Velocity Dance Center

Bridge Project 2027 Applications Are Open

DUE SEPT 1 2026 | Velocity invites Seattle-based choreographers to apply for Bridge Project 2027
Velocity adopts an expansive definition of the word emerging. For us the word encapsulates emerging relationships between artist and institution, new choreographic partnerships, re-emerging into the scene, emerging into their first choreographic work in their professional career, and more. Whether you are new to Seattle, new to dance making, or are a well known or seasoned Seattle artist who wants to explore a new idea and connect with new audiences, we’d love to hear from you. Reach out if you’d like to talk about how this program reframe could mean Bridge is for you!

Velocity’s Emerging Creative Incubator, Bridge Project, is a platform where Seattle based choreographers are able to build or re-establish a relationship with Velocity and its audiences. Every year, this five week residency offers three choreographers up to 50 hours of rehearsal space each to research and present a new 20 minute dance work at 12th Ave Arts. Velocity provides each choreographer with an artist stipend, rehearsal space, creative mentorship, and administrative support during the research and presentation processes. 

We will be selecting three movement-based artists who have not made choreographic work in Velocity’s incubator programs (Bridge Project, OUT THERE, Co-Productions, Made in Seattle, CAiR) in the last five years. Ideal applicants are interested in connection, mentorship (both as mentor and mentee), and challenging/deepening their choreographic process towards local emergence or re-emergence. One of the three positions in the cohort is reserved for an Emerging Artist who has been making choreographic work for three years or less. 

Visit velocitydancecenter.org to find out more and to apply, navigate to the Bridge Project Section of the Artist programs page

Intermediate Floorwork with Undercurrent UNDERCURRENT 〰️ Floorwork Choreography, Performance, + Education during SFD+I

Seattle Festival of Dance + Improvisation

Sign up for the Intermediate Cohort or Drop into Class on:

JULY 13 | 5:30 - 7PM

JULY 15 | 5:30 - 7PM

JULY 20 | 5:30 - 7PM

Undercurrent offers a dive into the vigor, mechanics, and joyride of floorwork through a seamless and immersive physical practice. In these classes, movers will be guided through a continuous stream of sequences, each utilizing the body’s architecture to make progressively challenging movement comfortable, playful, strengthening, and sustainable. As the flow gathers momentum, these concepts grow in complexity and dynamic range. We prioritize biomechanical safety and energetic efficiency in service of full-body engagement, innovative inversions, and fluid choreographic sequencing.

SEATTLE FESTIVAL OF DANCE + IMPROVISATION

JUL 12 - AUG 9 

GET A PICK 3 SUBSCRIPTION AND YOU GET ACCESS TO EVERY SHOW THE WHOLE SUMMER LONG! 

BRKFST at Olympic Sculpture Park | JUL 19 (Free)
Performance Cohort Showcase | JUL 31 - AUG 2
Ishmael Houston Jones + Keith Hennessey, Closer | AUG 6 
Research In Performance (Works by Kayla Hamilton, Moriah Evans, and Corrie Befort) | AUG 8

SEATTLE FESTIVAL OF DANCE + IMPROVISATION

RESEARCH WEEK AUG 2 - AUG 9 

DON’T KNOW WHAT CLASS TO TAKE OR HOW MUCH TIME TO COMMIT? YOU’VE GOT OPTIONS

Join Velocity in Supporting Wild West Coast Art! 

Hello Velocity community!   

We are so excited to welcome these artists in Seattle, and to see what the Seattle based artists on this list are cooking up for us.  OUT THERE is a special time of year where dancemakers on the West Coast take chances and convene to deepen their practice, both on their own and in relationship to our community.  

This year, the OUT THERE artists are driven to make some pretty ambitious visions come to life and they need your support! 

Join Velocity in supporting these artists by learning more about their work and donating directly to their project to help them continue to dream bigger and bring something magical to the stage here in Seattle.

Sara + Jesse - help them increase their artist fees and pay for travel.
Jay Carlon - help them pay for their collaborators and pay for travel

OUT THERE 2026 artists are:

SARA SHELTON MANN + JESSE ZARITT

JAY CARLON

AKOIYA HARRIS 

VLADA KREMENOVIć


Go to the OUT THERE page on www.velocitydancecenter.org to learn more about the artists work and to donate

See dance all summer! Get a Pick 3 Sub!

There is so much performance offered over the summer during SFD+I and we want you to see ALL of it!

Get a Pick 3 Subscription and you’ll see all 3 shows + 1 FREE!

* BRKFST at Olympic Sculpture Park | JUL 19 (Free) 
* Performance Cohort Showcase | JUL 31 - AUG 2
* Ishmael Houston Jones + Keith Hennessey, Closer | AUG 6 
* Research In Performance (Works by Kayla Hamilton, Moriah Evans, and Corrie Befort) | AUG 8

APPLY FOR OUT THERE 2027!

Applications for OUT THERE 2027 are LIVE for both Seattle based and West Coast Artists.

What is OUT THERE?

Every October in Seattle, the OUT THERE festival comprises two different weekends with two artists each weekend who share their work through a split bill with: a new, 30-minute work by a Seattle artist, and the Seattle premiere of an existing 30-minute work by a visiting artist from the West Coast Region. This structure fills the need in our community for shared, regional discourse by connecting Seattle artists and audiences to artists in the greater West Coast Region.

JOIN A ZOOM APPLICATION WORKSHOP!

We know that the application process can seem daunting, and we want to meet up with you and talk about how this application process works, how it is curated, and answer questions you have!

OUT THERE Greater Seattle Area Application Workshop #1 | 6/3 | 5-6pm
OUT THERE Greater Seattle Area Application Workshop #2 | 7/17 | 2-3pm
OUT THERE Greater Seattle Area Application Workshop #3 | 8/12 | 5:30-6:30pm

Sign up through the links on our website. The application page is linked in our bio

FACULTY HIGHLIGHT: DEGENERATE ART ENSEMBLE



Seattle Performance Makers Degenerate Art Ensemble are teaching during RESEARCH WEEK!

Spirited Practic | 5-Day Intensive AUG 2 - 9
Drop-in Class | AUG 3

Haruko Crow Nishimura is an interdisciplinary dance artist. She is the artistic director and vocalist for Seattle’s Degenerate Art Ensemble (DAE). The company creates experimental performances that navigate the shades of darkness of the human psyche, creating new mythologies with a punk aesthetic and transgressive spirit striving to find both new awakenings and more meaningful human experiences. Her work with the ensemble has been featured in 15 countries presenting large scale performance projects, site-specific works and ongoing public experimentation. She is a Guggenheim Fellow and along with DAE has received awards from Creative Capital and MAP Fund.  DAE’s recent works Skeleton Flower and Boy mother / faceless bloom have been performed at the International Festival of Contemporary Dance in Mexico City, New York Live Arts, HCA Festival in Denmark and ODC San Francisco, Plovdiv Bulgaria among others. Her most recent full scale work Anima Mundi  will premiere at the Moore Theatre on valentines day 2026, presented by Seattle Theatre Group.