National Dance Institute Announces Jerron Herman as 2025-2026 Helen Stambler Neuberger Artist-in-Residence

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
December 4, 2025
Contact: Maya Reyes Bellavia, maya@anatgerstein.com, (347)-907-0568

National Dance Institute Announces Jerron Herman as 2025-2026 Helen Stambler Neuberger Artist-in-Residence

— Visionary Artist and Choreographer Brings Disability Arts to the Forefront of Dance Education —

(New York, NY) — National Dance Institute (NDI) announces Jerron Herman as its 2025-2026 Helen Stambler Neuberger Artist-in-Residence, in recognition of his artistic excellence.

The NDI Artist-in-Residence program is a one-year residency designed to support the creative process of a movement-based artist of color. NDI Artists-in-Residence receive rehearsal space at NDI’s Jacques d’Amboise Center for Learning and the Arts in Harlem, performance opportunities, professional development workshops, and peer to peer dialogue. They join a community of artists committed to the transformative power of inclusive dance education.

Previous residents include a prestigious lineup of emerging and accomplished professionals, among them Camille A. Brown & Dancers; Earl Mosley, Founder and Artistic Director of Earl Mosley's Diversity of Dance (EMDOD); Brazilian tap dancer Leonardo Sandoval; Troy Anthony, Creative Director of Fire Ensemble Inc.; Tiffany Rea-Fisher, Artistic Director of EMERGE125; Mai Lê Hô, Founder of LayeRhythm; and musician Gregory Richardson of Music from the Sole.

Jerron Herman is a celebrated artist, choreographer, and director who has choreographed, written, and performed numerous works that center images of freedom and disabled perspectives, bringing his own lived experience as a dancer with cerebral palsy into prominent artistic spaces.

He is the choreographer and co-director of Sensorium Ex, a new opera that explores what it means for non-verbal artists to have a voice. Herman developed a speaking series for the Joyce Theater called Discourse: Disabled Artists at the Joyce, bringing together NYC-based artists with disabilities to showcase their work in 2021. He is also part of INTERIM, a boutique consortium centering joy for artists with disabilities.

Herman has premiered works at Danspace Project and Performance Space New York, and produced responsive installations at The Whitney, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Cooper Hewitt Design Museum, and The Guggenheim. Herman has received fellowships from United States Artists, NYU/Center for Ballet, Foundation for Contemporary Arts, The Jerome Foundation, among others. In 2020, Herman was awarded the Disability Futures Fellowship from the Ford Foundation and the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.

“Jerron's integrity, creativity, and pioneering spirit will elevate and inform so much of our work here at NDI. That's exactly what the Artist-in-Residence program is intended to do.” said Kay Gayner, National Dance Institute’s Artistic Director. “Jerron has been an integral part of the NDI community for many years. His artistry continues to challenge society's understanding of who can dance and what dance can and should look like. His ability to create liberating, expansive artistic experiences will have a profound impact on our young dancers, and we look forward to what they will create together.”

“I have developed a rich relationship at NDI over the years as a beneficiary of their space as a dancer, a friend of the Center, a teaching artist for DREAM, and now an Artist-in-Residence. When one encounters such a deep and growing response, it is easy to stay in community with NDI and I’m proud to engage in this new way” said Jerron Herman, National Dance Institute’s 2025-2026 NDI Artist-in-Residence.

As the 2025-2026 NDI Artist-in-Residence, Herman will develop original work while choreographing for dancers in the NDI DREAM Project in February 2026. NDI DREAM (Dancers Realize Excellence through Arts and Movement) Project is an inclusive dance program that brings together children with and without disabilities. Herman’s work with NDI DREAM dancers may be showcased at NDI’s Annual Gala and Event of the Year.

NDI Teaching Artists will also have the opportunity to attend workshops led by Herman as well– learning from his innovative artistry and choreographic expertise to generate new educational practices in NDI classrooms, impacting over 6,000 students.

NDI extends its gratitude to Helen Stambler Neuberger, Board Chair Emerita, for her
extraordinary support of the Artist-in-Residence Program.
About National Dance Institute (NDI)
National Dance Institute is a non-profit arts education organization that brings children together through inclusive dance and music programs. Founded by legendary dancer Jacques d’Amboise in the belief that every child should have access to learning in and through the arts, NDI impacts the lives of thousands of children worldwide. Learn more: https://nationaldance.org/.

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