Velocity Kicks Off Strictly Seattle 2013 Today

Super-charged Strictly Seattle performances feature six new works by some of Seattle's most celebrated choreographers: 2013 Stranger Genius finalist zoe | juniper, KT Niehoff, Marlo Martin, Mark Haim, Ellie Sandstrom and Ricki Mason at Broadway Performance Hall. New this year to accommodate sold-out crowds Velocity has added a third performance-a Saturday matinee at 2pm.

A total immersion into the Seattle dance scene, the Strictly Seattle Summer Dance Intensive is a world-class intensive and one of the liveliest, community-centered contemporary dance festivals in the country. Now in its 16th year, Strictly Seattle offers three weeks of rigorous physical and compositional training, and rehearsals for beginning to professional dancers and culminates in a weekend of professionally produced performances. Hundreds of dancers from across the country come together to study with renowned Seattle choreographers and teachers, create and perform new work, and take their dancing to the next level. Artists, students and audiences share their knowledge and inspiration through daily classes, jams, informal showings, Speakeasy conversations and performances. Strictly Seattle is a forum where dancers meet and work together, forming alliances for future collaborations.

FACULTY Michele Miller + Ellie Sandstrom + KT Niehoff + Zoe Scofield + Amy O'Neal + Marlo Martin + Mark Haim + Tonya Lockyer + Ricki Mason + Hannah C. Wiley + Rosa Vissers + Kate Wallich + Aaron Swartzman + Aiko Kinoshita + Bennyroyce Royon + Louis Gervais.

Starting in 2012, Strictly Seattle happens alongside the world-renowned Seattle Festival of Dance Improvisation (SFDI) to create Velocity's summer festival Maximum Velocity, July 7 through August 4, 2013. This year the 20th SFDI features intensives with some of the world's leading dance innovators-John Jasperse, Sara Shelton Mann, Chris Aiken, Shelley Senter, Amii LeGendre and Michael Schumacher-andDance Innovators in Performance, a packed evening of performances by international SFDI faculty that blur the lines between improvisation and devised theater (August 1, Broadway Performance Hall).

Tickets for Strictly Seattle Performances, running today, July 26-27, 2013 / 8PM: Call 206.325.8773 or visit velocitydancecenter.org/box-office.

STRICTLY SEATTLE COMMUNITY EVENTS:
All events are FREE at Velocity (1621 12th Ave) unless otherwise noted

SPEAKEASY SERIES

Brown Bag Lunch Talk: Injury Prevention
With Dr. Kadel + physical therapists from Seattle Dance Medicine
July 8 + 17 / 1:40-2:20pm

SPEAKEASY SERIES

Brown Bag Lunch Talk: Dance + Grad School
With Tonya Lockyer + Rosa Vissers
July 10 / 1:40-2:20pm

SEATTLE DANCE CLINIC

Free Dance Clinic
With Seattle Dance Medicine
July 13 + 20 / 2-4pm

SPEAKEASY SERIES

Feedback is no Horseback
With Vanessa DeWolf (Studio Current/PROJECT: Space Available)
July 14 / 1-4pm

SPEAKEASY SERIES

Brown Bag Lunch Talk: Nutrition
With Velocity Teaching Artist Alia Swersky
July 17 / 1:40-2:20pm

SPEKEASY SERIES

What We Talk About When We Talk About...
July 21 / 6:30-9:30pm

In this special Strictly Seattle edition of WWT@WWT@, Striclty Seattle students and attendees engage in constructive dialogue facilitated by a guest artists and hosts Zoe Scofield (zoe | juniper) and Velocity's Executive/Artistic Director Tonya Lockyer.

SPEAKEASY SERIES

Brown Bag Lunch Talk: "This ain't no party, this ain't no disco": Dance as a Career
With KT Niehoff (Lingo), Zoe Scofield (zoe | juniper) + Beth Graczyk (Salt Horse)
July 24 / 1:40-2:20pm

ABOUT THE ARTISTS

zoe | juniper, visual artist and choreographer duo Juniper Shuey and Zoe Scofield, are a 2013 Stranger Genius finalists and 2013 Creative Residents at Velocity.Scofield was awarded the Mariam MaClone Emerging Choreographer Award from Wesleyan University, Artist Trust's GAP Grant and Artist Fellowship Award as well as residencies at Bates Dance Festival, in Budapest, New Zealand, New York, Atlanta and Seattle. zoe | juniper's work has received funding from NEFA's National Dance Project Production Grant and been commissioned by and presented at On the Boards, Jacob's Pillow, Bates Dance Festival, PICA's TBA Festival, Frye Art Museum, Velocity and Yerba Buena (SF). zoejuniper.org

KT Niehoff was voted 2007 dance artist of the Year by Seattle Magazine. In 1998, KT created Lingo who has presented in Canada, Germany, Japan, Ecuador, and Cuba, and throughout the U.S. including On the Boards (Seattle), Joyce SoHo (NYC), and Jacob's Pillow, Inside/Out (Mass). Lingo's artistic integrity has been recognized by The National Endowment for the Arts, The National Dance Project, The National Performance Network and Arts International. KT has been teaching worldwide for over 15 years. She was the co-founder/director of Velocity Dance Center from 1996-2006. lingodance.com

Marlo Martin is a director, choreographer, teacher, and producer. After earning a BFA (dance) from Western Michigan University Martin moved to Seattle and founded eXit SPACE, a center for dance education and performance opportunities for the beginning student through professional level danceR. Martin's true passion lies in her company, badmarmarDANCE. Recently her choreography has been presented at the BOOST dance festival, Full Tilt, 12MM, and NEXTfestNW. Marlo is genuinely interested in sharing her vision through teaching and creating dance, developing forums for the exploration and presentation of dance works, and by supporting and nurturing fellow artists. badmarmardance.com

Mark Haim has been making dances for over 30 years and teaching dance for over 20 years. He was at Juilliard and has been on the faculties of the American Dance Festival, University of Washington, NYU Tisch, and Hollins University. His choreography has been set on Nederlands Dans Theater, Ballett Frankfurt, Joffrey Ballet, and Limon Dance Company, among others. He was Artistic Director of the Lisbon Dance Company in Portugal, and still directs his own ad-hoc group on a project-to-project basis. His most recent project, This Land Is Your Land, has been seen in Seattle, Beijing and Paris, with upcoming shows at the ADF and New York City.

Ellie Sandstrom is a choreographer, performer and educator, fueled by movement in many forms. She is a 2013 Velocity Creative Resident, was a "Spotlight Award" winner from Seattle Magazine, can be seen in the book "Seattle 100" and received her BFA from Cornish College of the Arts. Her choreographic work, SANDSTROMMOVEMENT, has been funded by the Seattle Office of Arts & Cultural Affairs and presented and commissioned by many organizations. She teaches Ballet and Modern at Velocity and Contemporary Dance, Hip Hop and Dance Performance at the Northwest School. sandstrommovement.com

Ricki Mason (aka Lou Henry Hoover) is a Seattle-based choreographer, drag performer, and dance teacher. The Stranger calls her work "hilarious dance magic." Ricki makes dances about being human. She likes artifice that is bizarrely and inexplicably true, dance moves that are simultaneously full-bodied and gestural. Recent projects include dance-based collaborations with Jody Kuehner as The Cherdonna and Lou Show and large scale theatrical productions with DeLouRue Presents. Ricki has over a decade of experience and a deep love of teaching and choreographing for beginning dancers.

Bennyroyce Royon works and lives in New York City as a dancer, choreographer and teacher. He received his professional dance training at Juilliard and Evergreen City Ballet Academy (WA). Bennyroyce has toured the US, Canada, and Europe with numerous dance companies. He was a founding member of Rasta Thomas' all male Dance Company Bad Boys of Dance and has worked with Cas Public. He founded Bennyroyce Dance Productions in 2006 to facilitate his artistic and creative endeavors through self-producing project-based performance and choreographic works with emphasis on collaboration. Bennyroyce is in residency at Armitage Gone! Dance. bennyroyce.com

Kate Wallich (2013 Velocity Creative Resident) is the founder and director of The YC. She received her training from Interlochen Arts Academy and holds a BFA Magna Cum Laude from Cornish College of the Arts. Kate has received creative residencies for her work with The Robert Rauschenberg Foundation, MANA Contemporary/Armitage Gone! Dance and Velocity. Her work has been commissioned/presented by On the Boards, Velocity Dance Center, Bumbershoot, Reverb (NY), Northwest Dance Project (OR), and Springboard Dans Montreal (CAN) among others. The YC's first evening length work Super Eagle is commissioned and produced by Velocity's Made in Seattle dance development Program will premiere in February 2014. companywallich.com