Recently, students of the Barefoot Dance Center in West Park performed at the Milton Train Station.

Jessie Levey is the Owner/Director of the Center and teaches Choreolab and The Barefoot Company. She said the Lab is where her students learn about composition and improvisation and the Barefoot Dance Company is where they choreograph works of the students. She holds a Masters Degree in Fine Arts [MFA], is a Registered Yoga teacher [RYT] and a Registered Somatic Dance Educator [RSDE], which is defined as a way to enhance human movement potential, body-mind integration, individual and cultural expression, and creative exploration through movement awareness and dance education within the art of dance.

Levey moved with her family from Brooklyn to West Park more than two decades ago and the Barefoot Dance Center quickly followed. She chose the house that is on Route 9W because a studio was already there and all she had to do was add a waiting room and bring water over for a bathroom.

“I had this dream from the city to start a dance center studio in a more rural environment,” she said, adding that this perfect location is the realization of a life-long dream.

Levey grew up in Soho and Tribeca in Manhattan at a time when there were affordable spaces and lofts for artists.

“I was exposed to very experimental art, especially when it came to dance, when there was an enormous amount of questioning of what can be considered dance; so I couldn’t help but be creative.” she said. “I see dance as a wonderful opportunity to express oneself and to also feel free to break any rules as dancers were constantly pushing the boundaries.”

Levey brings all of her diverse background into teaching her students, “which is exciting for the kids because they really get to be in a place where they can explore and experiment while also learning skills.”

Levey has had her students perform at the 92nd Street Y in New York City, a place where she, as a young student, “fell madly in love with dance” and was able to take improvisational classes with, “amazing teachers.” This institution is one of the oldest in New York City and has long supported modern dance. Levey also studied at the Merce Cunningham and Jose Limon Studios and with Ruth Currier, all of which gave her access to a wide variety of teachers. Levey also attended the Walden School, a private, independent high school school that allowed her to take dance classes as part of her regular curriculum.

After attending Sarah Lawrence College, Levey returned to the city and began her teaching career.

“I really loved it and felt the teaching fed my creative spirit as much as the dancing; they went hand in hand and one informed the other and still to this day that is true,” she said. “I think teaching is an incredibly creative act and I hope that I will always be a creative teacher.”

Levey also invites in choreographers who work with the older girls, who will perform pieces made with these professionals.

“That gives them the experiences they need to go on and continue dancing through college and/or professional life,” she said.

Levey explained the barefoot nomenclature, saying that her center does offer classes in ballet and tap and they do wear the appropriate shoes, “but I come from a modern dance background and modern dancers traditionally wear their feet. We also offer classes in mostly West African forms and they also dance with bare feet. To me there is something very appealing and it just sings for me that our feet are connected to the earth and that is one of the reasons that we can feel the floor better, we can use the muscles in or feet better by feeling the bones move around, whereas with any kind of shoe, it’s harder to get that same connection to the floor beneath you.”

Levey teaches her young students the necessary skills to be a dancer, “but the other half of that is learning how to create dances and to me they are looped together. So at Barefoot we’re teaching the whole art form; we’re teaching them to be dancers and teaching them to be dance makers.”

Levey said having children create dances keeps alive their sense of play as well as their creativity; sparking questions behind the movement of the body, “what is this dance about and what are the things you’re struggling with?...When the kids perform here they perform something they have thrown their feelings into and brought their own personal experiences to, so they feel a sense of ownership to what they’re doing; what they are saying is important because it’s their own story.”