In service of its mission of dance education for all, the National Dance Education Organization (NDEO) has honored three members of the TC community among 22 recipients of its 2025 NDEO National Awards during their national conference in early October. Honorees Professor Barbara Bashaw, and doctoral students Shirlene Blake and Deborah Damast, were honored for their impact in the field at NDEO’s conference earlier this month.
Barbara Bashaw (Ed.D. '11, M.A. '96), Arnhold Professor of Practice in Dance Education, received a Lifetime Achievement Award for a Living Artist/Educator, the organization’s most prestigious honor that recognizes “exemplary leadership, scholarship and/or artistry, and philanthropy or service to dance education.”
Bashaw is the co-founder and executive director of the Arnhold Institute for Dance Education Research, Policy & Leadership at Teachers College, where she has played a critical role in advancing dance education and the impact of dance educators. She also continues to serve as the inaugural director of the College’s Ed.D. program in dance education, the first of its kind in the nation, which graduated its first doctoral students in 2023.
Bashaw spent the early years of her career bringing dance instruction to NYC public schools through work with Creative Arts Laboratory and 92Y, where she also served on the faculty of the Dance Education Laboratory. Bashaw later founded the dance education program at PS 295 Studio School for Arts and Culture in Brooklyn, NY. In higher education, Bashaw advanced dance education opportunities at Rutgers University, where she established New Jersey’s first graduate level dance program, and NYU Steinhardt, where she received the university’s Distinguished Teaching Award. In 2015, she was awarded an honorary doctorate from SUNY College at Brockport.
Shirlene Blake, a dance education doctoral student at TC, received NDEO’s Outstanding Leadership award for K-12 educators. Blake currently serves as Director of Dance for the New York City Public Schools Arts Office, where she “leads citywide initiatives to elevate instruction, develop curriculum and expand professional learning, while fostering partnerships between schools and cultural institutions across the city.”
Applying more than 30 years of classroom teaching experience to her work, Blake focuses on student-centered pedagogy, social-emotional learning, and inclusive curriculum design. Her professional service includes contributions to the New York State Department of Education and the state’s Dance Education Association. Blake has also taught as an adjunct at the New World School of the Arts and New York University.
Deborah Damast, also a dance education doctoral student at TC, received NDEO’s Outstanding Leadership award for higher education. Damast is Associate Professor and Director of Dance Education at NYU Steinhardt, where she leads Kaleidoscope Dancers, the program’s service learning initiative for K-12 settings and a variety of other initiatives.
Globally recognized for her art and scholarship, Damast’s choreography has taken the stage at more than 40 venues across New York City, including Radio City Music Hall. She has served as the president of the New York State Dance Education Association, a fellow at the Center for Ballet and the Arts, and is a founding member of World Dance Education Alliance in Beijing, among numerous other contributions to the field.
Learn more about advancing dance education for all at the Arnhold Institute for Dance Education Research, Policy & Leadership at Teachers College.