Dedicated to Dance

Photograph by Marc Royce

The choreographer Mark Morris, 44, started dreaming about owning a dance center ever since he became the director of dance at the national opera house in Belgium a decade ago. At that government-financed opera house, his company enjoyed permanent rehearsal space, a gym, a cafeteria, and other amenities. In the United States, his company worked out of cramped offices and depended on other companies for rehearsal rooms.

In June, his dream will become reality and his group will become one of the first modern-dance companies in the United States to own its own space.

The Mark Morris Dance Group, which celebrates its 20th anniversary this year, raised more than $6-million to purchase and renovate a building in Fort Greene, in Brooklyn, as well as establish an endowment. Two donors provided big gifts, totaling $1.5-million, for the new building.

The Mark Morris Dance Center will provide low-cost rehearsal studios for other nonprofit groups as well as offer dance classes to the public in the fall. The dance group also will invite local students into the studios for workshops and performances.

But most important, the center will allow Mr. Morris, who is known for humor and musicality in his works, to develop new pieces for dance and opera beyond the 109 he has already created.

Here, members of the Morris troupe perform “Gloria,” a piece set to music by Vivaldi.