Profile

Dance New Amsterdam (formerly Dance Space Center) was initially a training ground for choreographer Lynn Simonson's jazz students as well as for young dancers learning modern and contemporary movement techniques. In 2006, 22 years after its inception, the organization moved from a rental in Noho to the naturally lit lower-level floors of the Sun Building, a late-nineteenth-century Renaissance Revival. In addition to an expanded registry of classes, which now includes ballet, hip-hop, and yoga, the new space features six brightly decorated studios and a 135-seat theater. Amid the original iron columns and exposed brick, advanced students, established choreographers, and artists-in-residence now workshop new pieces or stage full-fledged productions that are generally experimental and often political in nature. — Lori Cole

Private or semi-private one-hour sessions are available at DNA's Pilates Studio, a small room, equipped with two machines and a massage area.

Special Offerings
For serious dancers, DNA runs the New York Summer Dance Intensive, a four-week, 35-hour-a-week program to prepare students for dance careers; the Visa Program, which enables international dance students to train at DNA for six months to a year; and the Modern Guest Artist Series, wherein Jeanine Durning, among others, teaches classes.