The Birth of Seattle Dance Source In September 2002, when Soleil attended her first Ecstatic dance, there was only this one regular free-form dance (led by Mary Anderson) which met 2x/week. Class size ranged from 8 - 15 people. Barely enough to keep the dance alive, Mary, having already run the dance for a year, was determined to stick it out. Perfect for us because we were hooked.
Eventually, as happens in creative communities, the students branched out. A few of us choosing to facilitate our own dances. And in January 2003, a key group of 8 dancers gathered to speak on how we could expand the free-form dance experience in Seattle - and still support everyone's success by not scheduling dances over each other.
At that time, it was decided that Soleil would begin an informative online newsletter that would attempt to disseminate the calendar of all the free-form dances in the community. And in February 2003, the premier Seattle Dance newsletter was sent out to about 300 people.
By 2007, the list had swelled by word-of-mouth to over 1600 subscribers. There are now 10 regular successful weekly & monthly dances with several speciality dances throughout the year. The original Ecstatic Dance still meets 2x/week is now averaging 70 people!
Indeed, this is a complex and rich community. Thank you for joining the fun!