A Dream Decades in the Making: Morton Street Dance Center Finds Its Forever Home
- Jul 27
- 4 min read
Baltimore's Full Circle Dance Company, a professional ensemble of 20 dancers with deep roots in the city, will soon have a beautiful new home. Full Circle is the professional company in residence at The Morton Street Dance Center, which has trained thousands of dancers in Baltimore across 35 years. Both Morton Street and Full Circle will move in September 2026 to a new facility featuring 4 professionally appointed dance studios as well as other creative spaces. Located at 1001 Rectory Lane in Baltimore's historic Hampden neighborhood, this new home creates a hub for training and choreographic innovation for dancers of all ages from around the region.   Â
The Baltimore Dance Bulletin sat down with Donna L. Jacobs, founder and director of both the Morton Street Dance Center and Full Circle Dance Company, to talk about the big move.
Q. What will this new dance home mean for the students you teach and for yourself as a practicing artist?
This new home represents so much more than a change of address—it fulfills a dream that has been decades in the making. For our students, it creates a true sense of belonging: a place they can proudly call home. Every corner of our two-floor facility will be dedicated to creativity, artistry, and the transformative power of dance.Â
For the past 23 years, we have shared a building with other tenants. While we made beautiful memories there, our new home is different. It belongs entirely to our dancers. Here, they can move, create, and dream without limitations on time or sound. It will be a sanctuary where children, teens, adults, and professional artists alike can fully immerse themselves in dance, music, and community. As both an educator and an artist, there is nothing more rewarding than knowing we finally have a permanent home where the arts are celebrated every single day.
Q. Tell us a bit about the new facility you are creating. What excites you most about it?
What excites me most is that this space was designed around the needs of our dance family. It is significantly larger than our current location and gives us the opportunity to serve our community in ways we simply couldn't before.Â
Beyond beautiful studios, we've intentionally created spaces where children can simply be children—to laugh, read, do homework, connect with friends, or just relax between classes. We'll have welcoming gathering spaces for families, dedicated areas for our faculty and staff to collaborate, and a true home for our professional company, Full Circle Dance Company.
The new Rectory Lane facility is bright, welcoming, and inspiring. Every detail has been thoughtfully planned to create an environment where dancers feel valued, creativity flourishes, and everyone who walks through the doors feels that they belong.
Q. Dancers have very specific needs. Your school teaches many different genres and serves dancers of all ages, including professionals. Was it difficult to find a space that really works for dance?
Absolutely. Finding the right home took more than six years of searching, on and off. We looked at countless properties, but none truly fit our vision. It really was a case of, "We'll know it when we see it," and for a long time, we simply didn't.
Dance schools have unique requirements. We need large, open studios, specialized flooring, and enough space to serve preschoolers, pre-professional dancers, adults, and a professional company—all under one roof. Spaces like that are incredibly difficult to find and often prohibitively expensive.
Equally important to me was remaining in Baltimore City. While we had opportunities to relocate to surrounding counties, Morton Street has deep roots in Baltimore. This community has supported us for 35 years, and we wanted to continue investing in the city that has helped shape who we are. Finding a space that met both our practical needs and our mission was challenging, but it was worth every moment of the search.
Q. After 35 years teaching and producing dance in Baltimore, and 26 years as Artistic Director of Full Circle Dance Company, what keeps you going?
The answer is simple: the people.
It's the four-year-old who runs up to me, bursting with pride because they finally mastered a new step. It's the adult beginner who tells me, "I've always wanted to take ballet, but I was afraid I'd be judged. No one judges me here." It's the handwritten notes from alumni describing how Morton Street shaped their childhood and helped them become the people they are today.
Recently, a former student who had moved to New Hampshire made it a point to visit us while she was in Baltimore because Morton Street had been such an important part of her life. Moments like that remind me that we're doing so much more than teaching dance—we're helping to shape lives.
I also see lifelong friendships blossom among our students and their families. I witness confidence replacing self-doubt, discipline turning into achievement, and joy becoming contagious. Dance has an extraordinary ability to transform people. Once it becomes part of your life, it stays with you forever. I see that every day in our students and in the remarkable artists of Full Circle Dance Company, and that is what continues to inspire me.
Q. What are your dreams and aspirations for this new chapter?
My dream is simple but ambitious: to open our doors even wider.
I want to reach more children, more adults, and more families who may never have imagined themselves in a dance studio. I want Morton Street Dance Center to become an even stronger artistic home for our community—a place where excellence and accessibility exist side by side. This new chapter allows us to expand our programming, deepen our community partnerships, and continue enriching lives through dance. If we can help more people discover confidence, creativity, discipline, and joy through this art form, then we'll know we've fulfilled our purpose.
Q. How can people learn more about the new Morton Street Dance Center?
The best way to learn more is to visit our newly redesigned website at www.mortonstreetdance.com. You can also email us at information@mortonstreetdance.com or call us at 410-235-9003.
 Whether you're a parent looking for your child's first dance class, an aspiring pre-professional dancer, an adult returning to dance, or someone simply curious about our community, we'd love to welcome you to our new home. Â
Early construction images