Berlin now: the scene.

Fourteen years after the fall of its iconic wall, Berlin has evolved from a symbol of separation to a global cultural crossroads at the border of "Old" and "New" Europe. Dancers from around the world populate the city's dance classes and companies and the funding fine print on the posters of many companies tells a story of multi-national co-production.

Americans are prominent in the mix. The work of more than a dozen choreographers from the United States has been significantly supported by Berlin theaters, studios, or presenting organizations in the last three years. They range from the well known, like Meg Stuart, whose latest work, Visitors Only, was co-commissioned by the prestigious Volksbuhne (People's Stage) in the former East Berlin; to less familiar artists, like Stephanie Maher and Sten Rudstrom whose evening-length piece Prarie, was co-produced by the tiny K77 Studios in a renovated former squat in the trendy Prenzlauerberg neighborhood. Others include Sommer Ulrickson, Shinichi Momo Koga, Scott Wells, Ami Garmon, Rachael Lincoln, who all found their way here from the West Coast, and Sarah Michelson, Christa Cocciole, Heidi Weiss, Jennifer Mann, and recent arrival Patrick Scully, all from the eastern United States.

What brings us all here is a sense of possibility and the heat from the friction of many dance ideas rubbing up against each other. The legacy of the socialist East has left housing and rehearsal studios very affordable. There is a vital cultural ecosystem nurturing young talented artists and giving them access to production resources before they've burnt out and given up. People talk, and write about dance a lot here and in thoughtful and challenging ways. (It was in Berlin that for the first time a critic addressed the "dramaturgy" of my work.) The cultural landscape includes the full range of venues from dozens of warehouse and storefront style performance spaces to three grand opera houses and everything in between. For contemporary dance, the leading venues are Hebbel Theater, Schiller Theater, Schaubuhne Theater, Theater am Halleschen Ufer, Podewil, Dock 11, Tanzfabrik and Sophiensaele.

There are audiences to fill them all. It's often hard to get tickets for the annual Tanz im August, which has become one of Europe's preeminent dance festivals. Last year, their program included, among the two dozen companies, DV8, La La La Human Steps, Anne Teresa de Keersmaeker/Rosas and Wim Vandekeybus/Ultima Vez. But the dance crowd also flocks to more obscure events. One of the hottest tickets in town is for the annual Sophiensaele Tanztage (Sophiensaele Dance Days): two weeks of performances by up-and-coming Berlin choreographers, curated by Barbara Friedrich, who is something of a godmother of Berlin dance. These audiences come out for the unknown, and the risky, maybe to discover the next Pina Bausch and certainly to argue about it in the bar in the lobby after the show.

All of this makes for a rich and inspiring environment. A short list of other (non-American) Berlin choreographers making waves in the dance world would include Sasha Waltz, Xavier le Roy, Thomas Lehmen, Two Fish (Angela Schubot/Martin Clausen), Rubato Company, Jo Fabian, Costanza Macras, Toula Limnaios and Christophe Winkler.

I should mention that the city is approaching bankruptcy and cutting its arts budget right and left, and that the winters are unbearably cold, long, and gray. But, if you've got a heavy coat and you're interested in visiting a thriving dance scene, make Berlin a stop on your travel itinerary.

(Jess Curtis, the director of Gravity Physical Entertainment, divides his time between San Francisco and Europe.)