Dance Education Faculty Members Recognized with NDEO National Awards

The National Dance Education Organization (NDEO) recognized several members of NYU Steinhardt’s Dance Education program with 2025 National Awards for their notable leadership, education, and research. Awards were presented virtually in September and in person at the 2025 NDEO National Conference in Detroit in October.

Susan R. Koff, clinical professor of dance education, was given a Lifetime Achievement Award: Service. Koff has more than 30 years of experience teaching dance education in higher education. She served as a founding board member for the NDEO and was a Content Area Coordinator for the NDEO Research in Dance Education Project, funded through the US Department of Education. She is also former Chair of Dance and the Child International, a UNESCO organization.

“The power of dance education is working with people first, not steps,” says Koff. “It is to relate to people as the unique individuals they are, rather than to shape and mold them into an abstract concept of what you want them to be. Dance education does not see differences or geographic borders, but is a way to transcend artificial barriers and work in the most fundamental way possible, with people in an open, embracing fashion. Everyone has the right to express who they are, where they want to be, and how they want to be. We celebrate that as dance educators.”