

Kevin Locke 1954-2022: Born in 1954 in Southern California, at the age of five years Locke moved north with his family, later to settle in South Dakota on the Standing Rock Reservation in 1966. It was from his mother, Patricia Locke, his uncle Abraham End-of-Horn, mentor Joe Rock Boy, and many other elders and relatives that Kevin received training in the values, traditions and language of his native Lakota culture. He is frequently cited as an ambassador of Native American culture to the United States and the world. Mr. Locke attended the Institute of American Indian Arts in New Mexico for high school and earned a master's degree in educational administration from the University of South Dakota. Mr. Locke learned the hoop dance, which had nearly died out, from Arlo Good Bear, a Mandan Hidatsa Indian from North Dakota. Since 1978, he has traveled to more than 90 countries to perform his Hoop of Life educational program. He is awarded the National Heritage Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts, the highest award granted to such traditional artists. In 2018, he founded the Patricia Locke Foundation named after his late mother with the mission to provide educational opportunities for underserved children and youth. Mr. Locke used folk arts to emphasize universal themes that are integral to all peoples. Universality of human spirit, its inclination towards peace, balance, harmony, and a longing that all human beings have for the Divine Springtime are a few central themes that he displays in his hoop dance, which is essentially a prayer for the unification of all mankind. Even though he has performed in many prestigious venues to innumerable dignitaries such as Nelson Mandela and Dalai Lama, his favorite audience continued to be children and youth. When asked about his mission in life his said: "All of the people have the same impulses, spirits, and goals. Through my music and dance, I want to create a positive awareness of oneness of humanity.” Photo credit: Adib Roy Photography

Matthew Henley - Outstanding Dance Education Researcher

Matthew Henley, PhD, MFA is Associate Professor of Dance Education at Teachers College Columbia University. Henley’s research describes and measures the cognitive, social, and emotional practices associated with dance education. Henley's interests include enactive cognition in the arts, developmental and neuroscientific approaches to embodied knowing, research methods for pedagogy, and the pedagogy of research methods. Henley danced professionally in New York City with Sean Curran Company and Randy James Dance Works. Henley earned his doctorate in Educational Psychology: Learning Sciences from the University of Washington, and M.F.A. in Dance from the same institution. He is an Associate Editor of JoDE. Photo credit: Jaqlin Medlock

Dr. Cheryl M. Willis - Outstanding Dance Education Researcher

Dr. Cheryl M. Willis, originally a tap dancer from New Orleans, pursued her doctorate at Temple University. There she delved into African American studies and its rhythmic connection to tap dance. Willis wrote Black Tap Dance and Its Women Pioneers (2023) and Tappin’ at the Apollo (2016), historical dance works published by McFarland Press. Cheryl was selected as the National Dance Educator of the Year 2000 and toured the United States and Canada presenting workshops on the creative dance process. She published Dance Education Tips from the Trenches (2004), Human Kinetics, a guide for dance teachers entering the field of public education. She has also published numerous articles and book chapters on Tap Dance and Creative Movement. In addition to the field of dance, Willis has been acknowledged for her work as a screenwriter and has received multiple awards. In her spare moments, Cheryl dances!

Donna Davenport - Outstanding Leadership (Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion)

A performer, writer, and choreographer, Donna Davenport received her Doctor and Master of Education from Temple University and undergraduate degrees in dance and psychology from UMASS-Amherst. As a Professor of Dance at Hobart and William Smith Colleges (HWS), she has served as Chair of the Dance Department, coordinated Social Justice Studies for ten years, co-directed the former Arts and Education Program, and joined the new Gender, Sexuality, and Intersectional Justice (GSIJ) Department. She has also served as Associate Dean of Faculty at HWS and volunteered as Dean of Faculty for St. Peter's Community Arts Academy in Geneva, receiving the 2023 community award for Extraordinary Support for Music and the Arts. She held the Potter Endowed Professorship from 2013 to 2018 and was honored to be the Colleges' 2016 Civically Engaged Faculty Member of the Year. A certified yoga instructor, Davenport has been increasingly engaged in conversations about inclusive pedagogy and decolonized curriculum, which has refocused her scholarship and research around mindfulness, anti-racism, and embodied activism. With NDEO, she is a frequent conference presenter; co-chair of the Dance 2050 think tank; the first Book Review Editor for the Journal of Dance Education and a founding member of its Editorial Board. Photo by Ralph Thompson.

Jeoffery Harris, Jr. - Outstanding Leadership (Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion)

Jeoffery Harris, Jr. is a native of New Orleans, LA. Jeoffery is currently the dance instructional specialist for East Baton Rouge Parish School System. He is the Artistic Director/ Owner of F.A.M.E. On Tour Dance Intensive/ Competition. Jeoffery is the 2023 Arts Schools Network, National Teacher of the Year and EBR Fine Arts Teacher of the Year. Jeoffery is the 2024 Marquis Who's who honored listee. He currently sits on the Arts Council of Baton Rouge Artist Advisory Board. Jeoffery is a National Dance Adjudicator and He is currently on tour with Platinum Dance Experience as an instructor. Jeoffery is the creator of “Brown Boys Dance” an organization that promotes diversity by promoting brown male dancers and choreographers. Jeoffery is a proud member of Kappa Alpha Psi fraternity Inc. and Chi Tau Epsilon. He has performed at the JFK Center for Performing Art, where his choreography was honored on the National Level. Jeoffery has danced under the direction of Debbie Allen. He was a Featured dancer in the movies, "Bolden" and "Who Do You Love?". Jeoffery is currently developing the curriculum & course description for an Arts Conservatory. His collaborative work has been featured by BET, Essence, and The View.

Nicole Robinson - Outstanding Leadership (PK-12)

Nicole Robinson, holds a BS from CSU San Bernardino and an MA from CSU Long Beach. She is a dancer, teacher, choreographer, and advocate for dance education residing in Riverside, CA. As the dance specialist at Fontana Unified School District, she leads professional development and workshops for PK-8 classroom teachers and heads the FUSD Dance Collaborative, providing dance education for PK- 12 students. Nicole is the past president for the California Dance Education Association. She was named California League of Teachers' Teacher of the Year for Region 10 in 2015 and the Carlston Family Foundation Teacher of the Year in 2017. Currently, she is the content manager for the Connected Arts Network leading national PLCs in dance education. Photo credit: Nicka Jackie Smith

Neo Lynch - Oustanding Leadership (Independent Sector)

Neo Lynch possesses over 22 years of experience in teaching students from K-12 learners engaging in recreational dance to those competing at national levels, as well as guiding pre-professional and seasoned professional dancers throughout the United States. As a choreographer, Neo has earned regional and national acclaim, securing Choreography Excellence Awards in hip-hop, jazz, lyrical, and contemporary dance. Dedicated to facilitating and curating inclusive dance environments through education, Neo is actively involved with the Dance Studies Association (DSA), the National Dance Education Organization (NDEO), and the Youth Protection in Dance (YPAD) through her memberships. She has established the Black Dance Teachers Association (BDTA) where she leads as the founder and director and is the founding chapter sponsor for The Abby Warren Memorial Chapter of the National Honor Society for Dance Arts (NHSDA), ensuring recognition for dancers who excel academically and artistically. Holding a Bachelor of Science in Criminal Justice from Virginia Commonwealth University, Neo is a Master of Fine Arts (MFA) in Choreography candidate at Jacksonville University. Her academic research explores the intersectionality of hermeneutics, whiteness studies, and Color-Blind and Color-Consciousness ideologies as they pertain to dance education and the dissemination of dance history and culture. Photo credit: Jerri Tidwell

Aleksander Paliński - Outstanding Leadership (Independent Sector)

Aleksander Paliński was born and raised in Poland, where he received dance training in a variety of styles: ballroom, jazz, street jazz, hip hop and contemporary. In 2011, Alek received a Jazz Instruction and Choreography degree under Kielecki Dance Theatre from the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage of Poland. He then mastered his skills at Edge PAC, Millennium Dance Complex, Debbie Reynolds Studio, Pineapple, Studio68 and Studio Harmonic. After achieving a successful dance and choreography career in Europe, he moved to Los Angeles in 2015. As a sought-after dancer and choreographer, Alek works with some of the biggest names in the entertaniment industry: Celine Dion, Pharrell, Jessie J, Kehlani, Karol G, Camila Cabello, Finneas, Kim Petras, Gloria Trevi, One Republic, G Eazy, Christian Louboutin, Ellen DeGeneres, and Dita Von Teese. His screen credits include: SYTYCD Poland, X Factor, NBC The Voice, CBS The Talk, “Don't Worry Darling” and "Sitting In Bars With Cake” Motion Pictures, FOX “Monarch", Paramount + “1923”, and Dancing With The Stars. With 15 years as an educator, Alek taught in Poland, France, UK, Italy, Switzerland, USA, Australia and New Zealand. Alek is a member of the Television Academy, SAG/AFTRA, NDEO, and a Choreographers Guild Founding Member. Photo credit: Matt Morgan

dani tirrell - Outstanding Leadership (Independent Sector)

dani tirrell (Washington, DC) Seattle’s Mayor Arts Award recipient 2019, is a Black, Trans Spectrum, Queer choreographer, dancer, and movement guide. dani has guided people in Detroit and Seattle as well as sharing movement practices in other cities in the United States. Currently dani is the curator for Central District Forum for Arts and Ideas (Seattle). dani is the host and co-creator of several online talk programs Sunday Dinner, The Living Room, and Intimate Conversations. dani is the founder and current artistic director of The Congregation, a movement/art group. dani is also the Artistic Director of Central District Forum for arts and Ideas (Seattle, WA) and sits on the National Dance Presenters Form (2024) and a Co-Chair of Dance USA Conference Programming Impact Group for their 2025 conference. Photo credit: Victoria Kovios

Christine Cali - Outstanding Leadership (Higher Education)

Christine Cali is Chair and Professor of the Department of Theatre Arts & Dance at Sonoma State University. Cali directs the San Francisco-based, CALI & CO dance since 2001) in collaboration with Matt Langlois/The Welcome Matt Music (since 2010). She performed with Brooklyn-based Urban Bush Women (UBW) in Hair & Other Stories, (2019-22'), teaches at Bandaloop (Oakland, CA) and Joe Goode Annex (SF), and tours and performs nationally/internationally, most notably, for a two-year Visiting Guest Professor position at SungKyunKwan University in Seoul, South Korea. Cali has been described as “one of the most ferocious, spell-binding dancers I’ve seen in this city” in the SF Chronicle and has been nominated for two Isadora Duncan Dance Awards for her performances in San Francisco. Cali's creative work and teaching are rooted in anti-oppressive practices/pedagogies, embodied story-sharing, original live music and projection art by Matt Langlois and collaborators, and community building through art-marking. Photo credit: Matt Langlois

Teresa Heiland - Outstanding Leadership (Higher Education)

Teresa Heiland, PhD, Professor at UNC Greensboro School of Dance, pioneers leadership in performing arts, teacher education, somatics, creative practice, and dance wellness. She cultivates pedagogical, creative, and research initiatives that inspire personal growth and leadership potential in dancers. Through mentoring, she fosters a safe and empowering environment for students to deepen their understanding of their potential as artists, educators, and lifelong learners and leaders. At UNCG, she collaborates with students on impactful research and challenges them to innovate in choreography, artistry, social and environmental justice, and culturally relevant lesson planning. Teresa organizes Community Dance Day, fostering collaboration among high school students, teachers, and university educators and students. Her leadership extends to curriculum development, ensuring relevance and currency, where she has introduced a Language of Dance Foundations certification at the graduate level. At LMU, where she taught for 15 years, she established student organizations and academic journals, advancing dance literacy and student engagement. Notably, she orchestrated a collaborative dance performance between her university and a local community college addressing environmental concerns. Teresa's mentorship transcends academia, supporting teachers worldwide and uniting diverse teaching approaches in her publications. She remains committed to guiding students beyond graduation, ensuring a lasting leadership legacy. Photo credit: Shibaiman

Chell Parkins - Outstanding Emerging Dance Educator (Higher Education)

Chell Parkins, Ed.D., is the inaugural Arnhold director of dance education at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. In this role, she is responsible for creating, implementing, and overseeing dance education curricula while developing programs with community partners to advocate for the re-emergence of dance education in Wisconsin. In the fall of 2024, Parkins launched a new dance education certificate centered on community and trauma-informed culturally responsive-sustaining dance pedagogical practices. Her career as a dance advocate, choreographer, educator, performer, and scholar focused on the Latinx experience has spanned over three decades. Parkins’ documentary WanderlustDance: Puerto Rico invites audiences to look at the culture, politics, and people of post-Maria Puerto Rico, her mother’s homeland. The documentary features interviews of locals reflecting on their experiences of Maria and Parkins reflecting on the Puerto Rico situation alongside footage of solo dancing at picturesque and historical sites across the archipelago. Previously, Parkins has served as a scholar in residence and consultant at Ballet Hispánico, a co-founding member of ArtsEd Tennessee, executive director of the Tennessee Association of Dance, director of dance programs at Manor High School in Texas, and a teaching artist with Creative Action in Austin, Texas. Photo credit: Amy Barbieri

Dr. Fen Kennedy - Outstanding Emerging Dance Educator (Higher Education)

Dr. Fen Kennedy is an Assistant Professor of Dance at the University of Alabama. Their research explores how dance can articulate the values and norms of the world around us, and how those norms can be challenged and changed. Their work has appeared in Dance Research Journal, Dance Chronicle and the Journal of Dance Education, and has been performed at the Birmingham Museum of Art, the Gadsden Museum of Art, and as part of Alabama Repertory Dance Theatre. They are a founding editor of the Tradition Innovations journal and their first book - "Dance, Writing, Politics, Identity" is currently under contract with Routledge. Kennedy is grateful for their residencies at the National Humanities Center and the Hambidge Center, and their partnership with Magic City Acceptance Center to provide spaces for queer folks to dance together in Alabama. Fen is also a nationally recognized teacher of social partner dance, and leads gender-friendly masterclasses, festivals, and pedagogical intensives across the US. In partnership with Jaesic Wade, they founded Changeling Spaces in 2024 an organization dedicated to increasing access and equity in the social partner dance community. Photo credit: Rachel Coutant/Impassioned Art

T. Lang - Outstanding Established Dance Educator (Higher Education)

T. Lang creates, writes & teaches poetic expressions of dance, which illustrates deep, arousing investigations relevant to issues of identity, history & community. Through dance with emphasis on the interdisciplinarity, her work communicates perspectives with depth & a style that captures the viewer with its evocative physicality & emotional viability. Lang's work is inspired by the desire to invite audiences into personal & subjective experiences of inspiration, family stories; a fascination with the connections in between; & the desire to investigate them together on the dance floor. After years of choreography, Lang continues to explore new mediums in XR, & various modes of collaboration, to immerse audiences in powerful, transformative experiences. Lang connects dance, space & XR to move audiences into a greater understanding of our past, present & future. She is an Associate Professor & was the inaugural chair of Dance at Spelman College. She builds curricula consistent with her research. Thus students enroll in her courses that consider the execution of 21stc embodiment as intellectual, artistic, & civic practice through reflection, research, & performance. Her courses weigh how economic, social, & political forces have shaped how Black bodies set themselves in motion as fugitives, maroons, & citizens. Photo credit: bcarrworks

Marissa Nesbit - Outstanding Established Dance Educator (Higher Education)

Marissa Nesbit, PhD, MFA is deeply committed to the idea that all children should have the opportunity to attain an excellent dance education centered in the arts. As Assistant Professor and Dance Education Coordinator at UNC Charlotte, Dr. Nesbit supports aspiring dance educators to craft rigorous and engaging learning experiences that immerse their students in the creative process. Her teaching includes Dance Improvisation, Elementary and Secondary Methods in Dance Education, and Dance Curriculum Design. As a researcher, Dr. Nesbit engages in qualitative research projects that investigate aspects of dance curriculum and pedagogy in K12 contexts. Dr. Nesbit’s work has been published in Research in Dance Education, the Journal of Dance Education, Dance Education in Practice, and Ethical Dilemmas in Dance Education: Case Studies in Humanizing Dance Pedagogy (Risner and Schupp 2020). She is a frequent presenter at national and international conferences including the National Dance Education Organization and dance and the Child, international, and she holds Master Practitioner certification through the Language of Dance Center. An active member of the dance education community in North Carolina, she has served on the board of the NC Dance Education Organization and on the state Arts Education Standards Writing Team. Photo credit: Zach Allred

Dances For A Variable Population - Outstanding Dance Organization

Dances For A Variable Population, Inc. (DVP) is a not-for-profit 501 (c) 3 corporation, is a multigenerational dance company (aged 25-90) and educational organization committed to promoting strong and creative movement among older adults of all abilities, enabling them to build creativity, improve their mental and physical health, strengthen social connections and enhance their quality of life. Through classes, dance workshops and performances, using the power of dance, we build community, creating lively, fun and beautifully executed theatrical dance with diverse individuals and professional dancers. Serving over 2,500 older adults throughout NYC annually with ongoing classes and performances.

 

MOVE|NYC| - Outstanding Dance Organization

MOVE|NYC| is a leading arts and social justice organization whose mission is to cultivate greater diversity and equity within the dance profession and beyond. MOVE|NYC| holds the important responsibility of shaping the next generation of dancers and leaders and actualizes this responsibility by providing artistic training, mentorship, professional development, presenting opportunities, and other quintessential resources for career advancement. Through our programs and activities, MOVE|NYC| is committed to artistic excellence, mentorship, community engagement, equity, and social change in our capacity to level skewed access to a professional and sustainable dance career for artists at the earliest stages of their artistic pursuits. MOVE|NYC| imagines a field in which exceptionally gifted dancers, no matter where they are from, have access to the best training. We imagine more artists who are empowered to bring their own cultural backgrounds to their specialized fields. We imagine more artists creating new ways to move the field forward. We imagine an art form that will connect with more audiences. We imagine more people imagining.

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