Nicole Duffy

Nicole Duffy is an Adjunct Lecturer in the Department of Dance at Columbia University’s Barnard College. She is a renowned director, educator, and former principal dancer with the Joffrey Ballet. Her work focuses on preserving and teaching the methodologies of Robert Joffrey and Gerald Arpino through her role as a repetiteur for the Gerald Arpino Foundation.

Education: BA in Art History from Columbia University’s School of General Studies; MA in Dance and Art History from New York University’s Gallatin School, focusing on intersections between dance and visual art.

Research interests include ballet pedagogy, choreographic reconstruction, and the cultural legacy of 20th-century dance. She has staged works for institutions such as ABT Studio Company, Ballet Hispanico, and Marymount Manhattan College. Teaching encompasses classical ballet, contemporary techniques, and mentorship across career stages.

She contributes to institutional projects like the New York Public Library’s The Joffrey + Ballet in the US exhibition and the Dance Oral History Project. Her writing appears in The Massachusetts Review, Dance Informa, and Esferas.

Advising roles include Program Advisor for Ballet Hispánico’s Upper Division and Professional Studies. She directs summer intensives in Florence, Italy, and collaborates with institutions like Complexions Contemporary Ballet and the Harlem School of the Arts.