Deborah Damast

Deborah Damast has been teaching in the Dance Education program since 2002 and currently serves as Program Director and Artistic Advisor. She has taught modern dance technique, pedagogy, creative movement for children, production, and choreography, is the Artistic Director of Dance Concerts, Kaleidoscope Dancers and the study abroad program to Uganda.

She has participated in motion capture studies, Internet Arts Collaborations, and in spring of 2019 received a collaborative Faculty Challenge Grant with Yoav Bergner and Allegra Romita to research data and dance literacy. In the spring of 2020 Deborah received a Steinhardt Diversity Innovation Grant to begin collaborative work with Dancing Earth. Deborah collaborates as a mentor, provider of professional development and writer with the Dance Education Laboratory, LREI, The Yard, and the NYC DOE DELTA leadership team. She has taught and directed programs at Peridance Center, Oregon Ballet Theatre, Harvey School, Dance in Education Fund, and has taught for New York City Ballet, the 92nd St. Y, Temple Habonim, Harkness Dance Center, Innovative Learning Centers, and others. She has created creative dance videos for children, Move N Groove Kids.

Deborah's choreography has been shown in numerous venues in NYC including World Financial Center, Riverside Church, 92nd St. Y, 14th Street Y, Judson Church, Peridance, St. Marks Church, Context, RAPP Arts Center, Gowanus Arts Exchange, Cooper Union, Ailey Citigroup Theater, Skirball Theater, Frederick Loewe Theater, for NDEO and ADTA conferences, and for Peridance and Steffi Nossen youth companies and Marymount Manhattan BA Dance majors. Her choreography has been presented Nationally and Internationally in Europe, Asia, and Africa. She has taught and presented at conferences through National Dance Education Organization (NDEO) annually since 2004, New York State Dance Education Association (NYSDEA), CUNY, Graduate Center,  ACDFA, NYU, Kyambogo Music Education Conference 2018 in Uganda. in 2019 Deborah was the Keynote Speaker and presenter at the Utah Dance Education Organization conference. She conducts professional development for the New York City Dept. of Education Office of Arts and Special Projects and DEL/92Y, and has written curriculum for New York City Ballet, Paul Taylor Education Department, the Revised Blueprint for the Arts-Dance for the NYC DOE and continues to enjoy working with the Making It Team of the Yard in Martha's Vineyard on Education Initiatives and Community Engagement. Deborah serves on the Board of Directors of Peridance Contemporary Dance Company and the Dance Education in Practice Journal Editorial Board, has served on the Boards of NDEO and NYSDEA, the latter where she served as President. Currently she serves on the IDEA (Inclusion, Diversity, Equity and Access) Committee for NDEO. Deborah was a 2008 recipient of the GSO Star Faculty Award at NYU, the 2010 Outstanding Educator Award from the National Dance Education Organization, the 2017 NYU Steinhardt Excellence in Teaching award, and a 2020 Dance Teacher Magazine Award.  She enjoys teaching across the lifespan, choreographing, and her research interests are community engagement, academic service learning, and early childhood. She is pursuing an Ed.D. degree in Dance Education part time at Columbia Teachers College.