Lula Elzy is a distinguished choreographer, director, educator and accomplished modern dancer. She is also the founder and artistic director of the Lula Elzy New Orleans Dance Theatre (LEDT), which will be celebrating its 30th anniversary in 2021. Ms. Elzy is the recipient of the 2018 Performance Arts Award, and the 2017 Big Easy Classical Arts Lifetime Achievement Award in honor of her being one of the first African-American-led modern dance companies in the history of New Orleans. . She is the recipient of the Disney Channel American Teacher Award and the Presidential Scholars Distinguished Teachers Award in the Performing Arts. Other honors bestowed on Elzy include a Tony nominee for the Excellence in Theatre Education Award, Kennedy Center for the Arts Artist/Teacher Fellowship and inclusion in Mirabella magazine’s “1,000 Most Influential Women in America. MS. Elzy toured the Soviet Union as choreographer for Porgy and Bess and German productions of West Side Story and Cabaret. Screen credits include: Mudbound, Treme, Angel Heart and Interview with a Vampire. Presently she serves as dance consultant for the Ellis Marsalis Center for Music in New Orleans and is an Artist in Resident Choreographer for Muse Machine in Dayton, Ohio