Mark Morris Dance Group

Contributor

Citysearch

Face-lift
After incarnations as a psychiatric clinic, a bank and a car showroom, this building has undergone a seven-million-dollar overhaul. It's now an Eastern-influenced dance mecca offering classes to the public, and providing a home to the Mark Morris Dance Group. Morris humbly calls the 30,000-square-foot space "that big building with my name on the side." Tellingly, his office belies his less than simple tastes: the room has a Jacuzzi dead center.

Room to Spare
The center offers African dance classes with live drumming for adults, and ballet for the tykes in two column-less studios with sprung wood floors. The crown jewel, the Duffy Performance Space, sits atop the building; this 60-by-60-foot hangar easily converts to a 150-seat theater. Windows are eight feet above the floor, so the studio is lit naturally without the distraction of the cityscape.