Deborah Denenfeld, Executive Director of Dancing Well, is a dancer, dance educator, and dance caller with more than 28 years of experience teaching and leading community dance with individuals of all ages and backgrounds.
Dancing Well was born out of Denenfeld’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.
“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. ”
She has since led a similar series 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.
For over two decades, Denenfeld has also taught dance in schools throughout Kentucky and in several other states. She is a juried instructor for the Kentucky Arts Council and Arts for All Kentucky (formerly VSA Kentucky). Through an Appalachian music fellowship from Berea College, Denenfeld conducted original research on a unique form of community dance found in western Kentucky in the early twentieth century. Prior to moving to Kentucky in 1990, she taught in a refugee camp in Thailand.
Denenfeld holds a Master of Business Administration degree from Oakland University. Prior to her work as a dance educator, she worked as a project leader and systems analyst for a major health care provider, creating one of the first systems to use bar coding in the field. She also served on a national panel focused on bar coding and other technologies in health care and is a published author in this area.