2025 Undergraduate Dance Award Winners

Each year, the Duke Dance program presents awards to undergraduate students in the arts. These awards highlight students with outstanding leadership, artistic and technical growth and potential, writing and research skills in the arts. Learn more about these exceptional students.

The Julia Wray Memorial Dance Award 2025: Kayla Lihardo

The Julia Wray Memorial Dance Award celebrates the memory of Prof. Julia Wray who for many years was the leader and passionate protagonist for dance at Duke and in North Carolina. The 2025 Julia Wray Memorial Dance Award goes to graduating Senior Kayla Lihardo for her active engagement and outstanding leadership in the Dance Program.

Kayla Lihardo is graduating with an interdisciplinary Program II degree in neuroaesthetics. She conducted research in affective neuroscience in the LaBar Lab and has carried out interdisciplinary projects as a member of Bass Connections Laboratory Art in Practice and the Duke Arts Studio as well. She has been awarded Program II Research Grants, a Creative Arts Grant, and the Dance Project Award to support her independent projects in neuroaesthetics and dance. Kayla's research in neuroaesthetics is driven by her ever-present passion for dance. She has actively participated and choreographed for the Dance Program's annual concert ChoreoLab from 2023 to 2025 and has served as the Director of student dance group Devils en Pointe, as well as a member of Embodiment Contemporary Dance. Going forward, Kayla will continue to pursue interdisciplinary research as a research specialist at Princeton University.

The Clay Taliaferro Dance Award 2025: Amare Swierc

The Clay Taliaferro Dance Award is given in honor of the extraordinary performing artist, choreographer and Duke Dance Professor, and recognizes the artistic growth of an undergraduate sophomore or junior student who has the “potential to become a professional dancer, teacher, or choreographer.

Amare Swierc is nominated to receive the 2025 Clay Taliaferro Dance Award. She is a sophomore pursuing a major in Dance, a major in International Comparative Studies, and a minor in Journalism and Media Studies. She trained at the Rocky Mountain Ballet Theater in Montana and in contemporary dance, flamenco, Balinese, and hip-hop as well. Internationally, she has competed at Opus Ballet Firenze and Associazione MAB; she was a United States representative performer for the 2020 World Expo in Dubai; and she headlined as the lead actor performing the Chinese Mermaid for the Chinese National Theater for Children Festival in Beijing, 2023.

At Duke, Amare is actively engaged with DIRA Borderless Magazine, Bass Connections, and AiiCE Research. She aspires to blend international relations with cultural connectivity through the arts focusing on conflict resolution and international diplomacy. With the Duke Dance Program, she has trained and performed in ballet, modern, and contemporary dance every semester. During the current academic year, Amare performed for Dance faculty Iyun Harrison's ballet choreographic works, “Bach Cello Suite” and “Powerful Little Sentence” for Fall and Spring respectively. She also performed for MFA student Tristian Griffin’s work “Four Corners” last fall, and was involved with multiple ChoreoLab interactive exhibitions. Amare has been working on a year-long project with dance faculty Jingqiu Guan to be premiered in Los Angeles in May 2025. This summer, she is participating in DukeEngage Program Arts, Ethics, and Democracy in Greece with Duke Dance faculty and choreographer, Michael Klien. Amare thoroughly believes that the arts provide cultural connectivity within the society. She is passionate about building community amid a polarized society and advocacy through her craft.

The Dance Writing Award 2025: Ariana George

The Dance Writing Award recognizes a Duke University undergraduate who has demonstrated excellence in dance writing and has proven their ability to translate the movement text to the written word.

Ariana George received the 2025 Dance Writing Award for her research paper, The Healing Power of Dance Movement Therapy for Mental Health: Exploration of Depression and Anxiety Relief. Ariana is a junior at Duke University pursuing an Interdepartmental Major in Psychology and Dance, with minors in Chemistry and Visual Media Studies. She has trained in several dance styles, like ballet, Lyrical, Jazz, Hip-Hop, and Contemporary dance and is a performing member of Duke Rhydhun, the university’s Bollywood Fusion student dance team.

Ariana’s is a research intern with Duke’s Memory for Movement Lab and a participant of the Medical Cognition Lab, which investigates how people comprehend, remember, and make decisions about medical information. For this Lab she serves as the Drug Advertising Project Manager, leading a research project examining the cognitive impact of drug advertisements, analyzing how consumers process and recall medical information. These research labs have allowed her to explore how principles of cognitive psychology can enhance both dance performance and medical communication.

After her graduation from Duke, she plans to pursue a career in medicine, with the goal of integrating somatic and psychological approaches to healing. Through interdisciplinary study and performance, she aims to pursue holistic care that honors the powerful connection between body, mind, and spirit. Ariana George.

The Dance Project Award 2025: Gus Gress

The Dance Project Award is a competitive award supporting student projects in dance studies, creative works or dance research.

Gus Gress is the 2025 Dance Project awardee. He is a graduating senior majoring in Theater Studies and Public Policy with a minor in Spanish. Gus was actively engaged in performing arts throughout his four years at Duke, with performing, directing, and producing with Theater Studies, Duke Players, Me Too Monologues, Hoof ‘n’ Horn, Jazz@Duke, and Speak of the Devil. He is a recipient of the Brodhead Service Fellowship, the Forlines Family Theater Studies Grant, and the Leadership in Arts Policy Internship (LAPI) Fellowship. 

Gus is graduating with Distinction in Public Policy for his thesis on local governmental investment in nonprofit theatre, which focuses on the Horn in the West outdoor drama in Boone, NC. After graduation, he plans to pursue performing and producing in London through the U.K.'s High Potential Individual (HPI) Visa.