Community
February 29, 2012
Mark Morris Dance Center Celebrates 10 Years As Integral Part of Fort Greene, BAM District
By: By Carrie Stern for Brooklyn Daily Eagle
This year marks Mark Morris Dance Group’s 31st year. It also marks the 10th anniversary of the opening of the Mark Morris Dance Center (MMDC) in Fort Greene. The center is a bridge between an internationally famous company and the Brooklyn neighborhood that houses it.
In the 10 years since the center was built, change in the neighborhood has been remarkable. Young working adults, pushed out of neighborhoods to the west, have brought in cafés, restaurants, grocery and clothing stores, and even a bookstore. It is a transformation only dreamed of when Harvey Lichtenstein, then-executive director of BAM, founded the BAM Local Development Corporation and urged the executive director of Mark Morris Dance Group (MMDG), Nancy Umanoff, to look at buildings nearby.
This week Umanoff sat down with me for an extended interview about the center and her years with the company. Mark Morris, who is preparing to premiere a new work at BAM this coming weekend, took time to respond to my questions via email.
