Jerome City's contemporary dance scene was virtually nonexistent two decades ago. Today, the city trains dancers who have gone on to perform with companies from Alvin Ailey to Batsheva, supported by a network of studios that range from rigorous pre-professional academies to experimental community collectives. We evaluated the city's training hubs based on faculty credentials, alumni placement, range of programming, and reputation among local choreographers. Whether you're looking for your first drop-in class or a full-time professional track, these five studios represent the best of what Jerome City has to offer.
How We Chose These Studios
Our selections are based on interviews with six local choreographers, a review of faculty backgrounds and alumni career paths, and an analysis of each studio's class offerings and community engagement. We have not received compensation from any of the studios listed.
What to Know Before You Enroll
Most Jerome City studios operate on a mix of drop-in, semester, and intensive programs. Beginners should look for studios with robust introductory schedules; pre-professional dancers will want to prioritize schools with company partnerships and regular guest artist residencies. Many studios host annual open houses in late August and January.
The Studios
1. The Jerome City Dance Academy
Best for: Pre-professional training | Location: Downtown core | Price: $$$$
Founded in 2008 by former Nederlands Dans Theater soloist Marcus Chen, The Jerome City Dance Academy is the city's longest-running contemporary training program and its most academically rigorous. The academy operates a three-year pre-professional track that has placed alumni in companies including Hubbard Street Dance Chicago and Sydney Dance Company.
Chen's faculty includes three dancers with current or former major company affiliations. The curriculum emphasizes Cunningham and Release techniques, with mandatory coursework in anatomy and improvisation. The academy occupies a converted 1920s bank building on Meridian Street, where the former vault now serves as a small performance space for student works-in-progress.
Practical note: The pre-professional program requires an audition and runs $4,200 per semester. Drop-in classes are limited and typically waitlisted.
2. Movement Lab
Best for: Experimental and interdisciplinary work | Location: Garfield District | Price: $$
Movement Lab operates out of a 12,000-square-foot converted warehouse in the Garfield District, where former Trisha Brown dancer Elena Voss teaches her signature "Gravity Negotiation" workshops twice monthly. The studio's annual Open Source project pairs dancers with local architects and musicians; last spring's collaboration, Concrete and Breath, sold out a three-night run at the Meridian Theater.
The Lab has no formal levels. Instead, dancers self-select into "Investigation" (movement research), "Application" (repertory and performance), or "Transmission" (pedagogy and community practice) tracks. Voss founded the space in 2014 after leaving a tenured position at a Midwestern university, citing a desire for "a dance environment that treated failure as material."
Practical note: Open Source participation is by application; regular classes run $18–$22 drop-in, with sliding-scale memberships available.
3. The Urban Dance Studio
Best for: Cross-training in street styles | Location: East Jerome | Price: $$
When former commercial dancer Kofi Asante opened The Urban Dance Studio in 2016, he wanted to bridge what he saw as a false divide between concert contemporary and street-derived movement. The result is a program that requires contemporary technique classes and training in breaking, popping, or house—often within the same weekly schedule.
Asante's "Fusion Intensive," held each July, has become a regional draw. In 2023, three of its participants were selected for backup-dancer roles on a major national tour. The studio's 6,000-square-foot space features a sprung floor in one room and a concrete floor in another, the latter intended for footwork-heavy styles.
Practical note: The studio offers the most flexible adult beginner schedule in the city, with six entry-level classes per week. Drop-ins are $15; the July intensive runs $650.
4. The Ballet and Contemporary Dance Center
Best for: Classical cross-training | Location: North Jerome | Price: $$$
The Ballet and Contemporary Dance Center is the only studio in Jerome City that maintains equal curricular weight on Vaganova ballet technique and contemporary floorwork. Co-directors Yuki Tanaka (former San Francisco Ballet) and David Okafor (formerly of Rambert Dance Company) designed a six-level syllabus that keeps students in both idioms through age 18.
The center's graduates frequently win spots in college BFA programs with strong ballet requirements—recent acceptances include Juilliard, Indiana University, and SUNY Purchase. The North Jerome facility includes four studios
