Why I love Steps. (New York).

To soak up New York's dance scene, there is no better place than Steps on Broadway on Manhattan's Upper West Side. With nine studios and more than fifty classes a day, it offers instruction in almost every dance genre. After taking a creaky elevator up to the third floor, dancers enter into a maze of bodies stretching and warming up in dimly lit hallways. Care must be taken to avoid stepping on the likes of Mikhail Baryshnikov, who might be limbering up in rainbow-hued woolies.

"What I like about Steps," says 18-year-old Jared Matthews, who studies with David Howard and recently joined American Ballet Theatre, "is you never know who is going to show up in class. It's great to see a wide range of professionals and see how other people work." Among the nearly seventy dancers in class that day with Matthews was ABT's supernova, Angel Corella, principal dancer Parrish Maynard from the visiting San Francisco Ballet, New York City Ballet's legendary Jacques d'Amboise, and Keith Roberts, featured dancer in Twyla Tharp's new Broadway musical, Movin' Out.

There's a lot of hugging in the hallways as performers coming off tours repair to Steps to brush up their technique. Freelance dancer Therese Wendler says, "I'm always running into people I've worked with before."

Great teachers attract great dancers and inspire young hopefuls, who flock to Steps to take advantage of the open-class policy set by Artistic Director Carol Paumgarten. In this relaxed atmosphere dancers can shop around by hanging out at open doorways and observing dancers and teachers in action.

West Coast transplant Gina Gerrans, 22, concentrates on jazz and adores Suzi Taylor's jazz technique class because it helps her prepare for Broadway auditions. Gerrans says, "Watching professional dancers do the combinations takes my breath away."

At 29, Esteban Arana, a professional dancer in his native Mexico City, is clear about his goals. "I came to Steps to get knowledge because I want to teach in my country. I need to learn about all types of dance, and improve." He takes up to five classes a day, ranging from Peff Modelski's ballet class to Jay T.'s theater jazz.

"No other studio in New York would accept me but Steps," says Kitty Lunn, ballerina of Infinity Dance Theater, who takes class in a wheelchair. Teacher Nancy Bielski, who attracts ballerinas such as ABT's Julie Kent and NYCB's Jenifer Ringer, personally invited Lunn to attend her classes.

And then there are those who dance just for the joy of it. Esther Marcus, a trim grandmother from Long Island, is hooked on taking tap with such international teachers as Roxane Butterfly. London hoofer Annie Mayer, notes that "the teachers get to know you here as a person as well as a dancer."

Loredana Mutalipassi, a pint-size pixie from Italy, says, "I think here you have everything--so many different styles, so much fun, and lots of energy. You feel what it is to be in New York--you feel it here at Steps."