New Studio Offers Adult Acting, Dance and Music Classes
A public performing arts training center materializes under the Monorail
By Seattle Mag November 5, 2014
This article originally appeared in the November 2014 issue of Seattle magazine.
So you’ve always wanted to be a clown. Or learn to tap dance. Or do improvisational theater. Like they say on reality-TV shows, it’s never too late to pursue your dream! Thanks to The Studios Center for Performing Arts (1801 Fifth Ave.; 206.582.3878; thestudios.org), you can hone that dream to a waking-life skill. Opened in October by local arts supporters Shanna and Ryan Waite (she’s a longtime actress, he’s a senior manager at Amazon), The Studios offers adult classes in acting, dance, music and related fields for both novices and professional performers. Appropriate given the nature of the space, the center is located downtown in the Times Square Building, the flatiron-shaped landmark that housed the editorial offices of The Seattle Times from 1916 to 1930. The Waites worked with Graham Baba Architects, Dovetail General Contractors and Tom Sturge Designs to gut 10,000 square feet of space and create several studios of different sizes, including a dance rehearsal room with 20-foot ceilings and a recording studio in a former bank vault. In addition to the packed lineup of classes taught by local performance pros, The Studios plans to offer public performances, both intentionally (indoors) and incidentally (via the floor-to-ceiling street-level windows). Brush off those ballet slippers and stretch out those vocal cords—your big debut may be just around the corner. Prices range from $18 for a drop-in class to $170 for a 10-class package; union members receive discounts. Stardom not guaranteed.
Follow Us
Ferry Tales: Eight Indie Bookstores Worth the Ride
Plan a summer day around these bookshops in Seattle, Bremerton, Bainbridge Island, Kingston, and Poulsbo.
Independent bookstores tend to be cornerstones of the communities in which they reside, and Seattle is no exception. In addition to helping customers discover their next read, these neighborhood hubs host weekly gatherings and events, like publication release parties, author talks, and book clubs. Many of them have cafés and reading tables that encourage lingering…
Rearview Mirror: Seattle Art Fair is Back, Nordstrom Throws a Block Party, and a Must-Try Ice Cream Sundae
Things I did, saw, ate, learned, or read in the past week (or so).
SEATTLE ART FAIR RETURNS The buzziest event of the summer (well, aside from the World Cup), is returning next week. Now in its 10th edition, the Seattle Art Fair will once again take over the Lumen Field Event Center, packing it to the gills with art from 101 local, national, and international galleries. This year,…
Studio Sessions: Jennifer Leigh Harrison
Seattle artist Jennifer Leigh Harrison uses layers of paint and abstraction to explore what we carry beneath the surface.
Jennifer Leigh Harrison’s paintings are dense with movement. Color and texture gather into mosaic-like fields, as if they have been fractured and reformed. There are places in the work where a frenetic buzz seems trapped between the canvas and the first layer of paint. That energy runs through Patterns of Belonging, her current exhibition at…
ENHYPEN’s Jay Has K-Pop Stardom and a Seattle Heart
The Federal Way-raised singer talks hometown memories, Ivar’s clam chowder, and how it feels to perform in the place he grew up.
Long before he was performing in sold-out arenas around the world and representing brands like Prada, ENHYPEN’s Jay called the Puget Sound region home. Born Jay Park (not to be confused with the other famous K-pop star of the same name, who is also from Seattle) in Seattle and raised in nearby Federal Way before…