Results tagged “velocitydancecenter”

After a flurry of demonstrated community concern, the sale of the Capitol Hill OddFellows building to developer Ted Schroth was finalized in January of 2008, and his company seemed to want to put the whole uncomfortable matter behind them when touting the glorious financial potential of the space:

"The OddFellows Building presented us with an incredible opportunity to restore one of the neighborhood's most cherished icons," said Ted Schroth, the project's developer. "It has been an exciting and rewarding project to be a part of, and we are very excited about the tenants who have already chosen to make the building their home. We are looking forward to finding the right mix of remaining retail and office tenants to share in this remarkable piece of history."

But while development projects are fizzling all over town, the OddFellows business venture seems to be humming along on track. Perky new businesses have been moving into the renovated spaces at a constant rate. OddFellows Café settled in last year and Molly Moon’s ice cream parlor opened this summer, along with a chi-chi children’s clothier this month. Century Ballroom Café introduced their Tin Table restaurant sister-business this year and welcomed The Academy of Burlesque to share their class studio space as of September 1.

Do dancers hibernate in winter? There's an explosion of dance activity coming up as January draws to a close. Had we but world enough and time, we'd go to all these shows, but time's chariot won't permit us to make up all the stops. Here's the wealth you have to choose from:

This Friday and Saturday, Velocity Dance Center presents its Strictly Seattle series, with a who's who of Seattle choreographers: Pat Graney, Dayna Hanson, Keith Johnson, Pablo Cornejo, Aiko Kinoshita, and Crispin Spaeth. It may also star your neighbor -- the series is the result of a three-week course where participants study with up to seven different instructors, work with a choreographer to create a new piece and then perform it publicly. (Here's the relevant Flickr set.)

Over the weekend Velocity Dance Center was hosting SCUBA 2007, a national tour highlighting up-and-coming choreographers. (Next up for Velocity is their Annual Bash on June 3, hosted this year by Sarah Rudinoff.) Friday night the Velocity space was packed with modern dance fans -- we suspect that, like poetry readings, the modern dance audience is roughly congruent with the set of area performers and their partners. We'd say it was standing-room-only, but they ended up getting mats out and laying them down for people to sit on.

SCUBA: The national tour presents works by three emerging national talents in contemporary dance: Zoe Scofield (YouTube) & Juniper Shuey (Seattle), LEVYdance (SF), and Justin Jones with Chris Yon & Friends (MN/NYC). We're fans of Scofield's work, which mingles ballet and modern dance, introspection and spectacle, and curious about the rest. Maybe we'll see you there.

PULP: Featuring four different dancemakers -- Alianna Jaqua (Seattle), Laura Curry (Seattle), Keith Johnson (Long Beach), and Daniel Charon (NYC) -- PULP offers solos, a trio, quartet, and an ensemble of six. Performed by the women of d9 Dance Collective, it's supposed to include provocation, emotional appeal, and some wacky fun. We believe it.

MUSIC: The L.A.B. at Seattle Drum School hosts a birthday party for the wife of one of the dudes in Chicken Starship. It's all-ages, so there's no booze, but there will be birthday cake. Considering John Moe's in the band and the entrance fee go towards funding the school, we'll give the lack of alcohol a pass.