March 3, 1983 – the doors opened for the first time to the just-established Peridance Center, the new school for dance at New York’s Union Square. I offered my first class. 2 students showed up… Peridance’s own, very first students!
Just several months earlier, this was nothing but a dream, literally a dream. As I was about to fall asleep, thinking about what life might bring my way, the phone rang – a real bulky phone parked close to me on an insignificant nightstand, with a wire running all the way to the wall-socket in the living room. On the other side of the line my older brother’s voice sounded cheerful. My brother, Reuven, was working at that time with a clothing retailer, Izzy, and in a casual conversation mention to him that his younger brother – me – was itching to do something important in New York, establish a dance school. To his surprise, Izzy was intrigued! My brother passed the phone to Izzy, who asked me one simply question: “Do you want to open a dance school?” To my “Yes” came his next simple statement: “I will help you!”, and thus the dream to establishing Peridance Center became a reality.
I don’t remember if I slept that night, but I do remember that the Real Estate Page of the New York Times was the first page I looked at the following morning. And I soon found the space I desired, on 33 East 18th Street. The 7th floor of that building was already home to the companies of Alvin Nikolay and Murray Louis, and the 10th floor of the 19th Street side housed the Jose Limon studio. So, I could not go wrong! What was mostly appealing was the fact that there were large enough spaces in the building to construct column free studios – a true luxury within the New York real estate market. I signed a lease and construction started soon after. 33 East 18th street, 5th Floor was soon to be the first home of Peridance.
My parents, Klara and Josef, and my younger brother Ron and his family all moved to New York soon after Peridance was established. They all joined me in my endeavor, often not understanding why and how Dance can be a ‘business’, but still believing and supporting in my dream. Ron, and his son Tomer are still working with me to this day. I can clearly say that without my family I would not have succeeded, plain and simple.
I established Peridance Center as a for-profit corporation which would generate its income from the classes and programs offered, but knowing the complex needs of an arts organization, immediately followed with forming an additional not-for-profit organization, which would run the professional dance company housed at the center, the Peridance Ensemble (known today as Peridance Contemporary Dance Company). The idea was to have a symbiotic relationship of school/company, and have both organizations benefit from the close relationship of dance performance and dance education. It has worked!
While always staying in the vicinity of Union Square, Peridance has moved 3 times. The original location at 18th Street was sold to ABC Carpet company, to expand their mega store. 132 4th Ave, 2nd floor, became the second location. Again, a lucky strike, finding a building with large open spaces, but there was also a big problem looming around the corner, actually, below the floor. Not much longer after launching classes at the new location, the space below was rented out to a disco / club. When Rock groups came in to perform, they ran sound-checks which would shake the whole building, and often while Peridance presented studio performance, the sounds of base drums and electric guitars would overwhelm the music of Bach, Mozart, and Chopin. Of course, we found ways to negotiate some quiet times, but it was not ideal… we survived. In 2005 we were notified that the building was sold – this time for the future construction of the Hyatt Hotel. Was there something about the spaces I chose for Peridance that the corporate world found irresistible for their own needs? I guess, the order of the universe was clearly ‘Business first – Arts later’. I found a wonderful new location, just half a block away, at 126 East 13th Street. For the duration of the construction time we temporarily moved into 890 Broadway and rented studios from American Ballet Theater, Eliot Feld and Gina Gibney. We planned on a 6 to 12 month period of Gipsy life, but ended up residing there for close to 3.5 years. Needless to say, business was at less than 50% capacity, but with perseverance and determination we survived…
Finally, on the last week of 2009 we opened the doors at 126 East 13th Street, with the help of Capezio, Ballet makers Inc, who became a partner of Peridance Center. And the 4th life of Peridance has begun. It does feel sometimes like we have 9 lives, and the work and aspiration for the future have never withered.
Through the years Peridance Center has evolved into one of New York’s most important and influential dance studios, and has become a globally recognized art establishment of the highest caliber. Students from around the world make Peridance their place of choice to pursue dance education, and an international, diverse group of dancers make up the highly acclaimed professional dance company.
On April 24th, 2023 Peridance Center and Peridance Contemporary Dance Company celebrated their 40th Anniversary. A week-long event full of performances, workshops, lectures, free classes, exhibits and more, culminated in a big Gala event at New York’s Skirball Theater, followed by a party into the late hours of the night. My brothers Reuven and Ron and my nephew Tomer were in the audience, Reuven shedding tears…
