N.Y.I.D.E. news
February 23, 2007

McLeod Named International Artistic Ambassador

As a choreographer, Auburn native has founded
local and international groups.
By Virginia Nussey
contributing writer
The Post Standard

Sean McLeod lives by the motto, "Success is based on how many people you bring with you."

For more than 15 years as a producer, director and choreographer, McLeod has shared his vision for art and community with the world. At Thursday night's City Council meeting, Mayor Timothy C. Lattimore named McLeod Auburn's "International Artistic Ambassador" and gave him the ceremonial Key to the City. "This (honor) for me really makes it very tangible, very real that this city is truly paying attention and showing that they care," McLeod said.

McLeod founded the New York Institute of Dance and Education in Auburn, the Educational Tour on Self-Esteem Through Dance, Mission to South Africa and other groups. His honors include the National Jefferson Award for Public Service to America, founded by Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis. He's also a consultant and motivational speaker.
As McLeod was growing up in Auburn, his father was executive director of the city's human rights commission under then-Mayor Paul Lattimore. McLeod said that together the mayor and his father did the courageous work of laying out a new vision of Auburn that looked past color and history. That current mayor Timothy Lattimore, Paul Lattimore's son, bestowed the title to McLeod magnified the achievement, he said.

An example of McLeod's reach in the international artistic community can be seen in his work in South Africa. When the Rev. Karabo Molefe, of South Africa, saw a performance of "The Drummer and the Dancer," starring McLeod and Jim Donovan, drummer of the multi-platinum band Rusted Root, Molefe invited the troupe to perform in Namibia and South Africa. While there, McLeod met with members of Parliament and other high-powered South Africans to begin establishing sister schools to N.Y.I.D.E. in the country. The continuing project is known as the Mission to South Africa.

Though McLeod has traveled the world for performances and educational tours, his commitment to his hometown remains intact. McLeod said he returned to the area because of an opportunity "to come back and give back when you have something to give back."
Friend and colleague, producer for White Nite Productions, NYC, Brian Morey, met McLeod more than eight years ago in a theater production. Morey says McLeod stays close to home because he views Auburn as a welcoming place for performance art. "At one point Auburn was kind of a the playground for New York City professionals. The greats of the jazz world, the greats of musical theater would come up here and perform, and we're talking about the earlier part of the 20th century," he said. "That has changed, but Sean has always believed that can happen again."