05/20/2026
This May’s Alumni Spotlight features Nicole Perry ’05! Nicole began her dance career at a young age and has taken it to incredible heights. She is a three-time Silver Palm Award–winning movement professional & choreographer. Her career has led her to work on sets for Netflix, Hulu, and Showtime! Nicole is also a published author of “Care-full Creativity in Theatre and Dance Education.” In addition to her directing work, Nicole is deeply committed to teaching. She even returned to her alma mater to work with current dance majors on safe physical contact in dance and theater.
Nicole’s entire career has been centered around supporting others. She centers respect, safety, and care in her creative process. “I was driven, from the first moment, to figure out how to bring those ideas of consent-forward and trauma-informed work to the dance classroom. I particularly love teaching teachers, as I feel that makes such an impact.” Her influence creates a powerful ripple effect as those educators go on to shape their own classrooms. Nicole’s impact on the dance community is felt around the globe.
Nicole was honored when the dance department invited her back to work with students. “Most dancers will teach and create in their career—they need skills to do so in a way that cares for the people in the room, treats them as equals, honors their needs and boundaries, and is truly collaborative. And these things do often need to be explicitly taught, as it is not what is modeled for us in many dance studios or dance companies. Eastern's tag line is ‘Live with Courage,’ and it takes courage to look at the status quo of your field and go, ‘this isn't good enough. This is actually hurting people. We need to do better.’ Teaching dance in consent-forward, trauma-informed, psychologically safe ways is a way we're creating change for the better.”
One of her favorite memories from her time on campus is dancing outside with Dr. C. Now, Nicole loves seeing the stories of her fellow alumni community and how they are always changing the world for the better. “Thank you for being a part of my community!”