Making waves on Long Island since the 70’s, Dance Workshop continues to mold New York’s dancers of all ages with their new, sprawling New York City location.

For over 47 years, MaryAnn Grasso has been recognized as one of the best dance studio owners in New York for her studio Dance Workshop,  and now she is passing the torch to her daughter, Nanci Grasso, marking Dance Workshop’s most expansive location yet. 

Beginning dancing at just three years old, dance is embedded in MaryAnn Grasso’s life, and she considers dance to be her first true love. Always having a passion for dance, MaryAnn always saw teaching dance as a way to share her love for it, and never necessarily thought she would own her own dance studio. With the support of her husband and the community of dancers around her, MaryAnn opened her first dance studio, Dance Workshop on Long Island in 1979, not knowing the incredible legacy she would go on to create. Starting with 130 students, MaryAnn taught virtually every class she offered, including tap, ballet and jazz classes.

Becoming well-known in the area for not only offering an amazing array of classes, MaryAnn Grasso’s studio was known for being a welcoming place for dancers on every level, with a true, family-oriented feel for those involved in her community. When MaryAnn’s daughter, Nanci was born, she was immediately involved in dance and was at the studio every chance she could get. When it was time for Nanci to go to college, she pursued fashion and became a very successful celebrity stylist, styling outfits for red carpet appearances, editorial photo shoots and award shows.

Feeling a shift and a calling to home, Nanci Grasso decided to move back home to New York in 2016, where her and her mother established the new and improved Dance Workshop, a much larger studio than the one that graced the Grasso’s with 47 years of success, and located in the heart of the Upper East Side. The new space was opened in 2016 and became a haven for dancers of all ages at all levels. With a mission to create an environment where dancers can advance to higher levels without sacrificing crucial elements of growing up like academics and after-school activities. 

Offering everything from classic tap, ballet and jazz classes, to teen hip-hop and  mommy+me classes, Dance Workshop does it all and teaches classes for those who want to dance for fun and exercise and classes for those with dreams of dancing on a professional level. The teachers at Dance Workshop have been hand-picked from some of the best dance professionals in New York City with their backgrounds coming from Broadway, the Radio City Rockettes and Ballet & Modern dance companies. Giving their dancers opportunities to dance at community events and competitions, and even Jumbotron experiences for New York’s top sports teams, the team at Dance Workshop has their students’ best interest in mind and gives them the tools to reach the highest levels of success. 

This year, Dance Workshop is unveiling their dreamiest location yet, located at 30 East 60th Street between Park and Madison. The prominent ground level location of the new 7,000 square foot dance studio brings Dance Workshop into the epicenter of the dancing world. A spacious lobby guides dancers to six new dance rooms, boasting high ceilings and state-of-the-art sound systems, making for an architecturally beautiful space for dancers of all ages to train and practice their craft. The new location of Dance Workshop is truly a level up from the previous studios, but the mission of bringing a family-oriented, welcoming studio still remains. 

Dance Workshop’s new location offers classes for dancers age two, all the way up to adult dancing and including tap, ballet, jazz, hip-hop, lyrical and contemporary dance classes. Welcoming trainers in all fitness disciplines, the studio will also offer gymnastics and pilates and HIIT classes, with elements of dance integrated into the workouts. 

MaryAnn Grasso passed Nanci the ball and she is truly running with it and creating an unbelievable experience for dancers at Dance Workshop, and continuing the legacy.

For more information about Dance Workshop, visit danceworkshopny.com.