Celebrating 90 Years of 92NY Moving Dance Forward

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Since the 1930s, the 92nd Street Y has provided a home for modern dance—a space for experimentation, discussion, demonstration, and community interaction. Martha Graham, Doris Humphrey, Charles Weidman, Hanya Holm, and Anna Sokolow were among the dance center’s founding faculty when it opened in 1935. Katherine Dunham, Pearl Primus, José Limón, Merce Cunningham, Pearl Lang, and many others developed important work here. In 1960, Alvin Ailey debuted his most famous work, Revelations, in Kaufmann Concert Hall—and later credited 92NY with helping launch his own dance company. More than a stage, 92NY helped shape the very contours of modern dance as we know it. 

In this evening event, a gathering of three generations of choreographers, dancers, and directors  reflect on the institution’s enduring influence and their personal connections to it. Joan Finkelstein, Executive Director of the Harkness Foundation for Dance and former Director of Dance at 92NY, will join them in conversation to look back and consider how the spirit of experimentation that began at 92NY continues to shape the art form today.

Photo Credit: Amanda del Valle, Ballet Hispánico Dancer. Photo by Joseph Sinnott. 

SEATING POLICY | Programs are free and open to all, but registration is requested. Check-in line forms 45 minutes before the advertised start time. Registered guests are given priority check-in 15 to 30 minutes before start time. Five minutes before the advertised start time, all seats are released, regardless of registration, to our patrons in the stand-by line. If you arrive after the program starts, you will be seated at the discretion of our front-of-house staff.

STANDBY LINE | If registration is sold out or has ended, do not fret! We welcome you to come to the Library regardless of registration status and wait in our standby line, which forms 45 minutes before the advertised start time. Five minutes before the program starts, all remaining seats are released. While this is not guaranteed, we will do our best to get you into any of our programs.

ASSISTIVE LISTENING AND ASL | ASL interpretation and real-time (CART) captioning available upon request. Please submit your request at least two weeks in advance by emailing accessibility@nypl.org.

BRUNO WALTER POLICY | Please note that any unoccupied seat will be released five minutes before the show begins and holding seats for anyone beyond that is prohibited. There is no food or drink allowed inside the venue.

AUDIO/VIDEO RECORDING | Programs may be photographed and recorded by and at the discretion of the Library for the Performing Arts and will post signs indicating as such. If you would prefer your image not be captured, please let us know and we can seat you accordingly. Attending any program indicates your consent to being filmed/photographed and your consent to the use of your recorded image for any and all purposes of the New York Public Library.

PRESS | Please send all press inquiries to Alex Teplitzky at alexteplitzky@nypl.org. Please note that all recording, including professional video recordings, are prohibited without expressed consent from the Library.