The Manhattan Homes of Martha Graham Dance Company

From a Fifth Avenue studio where Martha Graham transformed modern dance, to a former industrial complex in the West Village, and a new home in the heart of Times Square, the history of the Martha Graham Dance Company is also a history of New York City’s changing spaces for artists.

For the last century, Martha Graham and her company have helped define American modern dance. The company’s history can be traced through multiple Manhattan addresses. Among the many places associated with Graham, four stand out as the company’s and school’s primary homes: 66 Fifth Avenue, 316 East 63rd Street, Westbeth Artists Housing at 55 Bethune Street, and 1501 Broadway. Together, these four addresses tell a remarkable story of modern dance in New York.

66 Fifth Avenue – Greenwich Village

Martha Graham’s connection to Greenwich Village dates to the early decades of her career. Beginning in the 1930s, Graham and her dance company’s studio was located at 66 Fifth Avenue, where they rehearsed and developed new work. They remained at this location through at least the 1950s.

This was an especially important period in Graham’s career. She had founded her dance company in 1926, and at 66 Fifth Avenue she continued developing the technique and artistic vocabulary that would make her one of the most influential figures in modern dance. 

The company initially consisted entirely of women, and while at Fifth Avenue, Graham began incorporating men into her work and school. It was also during this period that she began her important and long-lasting creative collaboration with sculptor Isamu Noguchi. 

The work created during the years surrounding Graham’s Fifth Avenue studio includes some of her best-known pieces. Frontier, Appalachian Spring, and Cave of the Heart all reflect the collaborations and artistic developments of this era, including Graham’s work with Noguchi.

The building is located in the neighborhood South of Union Square so rich in women’s history and dance history, as well as civil rights and cultural history and innovative architecture. Village Preservation is seeking landmark designation for this area; if you want to support those efforts, go here.

Village Preservation installed a plaque at 66 Fifth Avenue in 2015, recognizing the building’s importance to Graham’s history. Learn more about our plaques HERE.

316 East 63rd Street – Upper East Side

The next major home of the Graham organization takes us out of Greenwich Village and up to the Upper East Side.

The Martha Graham Center established its headquarters at 316 East 63rd Street in the mid-to-late 20th century, in a two-story building that housed both the Martha Graham Dance Company and the Martha Graham School. It was also the last studio in which Martha Graham herself taught.

By this point, the Graham organization had evolved considerably from the small company that had rehearsed at 66 Fifth Avenue. Graham was now an internationally recognized choreographer, and the school was an important vehicle for transmitting her technique to future generations of dancers.

The list of dancers and choreographers associated with Graham helps illustrate the importance of that educational legacy. Merce Cunningham, Paul Taylor, Erick Hawkins, Pearl Lang, and many others passed through Graham’s company and artistic circle. 

The original Graham Center building was demolished and replaced by a new apartment building. The address remains associated with Graham in historical records, but the physical studio in which she taught is gone. 

55 Bethune Street (Westbeth) – Far West Village

Martha Graham’s story eventually returned to Greenwich Village, this time to one of New York’s most important experiments in providing space for artists.

Westbeth Artists Housing, at the former Bell Laboratories complex on the far West Side, opened in 1970 as an ambitious effort to convert an obsolete industrial complex into affordable housing and workspace for artists. Over the decades, Westbeth became home to artists working in virtually every medium, including many of the most important figures in modern and postmodern dance.

One of those figures was Merce Cunningham, who had begun his professional career as a soloist with the Martha Graham Dance Company. Cunningham and his company became closely associated with Westbeth, making the building an important center of New York’s postwar dance community. 

The connection came full circle in 2008, when the Martha Graham Dance Company began using the former Merce Cunningham studio at Westbeth. The company and school continued to use space at Westbeth up until mid-2026, when the organization revealed its newly constructed space in Midtown.

1501 Broadway – Midtown

In 2026, the Martha Graham Dance Company began another chapter, this time in one of Manhattan’s most intensely commercial and theatrical districts.

The Martha Graham Center of Contemporary Dance moved into approximately 30,000 square feet on the 11th floor of the Paramount Building at 1501 Broadway, at West 43rd Street. The new facility brings together the Graham Company, School, offices, and archival resources under one roof.

Erected in 1926 as the headquarters of Paramount Pictures, the Paramount Building is an Art Deco and Beaux-Arts landmark at the center of Times Square. The Graham organization has transformed part of this former entertainment-industry headquarters into a contemporary dance center. 

The new facility contains six dance studios, along with dressing rooms, reception and administrative areas, archival and support spaces, and a 150-seat black-box theater. The studios are designed for rehearsals, classes, workshops, performances, and other activities.