SFADI History
Since 1994, the Seattle Festival of Alternative Dance and Improvisation (SFADI), an annual weeklong summer dance festival, has presented the best in contemporary dance and improvisation. SFADI features classes, performances, jams, and discussions with the most innovative and respected locally and internationally recognized dance artists.
It is in great part because of SFADI that Seattle has gained and maintained its reputation as a hotbed for the study, practice, and appreciation of dance. The community and momentum created during the festival is felt long after the week is over. SFADI inspires and invigorates the local dance scene, inspiring other events and collaborations, and attracting dancers and other artists to the area. SFADI brings together many of the most important dance artists of our time in a major arts event encouraging collaboration, community, opportunity, and education.
SFADI takes place throughout the Odd Fellows Building in Seattle’s Capitol Hill neighborhood. Classes, jams, and discussions are held at Velocity Dance Center and the Century Ballroom; performances are in Freehold Theatre. The building buzzes with nine classes a day in three studios plus events each evening.
Daily classes include dance technique, improvisation, performance skills, contact improvisation, somatics and more. Two nights feature the Off the Cuff faculty performances and a student performance (organized by the students themselves, giving them experience in both the technical and artistic aspects of concert production). Evenings also include dance jams, in which students and teachers improvise together, and a faculty panel discussion on current local and global dance community concerns. Lunchtimes offer video presentations, bodywork sessions, rehearsals, performance discussions and networking opportunities.
SFADI faculty teach and perform worldwide; many are college/university faculty. See a list of past faculty. For many students, SFADI is the only opportunity to study with these renowned artists.
Classes offered have included Contact Improvisation, Authentic Movement, Composition, Skinner Releasing Techniquetm, Feldenkrais, Writing, Performance, Funk, Butoh, Body-Mind Centering, Contemporary Dance Technique, Voice, Solo and Group Improvisation, Yoga, Contemplative Dance, Alexander Technique, Thai Massage, Martial Arts for Dancers, and more.
For over a decade, the Off the Cuff faculty performances have been the Northwest's only consistent, professional New Dance performance forum, featuring the latest developments in contemporary dance and improvisation. It exposes audiences to some of the most important artists in the field, rarely presented here, while providing fertile ground for collaboration amongst these artists.
SFADI welcomes all skill levels, from beginners to professionals. We encourage participants of all abilities, and have offered classes focused specifically on dancing with disabilities. Our work/study program offers low-income students the opportunity to participate while learning valuable skills such as technical theater production, facilities maintenance, and event organization.
SFADI is produced by DANCE ART GROUP (DAG), a non-profit organization comprised of artists and arts administrators who have worked together since 1994 – the festival's success is in large part due to the experience and commitment of this team. SFADI has survived and grown for the most part without outside funding, supported instead by tuition, ticket sales, benefit events, volunteer labor, and by keeping expenses low. SFADI has been debt-free throughout its history because of the organizers’ commitment and fiscally conservative management.
For more information on DAG and upcoming events, please go to our home page.
If you wonder how SFADI started, read about the first SFADI.