Jenefer Davies, professor of dance and theater at Washington and Lee University in Lexington, Virginia, has received the 2021 Outstanding Dance Education Researcher Award from the National Dance Education Organization. The award “is presented to an individual who has shown excellence in creative or scholarly research and who has impacted the development of research throughout the field of dance education on the national level.”
Professor Davies was recognized for her exemplary and innovative contributions to dance education, specifically for her work in creating an academic curriculum in aerial dance through experiential research and developing one of the first educational aerial dance programs in the country.
Professor Davies joined the faculty at Washington and Lee University in 2006. In addition to her professorship, she is also director of the university’s dance program, artistic director of the university’s Repertory Dance Company, and head of the theater, dance, and film studies department. She is the author of Aerial Dance: A Guide to Dance with Rope and Harness (Routledge, 2017).
Professor Davies holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Hollins University in Roanoke, Virginia. She holds a master of fine arts degree in dance performance from George Washington University in Washington, D.C.