STRICTLY SEATTLE 2015 Kicks Off This Weekend at Velocity

Super-charged Strictly Seattle performances feature seven new works by some of Seattle's most celebrated choreographers: 2015 Guggenheim Fellow Zoe Scofield, Pat Graney, Kate Wallich, Anna Conner, Shannon Stewart, Kaitlin McCarthy and Bryon Carr, plus new shorts from KT Niehoff's Dance Film Track at Broadway Performance Hall this weekend, July 24 + 25.

A total immersion into the Seattle dance scene, Strictly Seattle is Velocity's world-class summer dance festival, every year drawing gifted dancers from across the country and around the globe. SeattleDances stated: "Strictly Seattle is integral to Seattle's dance scene... because it brings more dancers into the community than any other event in the city." Located in one of the most culturally vibrant neighborhoods in the country, Strictly Seattle's five adult programs inspire beginning through professional dancers with rigorous training in a challenging and invigorating environment. Artists, students and audiences share their knowledge and inspiration through daily classes, jams, informal showings, conversations and performances. Now in its 18th year, Strictly Seattle is a supportive community of open experimentation and camaraderie where dancers form alliances for future collaborations.

FACULTY Michele Miller / KT Niehoff / Jody Kuehner / Shannon Stewart / Kaitlin McCarthy / Bryon Carr / Louis Gervais / Tamin Totzke / Matt Drews / Patrick Kilbane / Hannah Wiley / Jaret Hughes / Etienne Cakpo / Natascha Greenwalt / Rhonda Cinotto

In 2014, Maximum Velocity, Velocity's summer festival including Strictly Seattle and the world-renowned international Seattle Festival of Dance Improvisation (SFDI), drew a record 773 students from 5 continents. This year, SFDI celebrates its 22nd year with performances, intensives, classes, and free events with some of the world's leading dance innovators including- Ralph Lemon, Jennifer Monson, Joy Davis, Andrew de Lotbinière Harwood, Jimena Paz, and Ronja Ver -and Dance Innovators in Performance, one packed evening of performances by international SFDI faculty who have been performing everywhere but in the mainstream (July 30 / 8PM, Broadway Performance Hall).

// PERFORMANCES //

SH*T GOLD: The Deep End
July 12 / 4-10PM
Velocity Founders Theater 1621 12th Ave
FREE + open to all

It's a SH*T GOLD marathon! Expect the unexpected as our infamous open mic night opens up the floor for long-form multi-disciplinary performance events up to 30 minutes in length. Dive into The Deep End: epic presentations, installations, community discussions, short scenes, Q&As + more...

STRICTLY SEATTLE PERFORMANCES

July 24, 2015 / 8PM
July 25, 2015 / 2PM + 8PM
Broadway Performance Hall 1625 Broadway Ave

TICKETS $18 / $20 at the door / $12 students + seniors / $15 MVP
Box Office / Info 206.325.8773 + VELOCITYDANCECENTER.ORG

// BONUS events //

FREE LUNCHTIME TALKS
A chance to dive further into topics specific to dance artists.
Velocity Founders Theater 1621 12th Ave

Injury Prevention with Seattle Dance Clinic and Alana O Rogers
JULY 7 / 1:30-2:15PM

Nutrition with Alia Swersky
JULY 9 / 1:30-2:15PM

Making It Happen: Self Producing with Dylan Ward and Tonya Lockyer
JULY 14 / 1:30-2:15PM

The Seattle Dance Scene with Tonya Lockyer, Kate Wallich, Jody Kuehner, Anna Conner, + Bryon Carr
JULY 16 / 1:30-2:15PM

Dance as a Career with Pat Graney, KT Niehoff, Zoe Scofield, + Shannon Stewart
JULY 21 / 1:30-2:15PM

ABOUT THE ARTISTS:

>> PROFESSIONAL ADVANCED SESSION

ZOE SCOFIELD studied ballet and modern dance at Walnut Hill School for the Performing Arts, and has danced with Prometheus Dance and Bill James among others. Scofield has received The Strangers Genius Award, National Dance Project Tour Support, The Mariam McGlone Emerging Choreographer Award from Wesleyan University, Artist Trusts GAP Grant and Artist Fellowship Award, City Arts Innovator Award, Seattle Magazine's Spotlight Award, Alpert Award Residency and the Princess Grace Foundation Choreography and Special Project Awards. zoe|juniper is a three time Princess Grace Award Recipient and a 2013 Stranger Genius Award Winner. The dance and visual art team has been described as "a crazy dream you just can't shake" (Karen Campbell, The Boston Globe). Their newest work, BeginAgain premiered at On the Boards & is being presented at The Joyce/3 Legged Dog, PS 122 COIL Festival & Baryshnikov Arts Center, REDCAT, Danceplace and Fringe Arts, 2014-2015.

Seattle dance icon PAT GRANEY creates work that features a diverse set of movement vocabularies; explorations of female identity and power; and rich visuals. The Vivian Girls (2004) was based on the work of "outsider" artist Henry Darger; and House of Mind (2008), a work in multiple media, transformed a 5,000 square-foot raw space. In 1991, she began creating a body of work related to women with Faith (1991), Sleep (1995), and Tattoo (2001)-this triptych was re-mounted in 2010 at On the Boards. Among her many honors, Graney is an Alpert Award in the Arts (2008) and USA Fellowship (2008) recipient, and in 2013, Graney was chosen as one of 20 Americans to receive the Doris Duke Performing Artist Award. Her upcoming work for 2015, girl gods, explores the sacrifice of the female in contemporary culture.

KATE WALLICH is a choreographer, director, teacher and 2013 Spotlight Award winner. Kate's work has been commissioned and presented nationally and internationally by On the Boards, Velocity Dance Center, The Rauschenberg Foundation, MANA Contemporary, Springboard Danse Montréal, Northwest Dance Project, Cornish College of the Arts, Henry Art Gallery, Bumbershoot, Conduit, City Arts, The Frye Art Museum, W'him Whim and Seattle Art Museum/Olympic Sculpture Park among others. Kate has created 2 evening-length works with her company The YC; Super Eagle commissioned and produced through Velocity Dance Center's Made In Seattle program and Splurge Land produced through On the Board's Performance Production Program. She is among Seattle's top contemporary dance teachers, leading packed classes through her own brand of movement.

>> PROFESSIONAL ADVANCED DANCE FILM TRACK

KT NIEHOFF is a Seattle based artist who makes events, dances, music, films, classes, spaces and fosters creative communities. She was featured in Dance Magazine's "International Women in Dance" ('08) and on the covers of Dance Teacher Magazine ('12) and City Arts Seattle ('13). Her interest in dance film began in 2008. Since then she has had the privilege of learning from filmmakers Thierry De Mey, Victoria Marks and Alla Kovgan as well as working with cinematographers Ben Kasulke, Christian Hansen, Sebastien Scandiuzzi and Linus Phillips. To date she has created four short films and her work has been screened at the American Dance Festival, NEXT Dance Film Festival, Dance for Reel at Emory University, Green Valley State University and the San Francisco Dance Film Festival. She was the co-founder of Velocity Dance Center and in 2011 opened her own creative research space on Capitol Hill called 10 degrees. www.ktniehoff.com

SEBASTIEN SCANDIUZZI brings nearly 20 years of commercial and film production experience to Pressing Pictures as a producer, director and cinematographer. Sebastien's work as Director of Photography can be seen in films such award winning films as: SPIN - a short psychological thriller, SAD CITY, RAIN BEATS DOWN, THE 14/48 PROJECTS, BENEATH OUR OWN IMMENSITY, and many more. Sebastien is a regular contributor to ARTZone featured on KCTS 9, Fretboard Films, and SIFF TV where he had the opportunity to produce and shoot interviews with such talents as Joss Whedon, Nathan Fillion, Lynn Shelton, Megan Griffiths, Ezra Dickenson, Stephan Gruber, Ben Gibbard, Mike Cooley, John Roderick, Bill Frisell and more. Previous to his work with Pressing Pictures, Sebastien was the Director of Production for IndieFlix - an online independent film distribution network where he helped thousands of filmmakers distribute their films to the public. https://vimeo.com/120212031

>> INTERMEDIATE SESSION

SHANNON STEWART has trained across movement modalities ranging from ballet to breakdancing to somatics throughout her professional career. She is drawn to techniques that create narrative and specificity in the body and tools that use imagination and sensation to allow dancers of all levels to full embody their movement. In recent years, Shannon began touring her own work nationally and worked under the mentorship of Deborah Hay and Crystal Pite. She makes dance films with Adam Sekuler and has performed nationally and internationally, most notably with tEEth, Dayna Hanson, zoe | juniper, and Sebastian Mattius. She is currently an MFA candidate and the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.

ANNA CONNER, named a featured artist to watch in Berlin's Kaltblut magazine 2013, is a dancer/choreographer based in Seattle, WA since 2006. Her work has been commissioned and presented by On the Boards, Velocity Dance Center, Conduit, Chop Shop, Pacific Dance Makers and Judson Church Movement Research among others. Conner has received residencies from Ponderosa dance (GER) and Velocity Dance Center (WA). Anna is a recipient of a 2013 SmART Ventures Grant from the Seattle Office of Arts and Culture, a 2013 Art projects 4Culture grant and a 2015 City Artist Projects Grant. Her company, Anna Conner +CO works with improvisation, collaboration, research, discussion and reflection. Anna is a managing partner of Open Flight Studio in Seattle. Her newest work premieres in October as part of Velocity Dance Center's Made in Seattle new dance development program. annaconnerandco.com

>> BEGINNING SESSION

KAITLIN MCCARTHY is a dance artist working in the Seattle area since 2010. She grew up dancing in Ann Arbor, MI and continued her pursuits on the East coast where she graduated summa cum laude from Mt Holyoke College. In Seattle she has worked with over a dozen local choreographers and has presented choreography with Velocity Dance Center, On the Boards, Evoke Productions, BOOST Dance Festival, and others. In addition to teaching at Velocity, Kaitlin manages the theaters at 12th Ave Arts and writes for Seattle Dances.

BRYON CARR holds an MFA in Performance and Interactive Media Arts. He recently moved back to Seattle after living in New York City for 17 years. He has trained, taught and performed throughout the U.S. and Europe. In NYC he worked with various companies including,The Graham Ensemble, Chen and Dancers, and The Erick Hawkins Dance Company. In 2002 he began showing throughout NYC and has been presented by; Dance New Amsterdam, Dixon Place, Joyce SoHo, The Wave Rising Series, Triskelion Arts Center and Chashama Arts. Outside of New York, he has shown in Seattle, Boston, and Berlin. Since returning to Seattle in 2013 Bryon has been teaching modern and ballet for both Velocity Dance Center and eXit Space Dance Center.

See the complete lineup at velocitydancecenter.org/program/strictly-seattle/strictly-seattle-2015-class-descriptions-faculty-bios/.

Photo Credit: Tim Summers

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