New York State Dance Education Awards
Congratulations to the NYSDEA Award Recipients!
IGAL PERRY
OUTSTANDING DANCE EDUCATOR AWARD: PRIVATE SECTOR
&
LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD
Born in Israel, Igal Perry began his dancing career with Karmon, a folk-dance company. He later joined Bat-Dor Dance Company, where he worked with leading teachers and choreographers including Alvin Ailey, Benjamin Harkarvy, John Butler, Rudi Van Dantzig, and Lar Lubovitch. In 1976 Mr. Perry moved to New York where he joined Dennis Wayne’s Dancers as ballet master and choreographer. He went on to stage John Butler's works for the New York City Opera, the Opera of Munich, Caracas Ballet and Teatro Alla Scala in Milan, where he also directed the world premiere of Crzysztof Penderecki’s opera Paradise Lost. In 1981-1982, Mr. Perry headed the ballet department at Jacob’s Pillow.
In 1983, Mr. Perry established his school, Peridance Center and his company, Peridance Contemporary Dance Company, for which he has choreographed over 80 works, with performances at BAM, The Joyce Theater, City Center and many theaters and festivals around the globe.
Mr. Perry's choreography, often in collaboration with contemporary composers, has been described as "blessedly inventive" (Jennifer Dunning, NY Times). His works have been set on prestigious companies and performed at renowned festivals including Florence Dance Festival and Invito Alla Danza (Italy), Batsheva and Bat-Dor Dance Companies (Israel), Ailey II and Complexions Contemporary Ballet (NYC), Companhia de Danca de Lisboa (Portugal), Alberta Ballet (Canada) Milwaukee Ballet and San Jose Ballet (USA) and many more. Mr. Perry serves as a judge in several international dance competitions including Youth America Grand Prix, Certamen Internacional de Dansa (Barcelona), Tokyo International Ballet Competition and more.
In 1983, Mr. Perry established his school, Peridance Center and his company, Peridance Contemporary Dance Company, for which he has choreographed over 80 works, with performances at BAM, The Joyce Theater, City Center and many theaters and festivals around the globe.
Mr. Perry's choreography, often in collaboration with contemporary composers, has been described as "blessedly inventive" (Jennifer Dunning, NY Times). His works have been set on prestigious companies and performed at renowned festivals including Florence Dance Festival and Invito Alla Danza (Italy), Batsheva and Bat-Dor Dance Companies (Israel), Ailey II and Complexions Contemporary Ballet (NYC), Companhia de Danca de Lisboa (Portugal), Alberta Ballet (Canada) Milwaukee Ballet and San Jose Ballet (USA) and many more. Mr. Perry serves as a judge in several international dance competitions including Youth America Grand Prix, Certamen Internacional de Dansa (Barcelona), Tokyo International Ballet Competition and more.
SEAN MCLEOD
OUTSTANDING LEADERSHIP AWARD
Sean McLeod's global work spans over 30 years and 3 continents. As a black businessman saved by the arts, Sean uses performance to teach Personality & Emotional Development, Racial Inclusion Training, and DEI. He has created and led various national and international programs including: the New York Dance Festival, Electronic Health Records Perfect Practice Summit, I Am The Author of My Own Life Story, the Harriet Tubman Freedom Music Festival, In The Footsteps of Martin: A Conference for Men, the Carmen De Lavallade Award for Dance, the National Harriet Tubman Freedom Awards, and was a contributor to the 2023 World Culture Festival that brought approximately 1.2 million people to the National Mall in Washington D.C. Through a partnership with New York City Ballet, and School of American Ballet Artistic Director Jonanthan Stafford, Sean executive produces the New York Dance Festival at the School of American Ballet, Lincoln Center. Sean has personally awarded over 400 thousand dollars to established and emerging artists. He works with At-Risk Populations, Economically Disadvantaged, Urban Communities, Women, and Youth. He is founder of Reaching for Higher Ground Consulting – a Communication Firm. As President of Kaleidoscope Dance Theatre, Sean uses performance to challenge the way minorities are seen in society. Sean is President & CEO of the New York Institute of Dance & Education Inc. and developer of a Black-created technique with vocabularies that include; McLeod Technique, MT Afro Hip Hop, Training For Athletes, and Reinforced Motor Function®.
AMY LARIMER
INNOVATIVE DANCE EDUCATOR AWARD
Amy Larimer is a dance/theater artist and teacher. She began as a dancer and toured internationally with Nicholas Leichter Dance for 10 years. Her work has been presented at both dance and comedy venues including: The 92nd Street Y, Caroline’s Comedy Club, Catch a Rising Star, Dixon Place, DTW, HERE, Joe’s Pub, Triskelion Arts, The West End Theatre, the Crisis Art Festival, The Tank and the Players Theatre. She is one half of The Raving Jaynes: Improvised Dance Theater, a group that uses improvisational structures from dance and theater to create fully improvised performances. The Raving Jaynes perform regularly at the PIT and Players Theater in New York and have been presented in festivals throughout the US as well as in Canada, Ireland, Mexico, The Netherlands and Sweden. She is currently collaborating with Costa Rican artist Andrey Ramírez on Tangled, an improvised performance which combines improv and tango. She received her M.F.A. in Dance from the University of Wisconsin at Milwaukee and is a certified yoga teacher. In her teaching, she combines her knowledge of dance with her knowledge of improv. Some of her primary areas of interest are: the ways that physical states influence performance, techniques for enhancing physical specificity and range in performers and the ways that the practices of dance and improv can feed each other. She is a Professor/the Director of the Dance Program at Lehman College and has published articles on improvisation and pedagogy in The Journal of Dance Education and The Journal of Physical Education, Recreation and Dance.
