// About Velocity //
Mayor’s Arts Award and Genius Award winner Velocity Dance Center is Seattle’s premier art center dedicated to contemporary dance and performance. A recognized leader as an artist-driven, community-centered dance incubator, Velocity fosters the creative explorations of artists and adventurous audiences through an invested commitment to education, creation, performance, inquiry, community participation, and inter/national exchange. Velocity fulfills an unduplicated role as the epicenter for contemporary dance in the Pacific Northwest operating three studios, a dance resource room, an online journal and the only theater in the region especially developed for dance performances. The primary art center supporting contemporary dance in Seattle for over 17 years, Velocity is instrumental in making Seattle a destination city with one of the most active dance communities in the nation. In 2012 alone, Velocity served nearly 18,000 individuals; offered 2,000+ dance classes; provided low cost space to over 450 artists; activated a growing audience of thousands of dance enthusiasts; commissioned and developed 27 new works, and introduced more than 89 works of performance, film, installation and hybrid forms into the local and national dance ecology.
Home to dozens of independent choreographers, Velocity is renowned for producing innovative, cutting-edge work. Since its inception, Velocity has presented performances and workshops by contemporary art stars Miguel Gutierrez, Tere O’Connor, Deborah Hay, Anouk van Dijk, Victoria Marks, Reggie Watts, Faye Driscoll, and leading Seattle dancemakers zoe | juniper, Pat Graney, 33 Fainting Spells, Amy O’Neal, KT Niehoff, Donald Byrd, Kate Wallich + The YC, Andrew Bartee, Catherine Cabeen, Mark Haim, Wade Madsen and many more. Velocity is Seattle’s only dedicated contemporary dance venue where groundbreaking work and disciplined practice coexist.
VELOCITY BY THE NUMBERS 2012
- Individuals served in 2012: 17,700+
- New students in 2012: 4,000+
- New works commissioned by Velocity: 27
- New works presented by Velocity: 89
- Number of annual festivals: 3
- Number of sold out Velocity produced performances: 27
- Tickets sold: 3,797
- Average ticket price: $15
- Free tickets: 328
- Master Classes by visiting artists from Paris, NYC, Minneapolis, San Francisco, Houston, Australia, Israel, Spain, Belgium: 17
- Scholarships awarded throughout the year: 38
- Artists employed through Velocity’s programs: 78+
- Average rehearsal hours booked each month: 270
- Number of Creative Residencies offered in 2012: 26
- Number of free humanities events: 14
- Number of Velocity Open Forums: 3
- Velocity’s volunteers: 112+
- Velocity Arts Administrative Interns: 9
Velocity is a 2012 graduate of Springboard, a capacity building program for arts and cultural organizations offered by 501 Commons.