#peridance

Where to dance in New York City!

If you are in the Big Apple or happen to be traveling, here are some of the great professional dance studios you can take from.

Where to Dance series of posts: New York, Chicago, London, Los Angeles, City Near You

by: Jeff Victor

BROADWAY DANCE CENTER

Since 1984, Broadway Dance Center has earned a reputation in the global dance community as a beacon of excellence in dance education. BDC is renowned for its unparalleled Faculty and for offering a diverse array of dance disciplines under one roof. Our continued dedication to the international dance community,   state-of-the-art studios, and our location in the heart of the Broadway theater district in New York City make us the ultimate destination for dancers around the globe.

Broadway Dance Center’s rich history is best understood by going back in time to New York City in the early 1980s. Aspiring dancers primarily came to NYC to vie for the chance to dance on a Broadway stage. That was the dream then, long before videos and pop stars. Choreographers like Michael Bennett, Bob Fosse, and Jerome Robbins were creating brilliance on stage, while teachers like Luigi, Jamie Rogers, Henry LeTang, Phil Black, David Howard, and Frank Hatchett were preparing dancers to become the versatile and technical performers needed for these great choreographers.

Comprising more than 80 professionals, our faculty is fully committed to your development and training. You are sure to find a favorite teacher in this diverse group! Our teachers work professionally in various aspects of their field and bring their expertise and knowledge into the classroom. 

STEPS ON BROADWAY

Steps on Broadway, founded in 1979, is more than just a dance studio.  It is an internationally recognized community of artists, committed to the cultivation of individuality and talent, to the joy, the work, the focus, and the abandon of dance. Classes are offered seven days a week at all levels in ballet, jazz, modern, contemporary, tap, theater dance, hip hop, ethnic, and body conditioning.

Steps is the true epicenter of New York’s professional dance community. It is home to many of the best and most world-renowned teachers, and a training ground for generations of aspiring and professional dancers.  On any given day, one may take class alongside today’s performers and seasoned veterans from concert dance companies, such as New York City Ballet, American Ballet Theater, Paris Opera, Kirov and Royal Ballets, Boston Ballet, Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, Complexions, and Martha Graham, as well as the opera, Broadway, and the commercial dance world.

PERIDANCE CAPEZIO CENTER

Peridance Capezio Center is home to all styles, all levels of dance and provides a broad spectrum of over 250 weekly adult and children's dance classes in a nurturing, professional environment.

The Center is also home to the acclaimed Peridance Contemporary Dance Company, formally Peridance Ensemble.

Commended by Dance Magazine as "a place for serious dancers", Peridance  Capezio Center has continually maintained its reputation for excellence drawing students in from around the globe. Peridance Capezio Center offers technique classes in all major dance disciplines for dancers of all levels. Each year, students and professionals from all over the world come to experience a wide range of workshops and master classes offered by a roster of internationally acclaimed guest teachers and choreographers. The center's curriculum also integrates a variety of classes, for the dancer and non-dancer alike, designed to strengthen the body and increase flexibility of movement.

Peridance Capezio Center is the culmination of years of hard work and a firm belief in dance as a positive force. The integration of the traditional technique classes offered alongside the cutting-edge dance styles emerging today has enabled the school to maintain its original premise: offering dance education with integrity and high quality, without being compromised by commercialism. It is the fulfillment of Igal Perry's artistic vision and a source of inspiration for those who want to make dance an important part of their lives.

ALVIN AILEY AMERICAN DANCE THEATRE

Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater grew from a now-fabled performance in March 1958 at the 92nd Street Y in New York City. Led by Alvin Ailey and a group of young African-American modern dancers, that performance changed forever the perception of American dance. The Ailey company has gone on to perform for an estimated 25 million people at theaters in 48 states and 71 countries on six continents – and has reached millions more online and through television broadcasts.

In 2008, a U.S. Congressional resolution designated the Company as “a vital American cultural ambassador to the world” that celebrates the uniqueness of the African-American cultural experience and the preservation and enrichment of the American modern dance heritage. When Mr. Ailey began creating dances, he drew upon his "blood memories" of Texas, the blues, spirituals, and gospel as inspiration, which resulted in the creation of his most popular and critically acclaimed work, Revelations. Although he created 79 ballets over his lifetime, Mr. Ailey maintained that his company was not exclusively a repository for his own work. Today, the Company continues Mr. Ailey's mission by presenting important works of the past and commissioning new ones. In all, more than 235 works by over 90 choreographers have been part of the Ailey company’s repertory. Before his untimely death in 1989, Alvin Ailey named Judith Jamison as his successor, and over the next 21 years, she brought the Company to unprecedented success. Ms. Jamison, in turn, personally selected Robert Battle to succeed her in 2011, and The New York Times declared he “has injected the company with new life.”

By making dance accessible to everyone, The Ailey Extension embodies Mr. Ailey's legacy that dance comes from the people and should be given back to the people.  Whether you haven't taken a dance class in 20 years, take class regularly, or have never even danced a step, the Ailey Extension has dance and fitness classes designed especially for you.