Andrew Palermo

Andrew Palermo is an American painter, director, choreographer and creator of theatrical and concert dance works. Originally from Rochester, NY, Andrew earned his BFA from the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music before beginning his performing career in New York City. Over a decade, Andrew performed on Broadway in How To Succeed In Business Without Really Trying with Matthew Broderick and Sarah Jessica Parker, Annie Get Your Gun with Bernadette Peters, and in the original cast of the smash hit, Wicked. Palermo also performed in national and international tours of West Side Story, at Carnegie Hall, The Kennedy Center, The Hollywood Bowl, Off-Broadway, regionally and on TV and film. In 2005, Andrew and his lifelong friend, actor Taye Diggs, created dre.dance, an NYC-based contemporary dance company. In its eight years of existence, dre.dance performed across New York City, the US and Canada, earning excellent reviews from the New York Times and other major publications. In 2007, the company embarked upon creating beyond.words, an evening-length work that focuses on the autism spectrum. This piece led to Andrew’s development of an autism-focused movement workshop entitled Creatively Able. Having lectured across the US on the integration of the arts and autism, as well as teaching hundreds of children on the spectrum, Andrew now trains other educators in the Creatively Able approach. This work has been the subject of two scientific studies and it’s findings have been published in international science publications, as well as an online short documentary that has been viewed over 6 million times. Highlights of Palermo’s theatrical and concert dance direction and choreography include the Broadway productions of Allegiance and Meteor Shower, multiple productions at Carnegie Hall, musical revues in Kazakhstan and Lebanon, and an evening-length ballet created for Moscow State Dance Theatre, Gzhel. He has additionally choreographed productions Off Broadway, regionally, international tours, multi-million dollar industrials and television. Andrew arrived to painting late in his career and is a self-taught artist. Utilizing multiple mediums, he has been represented at Scēne Gallery in Orange County, California and received mentions in Architectural Digest. His paintings have been collected across the US and he is thrilled to have recently completed a three month solo exhibition at The Union City Museum of Art. Andrew is a tenured Professor of Drama at University of California Irvine, where he lives with his dogs, Henry and Steve.