Ellen Weinstein is the former Artistic Director and Interim Executive Director of National Dance Institute. She began teaching and choreographing for National Dance Institute in 1985 and served as Associate Artistic Director from 1989 to 1994. She served as Artistic Director from 1995 to 2021 and during that time guided NDI to consistently deliver excellence in the arts and give children opportunities they would not have realized otherwise.
During her tenure at NDI, Ms. Weinstein built upon Jacques d’Amboise’s mission to offer every child access to free participatory dance and music classes, developed and expanded NDI’s In-School Program, which currently serves over 6,500 children in New York City public schools, as well as the Associates of National Dance Institute ANDI), a collective of arts education programs across the country that utilize NDI’s pedagogy. There are currently 12 programs thriving in the United States that together serve more than 30,000 children annually.
Ms. Weinstein’s choreography has been performed by the children of NDI at venues including Skirball Center for the Performing Arts, Kennedy Center, the White House, Lincoln Center, and other prominent venues. She developed NDI’s Artist-in-Residence program to give children the opportunity to work directly with celebrated artists and professionals in different genres of dance. The program, specifically for teaching artists of color, enables emerging artists and choreographers to hone their craft and learn in the NDI Method working with young children as positive role models.
The NDI Collaborative for Teaching and Learning, which was developed by Ms. Weinstein, is a long-term strategic initiative of NDI to spread its pedagogy and teach more children, offering intensive professional development to dance and music teachers and dance education organizations. The program is offered in studios at National Dance Institute Center for Learning and the Arts in Harlem, New York and is one of the first to be adapted for interactive online trainings. The workshops are attended by teaching artists from across the country.
To further support NDI’s mission to ensure that all children have access to quality arts education, Ms. Weinstein created a new area of programming during the pandemic to provide ways to participate in classes online. The free interactive online platform, ndiLIVE!, now has more than 100 classes taught by NDI teaching artists/choreographers and musicians for children to enjoy the exuberance and magic of NDI wherever they are. The content is also being used in original programming by education organizations across the country, including PBS/WNET. Most recently, Ms. Weinstein arranged for the children of NDI to come together again after the pandemic for a live outdoor performance series dedicated in honor of Jacques d’Amboise. The first-ever NDI Dancemobile brought live performances to parks and communities throughout New York City, spreading the joy and restorative power of music and dance to people everywhere.
Ms. Weinstein has set works and directed residencies in major cities across the country. She traveled to Moscow as a consultant for NDI’s artistic exchange with the Soviet Union and has taught in India, Paris, and Israel. In 2010, she led an NDI delegation to Shanghai to collaborate with renowned choreographer Dou Dou Huang and the Shanghai Children’s Palace. Prior to joining NDI, she danced professionally with the Savannah Ballet, the Garden State Ballet, and several contemporary dance companies. Ms. Weinstein served as adjunct professor in process pedagogy at the State University of New York at New Paltz. She received a BFA in Dance from SUNY Purchase.