LEADERSHIP
Deborah Denenfeld, Executive Director of Dancing Well, is a dancer, dance educator, and dance caller with more than 36 years of experience teaching and leading community dance with individuals of all ages and backgrounds.
Dancing Well was born out of Deborah’s belief in the healing power of dance. In a pilot program with soldiers at Fort Knox, she worked closely with staff psychiatrist Edwin O. Walker to develop and implement a dance series specifically attuned to the needs of soldiers with PTSD and/or brain injury.
Since 2014 she has led a similar program for afflicted veterans and families in Louisville, Kentucky, helping individuals improve mood, memory, physical health, interpersonal relationships, and hope for the future, while reducing anxiety and feelings of isolation and distress.
“I formed the organization because I had experienced the healing power of community dance myself. Many people have told me about how going to a dance lifts their mood, helps them feel connected with others, and provides a social community they come to value.”
Deborah Denenfeld has been teaching and leading traditional dance since 1966. For 30+ years she has traveled Kentucky as a Dance Artist in the Schools through the Kentucky Arts Council, Arts for All Kentucky (formerly VSA Kentucky), which focuses on inclusive arts for people with varying abilities, and as an independent consultant.
As a teacher, Deborah specializes in dance for people of all ages and differing abilities and is known for her clear, simple instructions and deft guidance of dancers on the dance floor. She has developed materials and presented dance concepts to tens of thousands of young people, and she is a juried instructor for Arts for All Kentucky.
“As the dance leader, I am watching carefully to see, how is everybody doing? The goal is that, at the end of every dance, every person will feel that they succeeded.”
Trained in Different Ways of Knowing, her lessons utilize multiple intelligences, so every individual can learn in their own way. The Kentucky Department of Education certified her original teacher training on dance. Her lesson plans are published in Kentucky Educational Television’s Dance Toolkits.
Through an Appalachian music fellowship from Berea College, Deborah conducted original research on a unique form of community dance found in western Kentucky in the early twentieth century. She is the longest-serving contra dance caller in the Louisville area and travels to call in other communities.
Deborah’s areas of specialization include working with diverse populations, making dance accessible to all, and combining dance, culture, and history in an engaging format modified to the interests and needs of each dance participant. Prior to moving to Kentucky in 1990, she taught in a refugee camp in Thailand.
Deborah holds a Master of Business Administration degree from Oakland University.