Dance Church goes National!
Founded by dance artist Kate Wallich in 2010, the wildly popular dance/fitness fusion class has been a way to funnel money into her art making, as well as supporting many other local dance artist instructors. After a successful expansion to Portland, New York, LA, and even online since the pandemic, Dance Church has developed a platform so that it can be taught by practicing dance artists anywhere in the country.
Most dance artists need a second form of income, and many turn to becoming certified in a somatic practice, like Pilates or yoga, but these training programs can be costly investments with no guarantee of employment after certification. Dance Church proposes a different model, paying instructors for their time in training and hiring them as employees.
“It was important to everyone in the organization, from a place of mission, for teachers to be W2 employees,” says Dance Church CEO Clara Siegel in a press release. “It means they aren’t taking a financial risk to get classes off the ground, and dance artists aren’t paying us as customers. We are invested in their success and partnered together on the best experience for class takers.”
Teachers are paid $100 per class, plus $3 per class taker, and are also supported through music licensing, space rental, and marketing. Beyond a financial means to support artists, Dance Church also proposes itself as a way to grow community and following around an artist’s work. Interested dance artists can apply for an interview at Dance Church’s website.
Velocity Staff Changes
Velocity recently announced that artistic director Fox Whitney has stepped down, citing a need to pursue his own artistic and educational projects. Whitney has a decade-long history of working with the organization, which he will continue through joining the board, writing for Velocity, and as an artist, continuing to develop the interdisciplinary Gender Tender project MELTED RIOT. During his two years collaboratively leading Velocity, major accomplishments include creating more QTBIPOC accessibility in Velocity programing, including the TBIPOC tuition waiver, and creating the Curating Artist in Residence program, which kicked off this past summer with Alyza DelPan-Monley as the CAiR for the 2022/23 season. Other recent hires include Shane Donohue as Creative Producer and Moonyeka as Interim Communications Manager.
You can read more details, as well as a letter to the community from Whitney HERE.
Local Dance Coverage Roundup!
This section includes local news sources covering dance and local artists covered nationally. Thanks to Sandra Kurtz for help compiling these articles.
News + Ideas
UW changes its major and minor requirements to create education pathways outside of Western dance forms, and to widen accessibility that reflects a shifting away from conventional ideas of mastery.
https://crosscut.com/
Five of PNB’s Black dancers discuss diversity in Seattle Times.
https://www.seattletimes.com/
Dance Magazine’s “25 to Watch” included Whim W’him’s Andrew McShea and PNB’s Ashton Edwards.
https://www.dancemagazine.com/
PNB’s Kiyon Ross profile in Dance Magazine.
https://www.dancemagazine.com/
Abdiel Jacobsen, who’s part of the MFA program at the UW, brought his expertise with the hustle to town.
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/
https://www.king5.com/article/
https://www.seattletimes.com/
Ashton Edwards and Zilas Michael Hughes discuss non-binary options in ballet in The Dance Edit.
https://thedanceedit.com/
Watch Donald Byrd’s work for the Kennedy Center “Reframing the Narrative” project.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?
Teatro Zinzanni’s search for a new home in Crosscut.
https://crosscut.com/
Previews + Reviews
A preview of the UW faculty show in Seattle Times.
https://www.seattletimes.com/
Seattle Times Review Whim W’him’s Winter 23.
https://www.seattletimes.com/
Jinkx Monsoon in “Chicago.”
https://www.theatermania.com/
Rachel Howard covers the dance community in San Francisco, but during the pandemic shutdown, she started writing about Pacific Northwest Ballet’s streaming work.
https://fjordreview.com/
