Tracie Stanfield doesn’t want students to just dance to music. She wants them to partner with it. “It should be a duet,” says the contemporary lyrical and contemporary jazz teacher. “I want it to look like they inspire the music—not that they’re dancing to the lyrics.” Dancers of all backgrounds take Stanfield’s fusion classes at […]
Steps on Broadway’s youth training program has a new leader—New York dance community mainstay Jennifer Kreichman. In many ways, it seems her lifetime of experience prepared her for this very moment. Kreichman spent her youth commuting between Long Island and New York City training in schools like the American Ballet Theatre school, The School of […]
Pamela Levy has come full circle since her days as a graduate student in the ABT/NYU Master’s Program. She was in the first cohort when the program launched in 2008, and in August 2022 she was appointed its director. In her new role, Levy shares her expertise as an alumna as well as a dance […]
For musical theater dancers in New York City, Billy Griffin’s class is a breath of fresh air. Amidst the daily grind of auditions, striving to achieve goals, and coping with the inevitability of rejection, he offers a space void of judgment. “I want dancers to leave having fallen in love with themselves,” he says of […]
On any given weekday between 11:30 am and 1 pm at New York City’s Steps on Broadway, Nancy Bielski offers an advanced-intermediate professional ballet class that keeps even ballet’s biggest superstars on their toes. By the end of tendus, her students (a mix of freelance ballerinas, former professional dancers and a revolving door of off-season […]
Carol Paumgarten, founder of Steps on Broadway, the renowned studio and hub of the international dance community on New York City’s Upper West Side, died on September 24 following an extended illness. She is survived by her husband, Nicholas, her sons, Nicholas Jr. and Alexander, and four grandchildren. Paumgarten, alongside Patrice Soriero, opened Steps’ first […]
Over the last 36 years, scores of dancers passed through Wilhelm Burmann’s studio doors at Steps on Broadway in New York City. Burmann, who went by “Willy,” welcomed everyone—from huge dance stars to young students with huge dreams. He also welcomed adult students seeking to improve their technique and even students just taking ballet class […]
When Steps on Broadway founder Carol Paumgarten called Joe Lanteri several times in a row in February 2018, his first guess was that she wanted to get him back on the faculty roster. “For decades, I taught jazz at 4:30 pm at Steps,” he says, “but a couple years ago, I had to let go […]
The iconic New York City dance studio Steps on Broadway has a new leader coming on board: Joe Lanteri. The New York City Dance Alliance founder will be Steps’ new co-owner and executive director. “For me, it’s a big full circle,” says Lanteri, who used to take class at Steps when he first moved to […]
Start with a good preparation. Plié in fourth, keeping the hips square and the back knee straight. Arms are in fourth. Texas Ballet Theater School associate director Kathryn Warakomsky encourages students to keep their heels down and use the whole foot on the floor, rather than rolling forward on the arches or letting the front […]