A silver celebration: the Joyce marks 25 years.

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The Joyce Theater has been such a mainstay of the New York City dance scene that it's hard to recall a time before it existed. Now celebrating its silver anniversary season, the 472-seat house is making a big deal of that landmark--with 25 generous commissions going to 25 dance companies, and special $25 tickets for all Sunday evening performances. This cultural hub in Manhattan's thriving Chelsea neighborhood is booked with a variety of dance troupes for 48 consecutive weeks, from the Martha Graham Dance Company (which opened the season in September), through regulars like Ballet Hispanico, Garth Fagan Dance, and Stephen Petronio Company, to first-timers like Mexico's Ballet de Monterrey and Kansas City Ballet.

The commissions, $25,000 each, epitomize the Joyce's long-standing mission to support dance companies and broaden the dance audience. "We wanted to honor those companies that have had the longest relationship with the Joyce over the 25 years," explained Martin Wechsler, director of programming. A $1 million gift from Board Chair Stephen D. Weinroth initiated a restricted fund for commissioning new works. The initiative is intended "to really make a statement, to help as many companies as we could," said Linda Shelton, the Joyce's executive director since 1993.

Cora Cahan created the Joyce with Eliot Feld when she was executive director of his company. Feld's troupe had long sought an appropriate home base for its New York seasons, and the duo sensed that many others shared that need. "We wanted to create a situation that would protect the companies by subsidizing their performances, as well as providing an infrastructure of marketing, so that there was a built-in audience," explained Cahan. Subscription sales, always strong, continue to climb.

The neighborhood was a "barren landscape" when Feld and Cahan purchased the Elgin Theater, a small marginal movie house, in 1979. "The first few years were hard," Cahan recalls. The theater was booked for just 19 1/2 weeks the first season, 1982-83. "Once we presented Merce Cunningham's 'Events' in September 1984, everything changed." Cunningham's troupe has returned there often, and many others have made it their regular New York stop.

The objective in the beginning was to give companies longer home seasons, with weeks of earned income and time to develop an audience. Cahan, who is now president of the New 42nd Street, says this offered the opportunity to "substantially broaden their base of support. It was wide-open, all-embracing." The mission has remained essentially the same over the years. "We're looking for first-rate companies that cover the entire spectrum of the dance world," says Wechsler. "We have all different disciplines from the tried-and-true to the cutting edge."

The Joyce has been able to branch out into different New York neighborhoods. The Joyce Theater Foundation owns and operates Joyce Soho, a building used for rehearsal and performances by independent choreographers and smaller troupes. Last month, the Joyce partnered with the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council in the annual "Evening Stars," an outdoor performances series in Battery Park. The foundation is in the planning stages for a larger venue as part of the new performing arts center at the World Trade Center site. "We have studies that show that New York needs a 1000-seat theater for dance, to fill the gap between the Joyce and larger venues," says Shelton. "We're a strong, stable organization, and if anybody is going to make that happen, the Joyce is in a position to go forward."

Thanks to its subsidized rental arrangement, the Joyce covers two-thirds of the theater's weekly operating costs for companies performing there. Some events are Joyce presentations (this season, they include Molissa Fenley, performers from the Khmer Arts Academy, Compagnie Maguy Marin, and Hubbard Street Dance Chicago) and receive a guaranteed fee.

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"We wouldn't be performing in New York without the Joyce," said Garth Fagan, who presents his commissioned work there next month. "It's very rare to have a theater used only for dance. It means the audiences are knowledgeable and demanding, and it's wonderful to perform for them. The staff and crew have always been exceptional; they know what dancers need. It's a family experience for us."