The premier dance performance organization in the borough, the Mark Morris Dance Group has been taking bold steps in Fort Greene since 2001

by Catherine Gigante-Brown

Life has a habit of transporting us to places we never imagined. Ballet legend Mark Morris’s path took him from Seattle (where he was born) to dance companies all over the world—but he found a permanent home for his own dance company here in Brooklyn 14 years ago.

“I always knew I would be a choreographer and make up dances,” reflected Morris, 59. “It’s turned out to be much, much more than I anticipated. I’m so lucky and happy…and busy.”

Founder and head of the Mark Morris Dance Group (MMDG), Morris recently returned from Mexico City to oversee a limited run of The Hard Nut at BAM in December (a Morris masterpiece in which The Nutcracker Suite from the 1890s is transformed into a 1970s gender-bender). In February, MMDG is off to the Opera House at the Tel Aviv Performing Arts Center.

Onetime director of dance at the Theater Royal de la Monnaie in Brussels (the national opera house in Belgium), in 1990 Morris founded the White Oak Dance Project with Mikhail Baryshnikov.
His heart and soul found it’s most profound expression, however, in his eponymous dance group, founded in 1980.

“I created it because I simply wanted to show my own work,” he recalled. “So I collected some of my friends and put on some new dances as well as some older pieces. That was the beginning of something that’s been going on for 35 years now.”

Named a Fellow of the MacArthur Foundation in 1991 and recipient of 11 honorary doctorates, Morris has crafted close to 150 works for the Group. In high demand as a choreographer, he’s created 19 ballets since 1986 and his work is an integral part of the repertory of dance companies worldwide. The subject of the biography Mark Morris by Joan Acocella (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1995), Marlowe & Company also published a volume of photographs and critical essays about him. Renowned cellist Yo-Yo Ma has called the MMDG, “the preeminent modern dance organization of our time,” while Bloomberg News has praised its members for “their technical aplomb, their musicality, and their sheer human authenticity.”

What can you expect from MMDG events? “Very high quality, sophisticated, friendly performances of music and dance put together in a way that is surprising, satisfying…and good,” the choreographer and director explained. “A piece can be five minutes long for one person and a piano, or two hours long with a 53-piece orchestra, chorus, and a multitude of dancers. We also use a very wide range of music.”

Since all of Morris’s works include live music, the Music Ensemble is an integral component of the organization. Created in 1996, the Ensemble forms what the choreographer termed a cohesive bond between movement and sound. “I always work with live music,” he added. “And of course, with live dancers. My dancers and musicians are, each one of them, wonderful artists in their own right.”

To help amplify that audio-visual synergy, the Music Ensemble often appears on-stage with the dancers so that audiences can see the music as well as hear it. In a sense, the music illuminates the dance.

In September 2001, the Mark Morris Dance Center opened in Fort Greene to create a home for the company and offer rehearsal space for local dancers and dance classes for the community. “The
Center has since become a cornerstone of the local neighborhood and a vital resource for the New York City dance scene,” the director commented. “We provide dance classes for all ages and abilities, too. Everyone is welcome, from those who have never danced before to professionals.”

The School at the Center offers an array of year-round classes for children and teens aged 18 months to 18 years— including ballet, modern dance, tap, jazz/hip-hop, creative dance, Afro-
Haitian dance, boys’ dance, music and singing, parent and toddler movement, and special kids’ dance.

“The School also has two student dance companies,” Morris added, “and offers audition preparation and coaching, private and group lessons, and free dance with MMDG family classes.”

When described as one of the borough’s cultural treasures, Morris wryly accepts the accolade. “It’s quite an honor,” he admitted, “but I fully agree!”

Mark Morris Dance Group
3 Lafayette Avenue / 718.624.8400 /
markmorrisdancegroup.org