New York · New York
96 verified schools across 32 suburbs, covering 118 disciplines of dance.
Walk past the Joan Weill Center at 405 West 55th on a Saturday morning and you'll see what dance does in this city. Eight-year-olds queue up the sidewalk for Ailey Extension's children's classes while professional dancers head into the back studios for Horton. A mile south at 890 Broadway, ABT and Gibney share the building where George Balanchine, Jerome Robbins and Mikhail Baryshnikov all worked. A short subway ride east into Brooklyn, the Mark Morris Dance Center, Brooklyn Music School (1909), and Cumbe sit within blocks of each other in Fort Greene. The Dance Theatre of Harlem holds 152nd Street. None of this is the part of the city tourists see. All of it is where New York kids actually learn to dance.
New York carries one of the deepest dance infrastructures of any city in the world, and a lot of it is older than people remember. Brooklyn Music School in Fort Greene was founded in 1909 — a four-story building on St Felix Street with 24 classrooms and a 266-seat theatre next door to BAM. The School of American Ballet was founded in 1934 by George Balanchine and Lincoln Kirstein, two years before the company that became New York City Ballet existed. Cathy's Dance Studio in Astoria was opened in 1956 by Cathy Dooley, a former Radio City Rockette. The Harlem School of the Arts was founded in 1964 by the soprano Dorothy Maynor. Dance Theatre of Harlem was founded in 1969 by Arthur Mitchell — the first Black principal dancer at New York City Ballet, a Balanchine protégé — in direct response to the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr.
Studio E in Forest Hills has been teaching Queens children since 1969. Astoria Dance Center is a forty-year institution under Maureen Gelchion. RestorationART and the Billie Holiday Theatre opened in Bed-Stuy in 1972, inside the Bedford Stuyvesant Restoration Corporation — the first community development corporation in the United States. The Dance Studio of Park Slope was founded in 1976 and is in its fiftieth year. Mind-Builders Creative Arts Center opened in the Northeast Bronx in 1978, founded by educator Madaha Kinsey-Lamb to keep arts education in the neighbourhood she once had to leave to access it. Steps on Broadway opened on the Upper West Side in 1979. Peridance Capezio Center opened in 1983 under Igal Perry. Broadway Dance Center opened on West 45th in 1984. Gibney was founded in 1991. Staten Island Ballet opened in 1993 under former Manhattan Ballet principal Ellen Tharp. LAVA opened in Prospect Heights in 1994. BAAD! — the Bronx Academy of Arts and Dance — was co-founded in 1998 by Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Company dancer Arthur Aviles and writer-activist Charles Rice-Gonzalez. The Mark Morris Dance Center opened in Fort Greene in 2001. The deep memory is real, and it is spread across all five boroughs.
Upper West Side · Upper East Side
This is the historic classical ladder. The School of American Ballet at Lincoln Center, founded in 1934 by Balanchine and Kirstein, remains the pre-eminent classical ballet training in the United States. Steps on Broadway at 74th and Broadway has drawn faculty from NYCB, Ailey, Boston Ballet and Paris Opera since 1979. Ballet Hispánico's school — the leading US Latino dance institution — has trained children and adults in ballet, flamenco and Latin forms since 1970. Manhattan Movement & Arts Center holds Manhattan Youth Ballet's graded European-syllabus program in the Lincoln Center area. Ballet Academy East on the Upper East Side runs Vaganova and Cecchetti classical training with a pre-professional division. If a New York child is aimed at a classical ladder, the path runs through this corridor.
Midtown · Union Square · Greenwich Village · Chelsea · Tribeca · East Village · SoHo
This corridor holds the city's professional contemporary spine. Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater's Joan Weill Center on West 55th houses both the pre-professional Ailey School and Ailey Extension, the open-class arm whose children's classes run on Saturday mornings. Broadway Dance Center on West 45th — 30,000 square feet across three floors since 1984 — is the commercial training centre of the Theater District. ABT/JKO and Gibney 890 Broadway share the historic 890 Broadway building at Union Square, where Balanchine, Robbins and Baryshnikov all worked. Peridance Center runs 250+ open classes a week from Union Square. The Joffrey Ballet School at 434 Sixth Avenue, founded in 1953 by Robert Joffrey and Gerald Arpino, runs Trainee, Youth, Children's and adult programs in Greenwich Village. Peridance's East Village home and Gibney's Tribeca location at the Agnes Varis Performing Arts Center complete the spine. Tutu School Chelsea and Downtown Dance Factory in Tribeca cover the youngest children in the same neighbourhood.
Fort Greene · Bedford-Stuyvesant · Downtown Brooklyn
This is the institutional heart of Brooklyn dance. Brooklyn Music School on St Felix Street has been operating since 1909 — a four-story building with three dance studios and a 266-seat theatre, partnered with Mark Morris on the Music + Dance Experience program. The Mark Morris Dance Center, opened in 2001 across from BAM, is the Brooklyn home of the Mark Morris Dance Group and runs a school for all ages. Cumbe Center for African and Diaspora Dance is the city's anchor centre for West African, Afro-Caribbean, Afro-Brazilian and Haitian dance, with classes six days a week between 651 Arts and the Mark Morris Center. RestorationART, inside Bedford Stuyvesant Restoration Corporation's Restoration Plaza, runs a Youth Arts Academy alongside the 200-seat OBIE/AUDELCO-winning Billie Holiday Theatre — sprung maple dance floors, home of Ronald K. Brown/EVIDENCE. Brooklyn Ballet on Schermerhorn Street, founded 2002, is Brooklyn's first professional ballet company in over forty years.
Park Slope · Prospect Heights · Boerum Hill · Cobble Hill · Carroll Gardens · Brooklyn Heights
This is the city's densest recreational children's dance belt. The Dance Studio of Park Slope has been running since 1976 — fifty years of creative dance, ballet, jazz, tap, hip-hop and acro for children from eighteen months through adult. Tutu School Park Slope and Tutu School Boerum Hill run the Ballet Storytime curriculum for very young children. Cobble Hill Ballet, founded by Royal Academy of Dance licentiate Colette Linton-Meyer, runs an annual Nutcracker and spring recital across four locations. LAVA Studio on Bergen Street is the OBIE/BESSIE-winning feminist dance, theatre and acrobatics ensemble founded in 1994 by Sarah East Johnson, with a deep focus on LGBTQ community and at-risk youth — 2,500 people a year through its programs. Shambhala Yoga & Dance Center on Bergen Street adds salsa, bellydance, African dance and yoga to the mix.
Williamsburg · Bushwick · Greenpoint · Crown Heights
This belt holds the city's contemporary, hip-hop, and Caribbean-tradition density outside the institutional Fort Greene corridor. Crown Heights anchors the African-diaspora and Caribbean-dance scene: Fit4Dance runs jazz, ballet, hip-hop, Haitian and Caribbean classes alongside dance fitness, and Ms. K's Dance & Double Dutch Academy holds ballet, hip-hop, Caribbean dance, line dance and the city's deepest Double Dutch program. Williamsburg, Bushwick and Greenpoint carry the contemporary and commercial studios that serve North Brooklyn's working dancers and the children of the families who live there.
Astoria · Long Island City · Forest Hills
Queens carries serious classical training under the radar. Astoria holds two of the city's longest-running children's institutions — Astoria Dance Center under Maureen Gelchion (forty years) and Cathy's Dance Studio, opened in 1956 by former Radio City Rockette Cathy Dooley and now directed by Spiro Pavlakos. Long Island City has built a dense ballet cluster: the Joffrey Ballet School's LIC children's and youth program with productions at LaGuardia Performing Arts Center, Long Island City School of Ballet (founded 2006 by Eric Ragan, combining Cecchetti, Vaganova and Balanchine), and Queens School of Ballet under Bolshoi Ballet Academy-certified teachers. Studio E in Forest Hills has been teaching ballet, jazz, hip-hop, tap, contemporary and Latin since 1969. The Queens classical pipeline is one of the city's quieter strengths.
Harlem · Washington Heights · Inwood
Two foundational institutions hold this spine. The Dance Theatre of Harlem School at the Everett Center on West 152nd Street, founded in 1969 by Arthur Mitchell — the first Black principal at New York City Ballet — and Karel Shook, in response to the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr., runs a classical ballet ladder for children from age three through eighteen. The Harlem School of the Arts on West 141st Street, founded in 1964 by Dorothy Maynor, runs 3,000 students a year across ballet, contemporary, jazz, tap, hip-hop and African dance from toddler through adult. Washington Heights and Inwood have additional studios that serve Upper Manhattan, with this directory still building coverage further north.
The Bronx · Staten Island
Three institutions hold the outer-borough community-arts story. Mind-Builders Creative Arts Center on Olinville Avenue in the Northeast Bronx, founded in 1978 by educator Madaha Kinsey-Lamb, runs 700+ students a year across dance, music, theatre, voice and martial arts. BAAD! — the Bronx Academy of Arts and Dance — has been resident since 2013 in a gothic revivalist chapel on the grounds of historic St Peter's Episcopal Church in Westchester Square; co-founded in 1998 by Arthur Aviles and Charles Rice-Gonzalez, it is one of the city's most important venues for queer, Latinx and Afro-Latinx dance work. Staten Island Ballet on Brielle Avenue, founded in 1993 by former Manhattan Ballet principal Ellen Tharp, is Staten Island's official ballet company and school and runs the 'Dancing Over Walls' scholarship program for economically disadvantaged children. These three carry their boroughs.
New York's cultural-dance traditions are not adjuncts to the city's dance scene — in several cases, they are it. Most of them are held by specific institutions in specific buildings, and most are decades old.
The African and diaspora belt runs through Brooklyn. Cumbe Center for African and Diaspora Dance is the city's anchor centre, running six days a week of West African, Afro-Caribbean, Afro-Brazilian and Haitian classes across the Mark Morris Dance Center and 651 Arts in Fort Greene. RestorationART in Bed-Stuy, within the Bedford Stuyvesant Restoration Corporation, includes African dance alongside its modern, hip-hop and bellydance programs — its Billie Holiday Theatre is home to Ronald K. Brown/EVIDENCE. Fit4Dance and Ms. K's Dance & Double Dutch Academy hold the Caribbean and Haitian tradition in Crown Heights, with Ms. K's also running the city's most developed Double Dutch program. Mind-Builders in the Bronx and Harlem School of the Arts include African dance in their multi-discipline programs.
The Latin and flamenco tradition runs through the Upper West Side. Ballet Hispánico's school — the leading US Latino dance institution since 1970 — teaches ballet, flamenco and Latin forms to children, teens and adults out of West 89th Street, with a national reputation built on Tina Ramirez's choreography and now on Eduardo Vilaro's leadership.
Shambhala Yoga & Dance Center in Prospect Heights holds the city's bellydance and Middle Eastern tradition alongside its salsa and African dance classes. The Peridance Center on East 13th and at Union Square holds a steady stream of Latin social-dance classes in among its contemporary programming.
The Bronx anchor work — BAAD! and Mind-Builders — sits inside the city's Latinx, Afro-Latinx and Caribbean-immigrant communities and is structurally inseparable from them. These traditions are part of how those neighbourhoods raise their children.
The community work in this city's dance institutions is built into how they were founded. Dance Theatre of Harlem was started in 1969 in response to a national tragedy, with the explicit purpose of opening classical ballet to children the field had locked out. Mind-Builders was founded by a Black educator who had been forced to leave her own neighbourhood to find arts education; she came back and built the institution for the children who would otherwise face the same gap. RestorationART exists inside the first community development corporation in America, in a Plaza that was built to keep wealth in Bed-Stuy. BAAD! is one of the only New York venues consistently dedicated to queer, Latinx and Afro-Latinx dance work, and runs from a chapel on Episcopal Church grounds in the Bronx. Staten Island Ballet's 'Dancing Over Walls' program funds full scholarships for children whose families can't otherwise afford classical training. LAVA's Prospect Heights work is focused on at-risk youth and LGBTQ community alongside its OBIE/BESSIE-winning ensemble work. Brooklyn Music School has been running scholarship-supported music and dance training for Fort Greene families since 1909. Harlem School of the Arts moves 3,000 students through its building every year on Dorothy Maynor's founding premise that Harlem children deserved a full arts conservatory. These are not occasional gestures; they are the structural fact of the city's dance map.
For a child of three or four, the question is rarely which discipline — it's which studio is close to home and has the right teacher. The Tutu School branches (Park Slope, Boerum Hill, Chelsea) run a story-driven Ballet Storytime curriculum that is genuinely calibrated to very young children. Cobble Hill Ballet, The Dance Studio of Park Slope, Astoria Dance Center, Studio E in Forest Hills, and Cathy's Dance Studio all run gentle pre-ballet and creative-movement programs for the same age. Most of them offer a free or low-cost trial; take it. The right teacher matters more than the right institution at four years old.
For a child of seven to twelve, two distinct paths open. If the child is aimed at classical ballet, the Upper West Side corridor — SAB, Ballet Academy East on the UES, Manhattan Movement & Arts Center, Ballet Hispánico — is the historic pipeline, with the LIC ballet cluster in Queens and Cobble Hill Ballet, Brooklyn Ballet and Joffrey LIC as serious alternatives for families who don't want to schlep into Manhattan. If the child wants to dance for the love of it, the Brownstone Brooklyn belt — Dance Studio of Park Slope, LAVA, Shambhala — Astoria and Forest Hills, and the cultural-anchor institutions (Harlem School of the Arts, Mind-Builders, RestorationART, Brooklyn Music School) all run rigorous programs without the audition-and-cut culture. Both paths are legitimate. Watch a class before you choose.
For a teen who is starting to think about dance as a serious craft, New York is unusually well-served. The School of American Ballet runs the formal classical pipeline. The Ailey School at the Joan Weill Center, ABT's Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis School at 890 Broadway, the Joffrey Ballet School's Trainee program in Greenwich Village, Peridance's Independent Study and Certificate programs at Union Square, and Broadway Dance Center's Professional Semester run the contemporary, modern and commercial pipelines. Mark Morris in Fort Greene offers a serious adult-and-teen ladder in Brooklyn. The pathway is real, and a teen does not have to choose Manhattan to walk it.
For a child whose family wants to keep a cultural tradition alive, this city is one of the richest in the world. Ballet Hispánico for Latin and flamenco; Cumbe Center, RestorationART, Fit4Dance, Ms. K's and Harlem School of the Arts for the African and Caribbean traditions; Shambhala for bellydance; Mind-Builders for African dance in the Bronx; BAAD! for Latinx and Afro-Latinx contemporary work. Many of these institutions run sliding-scale or scholarship programs.
For adults — and this is one of the city's structural strengths — open-class culture is more developed here than almost anywhere else. Ailey Extension at the Joan Weill Center, Broadway Dance Center, Steps on Broadway, Peridance, Gibney 890 Broadway, Mark Morris in Fort Greene, the Joffrey's adult classes in the Village, and Cumbe for African and diaspora forms: an adult beginner can walk in cold any night of the week and find a class. The Bronx, Staten Island, Queens and outer Brooklyn studios also run adult programs at considerably lower cost than the Manhattan flagships.
Browse by age
Browse by discipline
Ages 4–20
Official school of American Ballet Theatre, training children and pre-professional dancers at ABT's 890 Broadway home studios in three divisions: Children's (4-12), Pre-Professional (12-18), and Studio Company (16-20).
Ages 3+
Forest Hills family-oriented dance studio offering Tap, Jazz/Contemporary, Ballet, Pointe, Hip-Hop, Acrobatics, and Adult Ballet for ages 3 through adult.
Home of The Ailey School (pre-professional) and Ailey Extension (open community classes) for ballet, Horton, jazz, West African, and more — taught at Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater's Midtown West center.
Ages 3–12
Washington Heights campus of AYDT inside NOMAA Studios at the historic United Palace Theater (4140 Broadway). Classes Sept-June for children ages 3-12 across ballet, tap, hip-hop and more. Companion Upper East Side AYDT location at 428 E 75th already in dataset.
Ages 1–18
Upper East Side children's dance school affiliated with the American Ballet Theatre National Training Curriculum, founded 1996, offering ballet, tap, hip hop, Broadway, and contemporary for ages 18 months to 18.
Ages 2+
40-year Astoria children's dance institution under Owner-Director Maureen Gelchion, with Children's and Teens divisions covering Pre-Ballet through performance team.
Ages 6+
Bronx cultural anchor co-founded 1998 by Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane dancer-choreographer Arthur Aviles and writer-activist Charles Rice-Gonzalez. Resident since 2013 in a gothic revivalist chapel on the grounds of historic St. Peter's Episcopal Church, Westchester Square.
Upper East Side ballet school combining classical Vaganova and Cecchetti technique with a pre-professional division and broad children's programs.
Upper West Side school of Ballet Hispánico, the leading US Latino dance institution, offering ballet, flamenco, and Latin dance training for children, teens, and adults since 1970.
Ages 3+
Bed-Stuy outpost of the YMCA of Greater New York. Gates Avenue location offering dance, Zumba, African Dance and yoga classes for children and adults as part of broader fitness, swim and youth programming.
NYC's largest pole and aerial arts studio in Chelsea, offering 180+ weekly classes in pole, aerial silks, hoop, flexibility, and conditioning.
Theater District dance institution founded 1984, occupying three floors and over 30,000 square feet on West 45th Street.
Ages 1+
Washington Heights / Hudson Heights multi-discipline children's studio on Bennett Avenue. Classical ballet, tap, jazz and hip-hop programming for children plus parent-and-me classes.
Brooklyn's first professional ballet company in over 40 years, founded 2002 by Artistic Director Lynn Parkerson, with school and performance space on Schermerhorn Street.
Ages 3–18
South Slope / Gowanus children's and teens' multi-discipline dance studio offering ballet, tap, jazz, modern, musical theater, and hip hop with group, private, and competition-team pathways.
Park Slope-Gowanus border dance studio under named owner-director Heidi Flanagan, training all ages across ballet, tap, jazz, modern, musical theatre and hip hop.
Ages 3+
Carroll Gardens / Gowanus-border multi-discipline studio founded 2019 by Allegra Glinsky. Classical ballet, hip hop, acrobatics and Zumba for all ages and levels. Home to an award-winning competition team plus open recreational programming.
Brooklyn ballroom dance academy founded by Eugene Katsevman and Maria Manusova — 11-time US National Champions — covering competitive, social, wedding and kids' ballroom programs.
Ages 3+
Fort Greene music-and-dance institution founded 1909 as the Brooklyn Music School Settlement, in a four-story St Felix Street building with 24 classrooms, 3 dance studios and a 266-seat Spanish-style theatre next door to BAM. Partner Music + Dance Experience program with Mark Morris.
Ages 3+
Greenpoint pre-professional ballet school directed by Marissa Frey (SUNY Purchase BFA Dance 2009, Pennsylvania Regional Ballet scholarship). Programs from beginner through pre-professional with summer dance camp. Studio rental also offered to choreographers.
North Williamsburg children's dance studio offering ballet, jazz, creative movement, k-pop and hip hop with a developmental-resilience curriculum focus.
Astoria institution founded in 1956 by former Radio City Rockette Cathy Dooley, now directed by Spiro Pavlakos across tap, jazz, ballet, hip-hop, modern, acrobatics and pointe.
Carroll Gardens swing and Lindy Hop specialist established 1995. Run by Brooklyn-born Roddy Caravella (Charleston Charlie), 30+ years teaching, trained under Frankie Manning and Sandra Cameron. Operates from the Albee School of Dance on Carroll Street.
Bushwick contemporary dance studio and rehearsal space founded in 2002 by choreographer Jonah Bokaer, providing affordable rehearsal access and workshops for the NYC dance community.
Ages 3+
Cobble Hill ballet school founded by Royal Academy of Dance licentiate Colette Linton-Meyer, with four locations and annual Nutcracker plus spring recital.
Nonprofit West Village dance and cultural center inside St Veronica Church, offering ballet, jazz, hip-hop, modern, and flamenco for children alongside studio rentals and workshops.
Ages 3+
NYC anchor center for African and diaspora dance traditions. Monday-Saturday classes at 651 Arts (10 Lafayette Ave); Sunday classes at Mark Morris Dance Center (3 Lafayette Ave). West African, Afro-Caribbean, Afro-Brazilian and contemporary diaspora styles for children and adults.
Brooklyn dance studio founded in 2002 by Artistic Director Cynthia King (Boston Conservatory and Ailey School-trained, Rod Rodgers Dance Company alum). Vegan studio across two Kensington locations; featured in The New York Times and Dance Teacher magazine.
Boerum Hill ballroom, Latin and swing studio on Atlantic Avenue (between Smith and Hoyt). Group and private lessons across Swing, Lindy Hop, West Coast Swing, Salsa, Mambo, Tango, Waltz and more. Two-room footprint: The Floor (310 Atlantic) plus Class Space (243 Smith St).
Ages 1–8
Prospect Heights / Crown Heights border early-childhood dance studio on St Marks Avenue. Creative Movement, Beginning Ballet and Jazz for children ages 1-8 in a nurturing community setting.
Ages 3–14
Washington Heights community dance nonprofit led by Co-Founder + Executive Director Heather Godfrey. Ages 3-14 in ballet, modern, tap and hip-hop with a pay-what-you-can policy. Mission: dance education for all Upper Manhattan families regardless of income.
Ages 3–18
Official school of Dance Theatre of Harlem, founded 1969 by Arthur Mitchell (first Black principal dancer at New York City Ballet, Balanchine protégé) and Karel Shook in response to the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. Classical ballet ladder for ages 3-18 at the Everett Center on West 152nd Street.
Midtown Manhattan branch of the Dance With Me Studios network founded by Maks and Val Chmerkovskiy, teaching ballroom, Latin, and social dance.
Maks and Val Chmerkovskiy's SoHo ballroom and Latin dance studio offering group classes, private lessons, and wedding-dance choreography.
Tribeca outpost of the Miss Rachel network, running children's Ballet, Tap and Future Broadway Stars classes with seasonal Plie and Play sessions.
Ages 1–18
Upper East Side children's multi-discipline performing arts studio offering ballet, tap, hip hop, musical theatre, and music for ages 10 weeks (Baby Bop) through teens.
Ages 3+
Family-oriented Bronx dance studio on Westchester Avenue. Salsa, hip hop, bachata, bomba, contemporary, tap plus an all-boys salsa class. September-June term plus summer camps and intensives.
Tribeca children's dance studio co-founded 2009 by Melanie Zrihen and Hanne Larsen, offering ballet, hip-hop, jazz, tap and breaking.
South Williamsburg multigenerational dance, fitness, and community arts studio founded by Greek-born dancer-educator Lydia Perakis, offering kids' dance, adult classes, and personal training.
Ages 3+
Crown Heights/Flatbush-border Black-women-led dance fitness studio founded 2014 by Laci Chisholm; own storefront opened Feb 2016. Dance fitness alongside Jazz, Ballet, Haitian, Hip-Hop and Caribbean classes for women and children.
Brooklyn Heights location of the Fred Astaire ballroom franchise, opened 2023, offering all partnership-dance styles on Montague Street.
Chelsea / Hudson Yards location of the Fred Astaire ballroom franchise, offering all partnership-dance styles and wedding-dance choreography.
Bushwick adult beginner dance studio specialising in hip hop, contemporary, heels, and themed classes in a women-owned, LGBTQ+-friendly community.
Ages 18+
Bed-Stuy pole dance studio opened September 2021 by Emily Sanderson at 318 Gates Ave. Beginner-friendly fitness-meets-artistry programming in pole, aerial and flexibility for adults.
Eight-studio Union Square campus of Gibney Dance, founded 1991 by Gina Gibney, offering professional-level open classes, residencies, and rehearsal-space rental in NYC's historic dance building at 890 Broadway.
Contemporary dance institution founded 1991 by choreographer Gina Gibney, operating across two Manhattan locations including the Agnes Varis Performing Arts Center in Tribeca.
Williamsburg dance and mindful-fitness studio founded by professional dancer and choreographer Jules Bakshi, designed for movers of all levels, bodies and identities.
Ages 3+
62-year Harlem multi-arts institution founded 1964 by soprano Dorothy Maynor. 3,000 students per year across dance, music, theatre and visual arts. Dance programs cover ballet, contemporary, jazz, tap, hip-hop and African dance from toddler through adult.
Midtown West hip hop dance studio and private-instruction practice founded by Brandon Chow in 2010, serving 4,000+ students with 30+ guest instructors.
Year-round pre-professional ballet and contemporary training, the official ballet school in New York City founded by Robert Joffrey in 1953.
Ages 2–18
Joffrey Ballet School's Long Island City children's and youth ballet program, with productions performed at LaGuardia Performing Arts Center.
Ages 2+
Manhattan home of the Joffrey Ballet School, founded 1953 by Robert Joffrey and Gerald Arpino, with Trainee Programs, Youth Ballet (ages 8-18), Children's Ballet (ages 2-7), and adult open classes.
Forest Hills Salsa, Latin, and Belly dance studio founded 1997, the largest Latin and Belly dance school in Queens with two locations (Forest Hills + Astoria).
Ages 3+
OBIE and BESSIE Award-winning feminist dance ensemble founded 1994 by Sarah East Johnson, combining dance, theatre and acrobatics. Bergen Street studio in Prospect Heights — 2,500+ people per year. Strong focus on LGBTQ community and at-risk youth.
Ages 3+
Staten Island studio on Hylan Boulevard led by choreographer Maryna Lesko. Group and private classes — ballet from age 3+, plus hip hop, contemporary, modern and other styles for children and adults.
Ages 3+
Prospect Heights professional-level dance and performing arts school operating from Studio Maya on Bergen Street off Vanderbilt. Brings professionals and young artists together across teaching and performance.
Long Island City ballet school founded 2006 by Artistic Director Eric Ragan, with a curriculum combining Cecchetti, Vaganova and Balanchine technique.
Tribeca performing arts school launched July 2019, covering ballet, jazz, hip hop, tap, lyrical, contemporary and Chinese dance for children and adults.
Lincoln Center-area dance and performing arts complex offering Manhattan Youth Ballet's graded European-syllabus training alongside aerial, children's, and adult dance programs.
The Brooklyn home of the Mark Morris Dance Group, opened 2001 in Fort Greene with company rehearsal space and a school serving all ages.
Bushwick multi-discipline dance studio offering contemporary, hip hop, jazz, tap, ballet, pilates, and yoga, anchored by the Methodz of Madzness dance company.
Ages 3+
Northeast Bronx anchor arts nonprofit founded 1978 by educator Madaha Kinsey-Lamb. 700+ students/year across dance, music, theater, voice and martial arts. Olinville Avenue facility serves the Northeast Bronx community Madaha originally had to leave to access arts education.
SoHo studio of Movement Research, the seminal NYC contemporary-dance laboratory; home of the long-running Morning Class program and Trisha Brown Dance Company classes.
Ages 3+
Crown Heights children's academy on Rochester Avenue combining Double Dutch with ballet, hip-hop, drumming, martial arts and Caribbean styles. Adult Line Dance Fridays, Caribbean Fitness and Double Dutch Fitness. Competitive teams for advanced students.
Williamsburg flagship of Wil Nieves's NYC-wide Latin dance network, offering Salsa and Bachata classes for beginners through advanced dancers since 2012.
Women- and family-owned Park Slope performing arts studio at Prospect Park West, founded 2011 by two sisters and their mother, offering dance, theatre, music, summer camps, and adult fitness.
Ages 1+
East Village dance centre founded 1983 by Artistic Director Igal Perry, offering 250+ open classes per week alongside training programs for children and pre-professionals.
Union Square institutional dance center founded 1984 by Igal Perry, offering 250+ weekly drop-in classes plus pre-professional Certificate and Independent Study programs in six column-free sprung studios.
Ages up to 8
Crown Heights early-childhood movement program housed inside the Brooklyn Children's Museum on Brooklyn Avenue. Dance, ballet, exercise, gym, hip hop and music for children ages 0 months to 8 years.
Pavan Thimmaiah's Chelsea/NoMad dance studio offering breakin', poppin', hip-hop, jazz, contemporary, African, salsa, and a resident repertory company.
Ages 2–18
Astoria children's dance and theatre studio for ages 2-18, offering Jazz, Tap, Ballet, Pom/Cheer, Hip-Hop, Acting, and Musical Theatre with competitive and non-competitive tracks.
Ages 3–18
Long Island City ballet school training children 3-18 in the Vaganova method under Bolshoi Ballet Academy-certified teachers.
Ages 3+
Bed-Stuy cultural anchor: Youth Arts Academy + 200-seat OBIE/AUDELCO Billie Holiday Theatre (opened 1972) within Bedford Stuyvesant Restoration Corporation's Restoration Plaza. 200 students/year ages 3-18 in dance, drumming and theatre. Sprung maple dance studios, home of Ronald K. Brown/EVIDENCE.
Ages 3+
Prospect Heights street and club dance studio founded April 2026 by Caila Moed (former Nicki Minaj/SYTYCD dancer, ex-Goldman Sachs). 30 weekly classes, 165+ students within two months. No mirrors, no ballet, no recitals — breaking, hip-hop, house.
Ages 2+
Forest Hills ballet academy founded in 2006 by Tisch graduate Melissa Wilson, offering classical ballet for ages 2+ with live pianist accompaniment.
Ages 2–18
Official school of New York City Ballet, founded 1934 by George Balanchine and Lincoln Kirstein at Lincoln Center; pre-eminent classical ballet training in the US.
Prospect Heights community-oriented yoga and dance center established 2001 on Washington Avenue. Salsa, bellydance and African dance alongside Hatha, Vinyasa, Restorative and Kundalini yoga.
Ages 3+
Astoria multi-discipline dance center founded 2009 by Karla Choko on Latin and classical roots, offering ballet, jazz, contemporary, tap, and Latin folklore for kids and adults across two Queens locations.
Park Slope nonprofit dance and community arts center founded 1979 by Artistic Director Elise Long, offering multi-arts programs for children, teens, and adults.
Ages 3+
Staten Island's official ballet company and school, founded 1993 by Ellen Tharp — former principal ballerina and senior faculty member of Manhattan Ballet. SIB Studios on Brielle Avenue. Home of the 'Dancing Over Walls' scholarship program for economically disadvantaged children.
Ages 3+
South Shore Staten Island multi-arts center on Richmond Valley Road. Combined visual art, dance, musical theatre, cooking and fashion design programming for children.
Upper West Side dance institution founded 1979 at 74th and Broadway, drawing faculty from New York City Ballet, Alvin Ailey, Boston Ballet and Paris Opera.
Ages 2+
Queens institution operating since 1969, offering ballet, jazz, hip-hop, tap, contemporary, and Latin classes for ages 2 through adult.
Ages 1–18
Upper East Side children's ballet school founded 2007 by professional dancer Anne Easterling Freifelder, with three divisions from age 18 months through pre-professional teens.
Brooklyn dance studio with 35+ years of professional dance education across two locations (Bensonhurst BDC 2 and Bay Ridge BDC 3), home to an award-winning competition team.
Ages 1+
Greenpoint dance studio operated by Elly Shepley at the historic Pencil Factory Building, 61 Greenpoint Ave. Hosts Soundance Children's Ballet (creative movement and ballet ages 18 months through middle school) plus adult open classes.
Ages 5+
Park Slope dance school in its 49th year, running ballet, jazz, tap, hip hop, theatre jazz, modern and acro jazz for children through teens.
Ages 1+
Park Slope's original community dance center, founded 1976, serving Brooklyn families for 50 years across creative dance, ballet, jazz, tap, hip hop, modern, breakdancing, and acro for ages 18 months through adult.
Ages up to 8
Williamsburg branch of The Little Dance School, a Petite Performers licensed studio offering ballet, tap, hip-hop, and musical-theatre programs for children ages 6 months to 8 years inside the Brooklyn Art Haus.
Ages 1–12
Greenpoint children's dance program operating from the Muriel Theatre at Triskelion Arts (106 Calyer St, entrance on Baker up the ramp). Petite Performers USA brand. Curriculum for young dancers ages 18 months through grade school.
Ages 2–8
Brooklyn Heights children's performing arts studio on Atlantic Avenue offering Ballet Adventures, Make a Musical, drama, drag arts, tumbling, and creative movement.
Ages up to 8
Smith Street storybook ballet studio for children 6 months to 8 years. Boerum Hill location of the established Tutu School franchise (Mill Valley flagship founded 2008 by Genevieve Custer Weeks).
Ages 1–8
Boutique children's ballet school in Chelsea offering story-driven classes for ages 18 months to 8 years, part of the Tutu School franchise.
Ages up to 8
Park Slope franchise of the Tutu School ballet network, offering Ballet Storytime curriculum for children from 6 months through 8 years.
Ages 3+
Inwood ballet school opened 2010 by Director Jackie Parrott — School of American Ballet alumna + Royal Academy of Dancing (London) training. Quality dance for children across Upper Manhattan (Inwood, Washington Heights, Riverdale, Harlem).
Ages 1–10
Boutique Astoria performing-arts studio on Steinway Street founded 2017 by dance-theatre artist Suzana Stankovic, focused on ages 18 months to 10 years.
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