Dear Dancers,

The charming young waitress who served my dinner on New Year's Eve told me that in her native Slovakia, no one makes resolutions. "That's so American, so much work!" she marveled. "We just say 'May all your wishes come true.'" What a razzle-dazzle spin on the subject of making a fresh start! I hope every single item on your wish list for the last year of the millennium does indeed come true.

If one of those items is dreaming of a permanent move to NYC, let me play fairy godmother and help you get acclimated. For starters, New Yorkers are positively chauvinistic about their neighborhoods. When Rudyard Kipling wrote "Oh, East is East, and West is West, and never the twain shall meet," he could as easily have been referring to Manhattan as to the Western World and the Orient.

Suzy Norton-DiCerto, the operations manager at STEPS, put it this way at recent holiday gathering: "You need a passport to get across town." So, for the uninitiated, here's a tour of places you might decide to call home:

This is where the so-called "Downtown Dance Scene" -- largely modern and experimental -- thrives. Also here: Erick Hawkins Company in residence at the Dance Institute at Chelsea Piers, Joffrey, and 890 Broadway which is home to the American Ballet Theatre's school and Eliot Feld's school and company. Living spaces are lofts and brownstones along with high rises. Quirky, winding streets lined with trees, cafes, shops and art galleries give the area a Bohemian feel. If this appeals to you, you've found your Shangri-La. But if you're into the pulse-pounding rhythms of big city life, look farther uptown.

Midtown starts at 42nd Street and ends at 60th Street. Here's where you'll find Times Square, the Theatre District, Radio City Music Hall, Carnegie Hall, Hell's Kitchen, Restaurant Row, Columbus Circle, the Broadway Dance Center, most of the dance retail stores, and the south entrance to Central Park.

Living in the heart of things can be fun, but if you want to be able to retreat to a less frenetic part of "the city that never sleeps," try the Upper West Side, from 61st Street to 96th Street. Highlights are Lincoln Center, Alvin Ailey, STEPS, Riverside Park, the Boat Basin, and a long stretch of Central Park including Tavern on the Green.

You can get more space for less money in the Columbia University area, sometimes called the Upper Upper Westside, from 97th Street to 125th Street. There are lots of young families there, plus students, professors, artists, writers, actors and dancers. Local landmarks include the Cathedral of St. John the Divine, Riverside Church -- and Tom's Restaurant, the diner at 111th and Broadway that was featured on Seinfeld.

Way uptown at the skinny tip of the island, you'll find Washington Heights and Inwood, both with fairly inexpensive housing and a rural setting, not to mention water views. The commute takes as long as if you lived in the 'burbs, however, so if you're pining for plenty of nights on the town or hoping to land a job in a show or ballet company, think twice before choosing this locale.

. Here's a listing of the areas:

Downtown includes Wall Street, South Street Seaport, Chinatown, Little Italy, the Lower East Side (Avenues A, B, etc. -- the Alphabet City of "Rent" fame), the East Village (including the very trendy St. Mark's Place and the dance performance space in St. Mark's Church) and Gramercy Park. Murray Hill, an upscale neighborhood, goes from 34th Street to 42nd Street. The 40's and 50's include the very tony Sutton Place and Beekman Place, as well as spectacular shops on Fifth Avenue, plus St. Patrick's Cathedral and Rockefeller Center. The Upper East Side from the 60's to 110th is also called Carnegie Hill. This is where you'll find Bloomingdale's as well as the chic boutiques on Madison Avenue.

Harlem stretches from 100th on up and eventually encompasses both East and West addresses. It is home to Arthur Mitchell's magnificent Dance Theatre of Harlem and the school, as well as the renowned Apollo Theatre.

Tip: If you plan to stay pretty much for good, think about buying a co-op or condo. Maintenance is much cheaper than rent, and you can usually sub-let your apartment for more than the maintenance if you are away doing summer stock or a national tour. Prices are fairly steep, but you'll have the tax advantages of home ownership and you'll almost certainly make a killing if you eventually sell.

Parents sometimes buy apartments for college students or young dancers rather than pay for dorms or rentals, often with the understanding that they'll recoup their investment once the kids get on their feet.

Have a good class!