Velocity Dance Center Opens Their New Space This Saturday With a Gala Moving Parade

A shot of the Glenn Kawasaki Studio at the new Velocity Dance Center space. Through the window to the left, you can even see the home they’ve been displaced from. Photo coutesy of Velocity Dance Center.

This Saturday, March 27, the long, agonizing wait is finally over, when Velocity Dance Center–whose future was cast into uncertainty with the purchase and refurbishment of Oddfellows Hall–officially opens the doors of their new space in the old Capitol Hill Arts Center building at 1621 12th Avenue. It’s one of precious few success stories for arts organizations over the past few decade, when first rising rents and then a bad economy made it seem impossible for arts groups to survive in Seattle.

Velocity originally opened in 1996 and quickly established itself at the center of Seattle’s dance community. Hosting both entry-level and professional development classes, as well as providing badly needed rehearsal space and serving as a performance venue, the overall health of contemporary dance in Seattle and the greater region has been closely tied to the institution. But in 2007, Oddfellows Hall, where Velocity occupied three separate studio spaces, was sold to Ted Schroth, the developer behind Trace Lofts, among others.

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The sale, and the attendant 300 percent rent increase, was a huge blow to the local arts and non-profit community, who had been taking advantage of the building’s cheap rents and who were rapidly being displaced elsewhere on the Hill. The Oddfellows sale became the sine qua non of the transformation and gentrification of Capitol Hill (among others, Freehold Theatre left the neighborhood and now operates in Belltown), and a threat to the arts overall in a white hot real estate market that was quickly pricing them out of the urban core. 

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Over the last two years, a huge effort by both the community and arts supporters has helped make Saturday’s grand opening happen. The old CHAC building needed improvements and further development to turn it into a proper dance space, and the overall project costs about $750,000. In 2009, 4Culture (whose own future is now in danger–see here for more information) awarded Velocity a $125,000 facility development grant. Another major supporter was entrepreneur and philanthropist Glenn Kawasaki, a long-time supporter of dance in Seattle, who chipped in with substantial support. (One of the studios has been named after him in recognition of his contribution). And then there were, of course, the many members of the community who rallied around the Velocity Forever Capital Campaign, whose donations have helped make this possible.

A couple weeks ago, Velocity’s executive director Kara O’Toole took me on a walk-through of the new space, which was in the final stages of refurbishment. Velocity will be occupying most of the old CHAC building, although the former Crave Restaurant space on the first floor is still vacant, as is the old bar downstairs. The new space includes a large 100-seat theatre and studio in the old CHAC theatre, as well as two studios with views of Cal Anderson Park through large windows. As a former theatre artist who worked at CHAC on occasion, I can attest to how extensive the work has been. What was once a slightly run-down, fringe-y performance space struggling to live up to a big vision has become the sort of organized, well-designed and maintained space Seattle needs to produce world-class art.

Given the momentousness of the occasion, Velocity will be opening with a bang. Starting at 5:30 p.m., a parade of volunteers will be moving the last bits of stuff from the Oddfellows space to the new location (paraders should gather starting at 5 on the third floor of Oddfellows), complete with a marching band and moped gang. Mayor Mike McGinn promises to be on-hand for the ribbon cutting at six, which kicks off an evening of performances. All the events are free and open to the public. From March 28 to April 3, Velocity’s classes will also be free as part of the celebration, and the weekend of April 3 and 4, they finish it off with a series of special master classes. More details are available on their website.