This 12-story residential building built in 1926 was the home of dancer and choreographer Agnes de Mille.

Agnes de Mille playing "The Priggish Virgin" in the ballet "Three Virgins and a Devil," 1941 De Mille was inducted into the American Theater Hall of Fame in 1973 and won the Tony Award for Best Choreography in 1947 (for Brigadoon). She also received the Handel Medallion for achievement in the arts in 1976, an honor from the Kennedy Center in 1980, an Emmy for her work in The Indomitable de Mille in 1980, and the Drama Desk Special Award and the National Medal of Arts in 1986. Click here to send a letter supporting landmark designation of this and other historic buildings south of Union Square. . . .

The International Workers Order (IWO) was located at 80 Fifth Avenue for its entire lifetime, from 1930 until 1954.

This progressive mutual-benefit fraternal organization was a pioneering force in the U.S. labor movement. For a quarter of a century, the IWO fought relentlessly for racial equality, interracial solidarity, industrial unions, and social security programs that would protect working-class people.

International Workers Order emblem, 1930-1939 It also organized theatrical, musical, artistic, and other entertainment productions.

Vito Marcantonio, 1949 Congressman Vito Marcantonio of East Harlem served as the IWO’s vice president and the leader of its Garibaldi Society. A protégé of Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia, Marcantonio served as a critical link between the IWO and the federal government. He also participated in developing festivals celebrating ethnic heritage, as well as dance troupes, singing groups, orchestras, theaters, and musical galas. One of the IWO’s highly regarded dance troupes was the Russian Radischev Dancers. Click here to send a letter supporting landmark designation of this and other historic buildings south of Union Square. . . .

The Erick Hawkins Dance Company moved to 78 Fifth Avenue in 1965, staying here until the city’s real estate boom forced it to move out in 1987. The company’s founder, Erick Hawkins, was one of the foremost modern dance choreographers of his time, who followed the guiding principle “the body is a clear place.” As such, he elevated the aesthetic components of dance over plot, psychology, and other social and political components. Hawkins furthermore believed in performing to live music, and his company toured with the Hawkins Theatre Orchestra. Much of his work engaged with contemporary composers and visual artists who were connected to our neighborhoods, including Isamu Noguchi and Robert Motherwell. Before starting his own company, Hawkins rose in prominence as the first man to dance with Martha Graham’s company in 1938, officially joining her troupe the following year. The two were married in 1948, and they divorced in 1954. Hawkins formed his own troupe in 1951, and before he moved to 78 Fifth Avenue, occupied several structures in the nearby area: a building on 17th Street east of Fifth Avenue, then Martha Graham’s studio, and then a building on Horatio Street. One month before Hawkins died, on October 14, 1994, he was awarded the National Medal of Arts by President Clinton. Click here to send a letter supporting landmark designation of this and other historic buildings south of Union Square. . . .

Martha Graham has been called “the Picasso of dance” and “a prime revolutionary in the arts of this century and the American dancer and choreographer whose name became synonymous with modern dance” by The New York Times. This great American modern dance innovator had her first dance studio at 66 Fifth Avenue beginning in the 1930s, remaining here through at least the 1950s. The studio started off as an all-female dance company, and it was while located here that Graham first integrated men into her work and school.

Martha Graham, 1948 The Martha Graham Dance Company, founded in 1926, is known for being the oldest American dance company. Long after Graham’s death in 1991 it has continued on, now located at 55 Bethune Street in Westbeth. Click here to send a letter supporting landmark designation of this and other historic buildings south of Union Square. . . .

Anna Sokolow in Kaddish, 1945. Courtesy of the Sokolow Dance Foundation. The renowned and influential dancer and choreographer Anna Sokolow, sometimes called “the rebellious spirit” of modern dance, practiced and worked at the Martha Graham dance studio at 64-66 Fifth Avenue.

Anna Sokolow (Feb 09, 1910 - Mar 29, 2000) began dancing at the age of ten, at which point she was in love with the art form. Her career spanned more than seven decades and included studying with such notable dance figures as Blanche Talmud and Bird Larson in the Neighborhood Playhouse. Soon after she became a member of the Martha Graham Dance Company, where she remained from 1930 to 1939, which was located at 64-66 Fifth Avenue.

As per the Sokolow Dance Foundation, Sokolow had a profound effect on modern dance throughout the world. In addition to choreographing for her own renowned New York company, Players' Project, her works are in the repertories of Ballet Independiente, Bat-Dor, Berlin Ballet, London Contemporary Dance Theatre, Netherlands Dance Theatre, and the Royal Winnipeg Ballet. She is also cited as having had a direct influence on such artists as Alvin Ailey, Pina Bausch, and Martha Clarke. Sokolow also made extensive contributions to the theater. Her choreography for the Broadway stage can be found in Street Scene (1947), Regina (1949), and Candide (1956); and in 1967, she created the original dances for the Off-Broadway production of Hair. Sokolow also taught movement for actors at The Actors Studio, of which she was a founding member, the Lincoln Center Repertory Theatre School, and the HB Studio. Among her students were Richard Boone, Faye Dunaway, Julie Harris, Eva-Marie Saint, Jean Stapleton, and Eli Wallach. Click here to send a letter supporting landmark designation of this and other historic buildings south of Union Square. . . .

This 1912 office tower was built on the site of James Lenox’s Fifth Avenue mansion. After Lenox’s death, the mansion became the first home of the Institute of Musical Art, now the Juilliard School.

Lenox Mansion at 55 Fifth Avenue (now demolished) Of the Juilliard School, Frank Rich said “born when a young country was first discovering that it might have a serious appetite for the arts, Juilliard grew up with both the country and its burgeoning cultural capital of New York to become an internationally recognized synonym for the pinnacle of artistic achievement.” Today the Julliard School is widely regarded as one of the world's leading drama, music, and dance schools, with some of the most prestigious arts programs. Click here to send a letter supporting landmark designation of extant historic buildings south of Union Square. . . .

In the 1970s, 42 East 12th Street was the home of the Film & Dance Theater. Click here to send a letter supporting landmark designation of this and other historic buildings south of Union Square. . . .

The Valerie Bettis Dance Studio was located at 34 East 10th Street by 1972. Valerie Bettis was a choreographer and performer of modern dance, ballet, television, film, and Broadway. She is credited as the first modern dancer to choreograph for a ballet company. Bettis founded Dancers Studio Foundation, which was also associated with this address, in 1964. The studio produced collaborative work between choreographers, writers, and musicians, and held classes and workshops.

Valerie Bettis c. 1948 Dance June Lewis and Company was located at 36 East 10th Street by 1976. According to the company’s website, June Lewis was a student Erik Hawkins and Martha Graham, who both had studios in the neighborhood south of Union Square. Lewis founded her company in 1968. Click here to send a letter supporting landmark designation of this and other historic buildings south of Union Square. . . .

Since around 2008 this former horse auction mart has been the home of Peridance Dance Studios. According to The New York Times: Peridance was founded in 1983 by Igal Perry, a native of Israel who was drawn to New York City in the wake of the 1970s dance boom. Mr. Perry aspired to build a community hub for the city’s performers, whether they belonged to the Broadway and ballet worlds uptown or to the experimental dance scene thriving downtown. “At the time, those worlds rarely overlapped,” William Huntington, Peridance’s international student adviser, said. “Igal found his poetic identity right in between.” Click here to send a letter supporting landmark designation of other historic buildings south of Union Square. . . .