Program areas at MMDG
Founded in new york city in 1980 by artistic director and choreographer Mark Morris, the Mark Morris Dance Group (mmdg) has been called "the preeminent modern Dance organization of our time" (yo-yo ma), its members receiving "highest praise for their technical aplomb, their musicality, and their sheer human authenticity" (bloomberg news). Live music and community engagement are vital components of the Dance Group, which has toured with its own musicians, the mmdg music ensemble, since 1996. Morris has choreographed more than 195 works and continues to create prolifically for his Group of dancers. In 2021, mmdg shared the company's first-ever online livestream and new work premiere with virtual audience members around the world. Digital engagement is now an integral part of our offerings, providing continued opportunities for regular engagement with the company. Through community and education programming, the Dance Group provides opportunities in Dance and music to over 50,000 people of all ages, with and without disabilities while on tour internationally, at home at the Mark Morris Dance center in brooklyn, ny, and online via www.mmdg.org.
Mmdg is committed to providing free and low-cost Dance and music opportunities for people of all ages, with and without disabilities in brooklyn/nyc, on tour, and online/by phone. Working in collaboration with a roster of 40 community partners, mmdg provides free programs for youth and seniors in new york city housing authority and other community centers in all five boroughs. In-school residencies at new york city schools (k-12 students with and without disabilities), serve more than 1,500 elementary, middle, and high school students each year. Dance for pd, mmdg's groundbreaking program for people with parkinson's, their care partners, and Dance educators, serves a global community of more than 6,000 people with parkinson's disease and their caregivers through live and on-demand classes in english, spanish, and mandarin. In addition to Group classes, Dance for pd offers teacher training and certification as well as a full range of instructional at home media and online resources to foster broad access to the joys and research-backed benefits of Dance. Mmdg supports the continued development of artists, educators, and administrators through online and in-person workforce development programs from internships, teacher assistant training programs, and an arts immersion fellowship program for teens. Teaching artists specialize in working with people with disabilities and receive professional development training from mmdg and from partner organizations on best practices for adaptive Dance.
In 2001, mmdg opened the Mark Morris Dance center in brooklyn, ny, the company's first permanent home in the u.s., housing rehearsal space for the Dance community, outreach programs for local residents, and a school offering Dance classes to students of all ages. The school at the Mark Morris Dance center is the centerpiece of mmdg's education programming. Each year, the school serves approximately 2,700 children and teens through high-quality Dance instruction accompanied by live music in in-person, on-demand streaming, and/or hybrid formats. Over 7,000 adult students of all levels participate in free and affordable Dance classes with live music via live, asynchronous, and hybrid classes in a range of Dance genres online and at the Dance center. Mmdg rents out its nine ada-compliant, fully equipped, professional Dance studios to over 115 local artists and non-profits at deeply reduced rates through the subsidized studio rental program. Mmdg's state-of-the-art studios feature sprung floors, ballet barres, full wall mirrors, natural light, pianos, and sound systems.mmdg digital, offers free and low-cost livestreamed and on-demand programs that mirror our high-engagement in-person programming to provide a lifeline for wellbeing, source of joy, and community building for new and returning audiences. Programming provides opportunities to learn more about Morris' work and the history of the Dance Group, as well as 24/7 access to Dance and movement classes. Our community of students, historians, and Dance fans alike can enjoy our newly redesigned Mark Morris archive. The archive ensures the preservation of Morris' legacy and contributions to the Dance field for decades to come for the benefit of scholars, dancers, students, choreographers, musicians, and audiences. Most of the collection is unique to the organization and does not exist in elsewhere. In addition, the Mark Morris digital Dance center provides on-demand Mark Morris Dance center classes in diverse Dance and movement styles through technologically accessible, adaptive, and integrated programming in an egalitarian virtual environment.