Midtown · New York, New York
Alvin Ailey — The Joan Weill Center for Dance
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.
- Contemporary
- Ballet
How Alvin Ailey — The Joan Weill Center for Dance comes across
Alvin Ailey's Joan Weill Center for Dance presents its public classes — Ailey Extension — under the banner "Giving Dance Back to the People," and the impression is of a world institution deliberately holding an open door. Alongside the elite professional school and company, Extension offers drop-in "open classes taught by renowned instructors for people of all ages, backgrounds, and experience levels—from absolute beginners to professionals" in "a welcoming, non-competitive environment." The breadth is the story: Horton (the Ailey house technique), ballet, Limón, West African, House, Vogue, Dunham, Zumba, with clearly tiered levels from "Absolute Beginner" up. Adult classes run $15-25 with reductions for first-timers and dancers 60+, and Sunday Kids & Teens classes serve ages 2-17. The accessibility detail is unusually thorough — ramps, braille, service animals welcome. A parent would read this as a major cultural body whose midtown studios are genuinely usable by ordinary beginners, not just the company-bound.
An editor's impression, drawn from the school's own website and public materials, 13 June 2026. Not a review — if it misses the mark, the school or a parent can tell us via the form below.
About the school
The Joan Weill Center for Dance at 405 West 55th Street houses two parallel dance education programs of Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater. The Ailey School is the official pre-professional academy with audition-based junior and professional divisions training students for careers in ballet and modern dance. Ailey Extension is the open community-classes program, running 80+ weekly drop-in classes for adults of all levels in ballet, Horton technique, jazz, West African, samba, Pilates, Zumba, and yoga across morning, afternoon, and evening sessions seven days a week. Both programs operate from the same Alvin Ailey-affiliated Midtown West facility near Columbus Circle.
At a glance
What stands out
- i.Pre-professional + open community tracks
- ii.Horton technique anchor
- iii.Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater affiliated
Teachers listed on the school's site
- Tracy Inman — Co-Director; Director, Professional Division; Horton Department Chair
- Melanie Person — Co-Director; Director, Ailey/Fordham BFA in Dance; Ballet Department Chair
- Jacqulyn Buglisi — Graham Department Chair
- Lynn Glauber-Mandel — Ballet Department Co-Chair
- Hollie Wright — Jazz Department Chair
- Ana Marie Forsythe — Horton Department Chair Emerita
Plus around 70 additional teaching faculty across Ballet, Horton, Graham, Jazz, Contemporary, West African, Hip Hop, Tap, Musical Theater, Dunham, Limón, Improvisation, Composition, Dance History and other disciplines — see the school's full Faculty page.
Sourced from the school's Faculty & Musicians page leadership section (ailey.org/training/faculty-musicians). Teachers can request removal or correction via the listing-edit form below.
Also in Midtown
Broadway Dance Center
Theater District dance institution founded 1984, occupying three floors and over 30,000 square feet on West 45th Street.
Dance With Me Midtown
Midtown Manhattan branch of the Dance With Me Studios network founded by Maks and Val Chmerkovskiy, teaching ballroom, Latin, and social dance.
Hip Hop Dance Junkies
Midtown West hip hop dance studio and private-instruction practice founded by Brandon Chow in 2010, serving 4,000+ students with 30+ guest instructors.