BARRY BLUMENFELD
Friends Seminary
Barry Blumenfeld, K-5
Friends Seminary
Early in Barry’s dance training, he was selected to take a workshop taught by Gregory Hines. Greg’s message in that class was “be expressive”, and that has inspired Barry for almost three decades. Those two words have rooted in his psyche and fostered the life-long belief in the power of dance to be a means of understanding the self, the world and the relationship between them. Whether it is a 2nd grade choreographing their understanding of the water cycle, a high school student shining a light on what it is to be a young black woman in this country, or a group of dance professionals seeking to find a way to bring the benefits of dance to more people, Barry seeks to enable others to expand their own ability to share their world with others. As Barry likes to say- dance is for sharing, not for keeping.
Barry Blumenfeld is on the faculty of Friends Seminary, where he built the dance program over the past 23 years, as well as NYU Steinhardt and the Dance Education Lab of the 92Y, for which he co-created the app, DanceMaker. He has worked as a teaching artist, taught in private pre-schools and studios, such as Broadway Dance Center, as well as deaf college students at Gallaudet University, and he was an adjunct professor at American University. Barry has served as President of the New York State Dance Education Association and was a recipient of the Outstanding PreK-12 Dance Educator Award from NYSDEA in 2017. He received the Outstanding Leadership Award from the National Dance Education Organization, and he wrote a monthly “Ask the Experts” column for Dance Teacher Magazine, for 8 years. Barry founded the tap/modern dance company, TAPFUSION, and has choreographed numerous works that have been presented in New York, Florida, Maryland and Washington, DC. His work with the company led to him receiving a Choreographers Fellowship from the New York Foundation for the Arts. He holds a BA in Psychology and an MA in Dance from American University and is a certified Level 1 Teacher of Language of Dance®; a certified yoga instructor; and a Registered Dance Educator.