Jessie Levey

Jessie Levey (she/her) is the founder and director of Barefoot Dance Center in New York’s Hudson Valley where she teaches people of all ages and directs Barefoot Dance Company. Jessie also works with schools, universities, and senior centers as an artist-in-residence and leads workshops for classroom and dance educators in the United States and abroad. In her teaching practice, she aims to educate the whole person through somatics, creativity, and identity.

Jessie is an active member of National Dance Education Organization where she shares her research through teaching sessions, working with the think tank, Dance 2050: A Think Tank for Dance in Education, and publishing her work in NDEO’s journals. She also collaborates with local dance educators and artists, most recently to create the first annual Student Dance Summit for young artists in 2023 at Kaatsbaan Cultural Park in Tivoli, NY.

Originally a contemporary dancer and choreographer from New York City, Jessie performed with Nadra Assaf, Dani Nikas, Mel Wong, and Risa Jaroslow among others. Her own work has been performed in New York, Milwaukee, and Lebanon. She is a Registered Somatic Dance Educator, Certified Yoga Instructor, and holds an MFA in Dance from the Peck School of the Arts, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. Jessie is the recipient of the 2023 National Dance Education Organization’s Outstanding Leadership Award.