About Deborah
New York, NY
Deborah Damast (CBA ’25) is associate professor and director of dance education at NYU’s Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development, where she teaches, choreographs, and directs concerts, Kaleidoscope Dancers, and Uganda study abroad. She served on boards of NYSDEA (Past-President), NDEO, DEiP, Peridance, Misty Copeland’s BE BOLD, and Dance Teacher, and she has presented at numerous conferences. Her choreography has been shown at over 40 venues in New York City, including Ailey Citigroup and Radio City Music Hall, and internationally in Japan, Uganda, Korea, and Italy. She has taught at 92Y, Peridance, Oregon Ballet Theatre, The Yard, New York City Ballet, and West Virginia University, and she has written curriculum for Peridance, Paul Taylor, Carnegie Hall, and the New York City Department of Education. She received grants from NYU’s inaugural Mid-Career Leadership initiative, as well as Caring Culture, Innovation and Diversity, Faculty Challenge, and Internationalizing the Curriculum grants. She is the recipient of the NYU GSU Star Faculty Award, NDEO Outstanding Dance Educator Award, Steinhardt Teaching Excellence Award, Dance Teacher Magazine Award, NYSDEA Outstanding Leadership Award, and 2023 Martha Hill Mid-Career Award.
Project: “What Can Dance Teach Us About Leadership?” Damast aims to develop an embodied practice informed by the fields of dance education, leadership, and women’s studies to identify movement skills and concepts that can be employed to enhance leadership.