Mark Morris Dance Center
Coordinates: 40°41′13.17″N 73°58′43.84″W / 40.6869917°N 73.9788444°W
The Mark Morris Dance Center is located in the Fort Greene neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York, at 3 Lafayette Avenue, on the corner of Flatbush Avenue. It is the permanent home of the international touring modern dance company, the Mark Morris Dance Group. Open since 2001, the Center also houses rehearsal space for the dance community, outreach programs for local children and area residents, as well as a school offering dance classes to students of all ages.
In 1996, the Mark Morris Dance Group launched a $7.4 million capital campaign to build what would be its first permanent headquarters in the United States. The Company purchased a derelict building on the corner of Flatbush and Lafayette Avenues in Fort Greene, Brooklyn, and broke ground in 1999. The architectural firm, Beyer Blinder Belle Architects and Planners, designed the building, which today consists of 5 stories, seven column-free studios with wood-sprung floors, spacious locker rooms with showers, a wellness center, a 140-seat performance space, and offices for the Company's administrative staff. Seven studios are available to rent at discounted rates to non-profit dance companies, and range in size from 430 square feet (40 m2) to 3,600 square feet (330 m2).
The Mark Morris Dance Center was the first dance facility built by a single dance company in the U.S., where most companies rent rehearsal space and often move from location to location on a daily basis. Inspiration for the center derived from the company’s time in Belgium, from 1988 to 1991, where it was the resident company at the Théâtre de La Monnaie in Brussels. Here, Morris created some of his largest works including L’Allegro, il Penseroso ed il Moderato and The Hard Nut. Despite many of the difficulties the company encountered while in Belgium, it was also considered one of the most unifying periods for the group, where staff and dancers all worked together under the same roof. It soon became quite obvious what the benefit would be of having a space to call home.
...
Wikipedia