Photos from Seabeck Dance Camp 2025 (NW Dance)
The space theme for NW Dance’s Seabeck Camp this past weekend was right up my alley. Friends with telescopes used to take me along to Red Rock Canyon in the California desert, where we’d marvel at planets, galaxies and other celestial and Messier objects. We’d often go during the Perseids and be showered by meteors, aka shooting stars. The skies were magnificent and the discoveries mind-expanding.
It’s likewise, in my experience, with dance camps, and this year’s Seabeck was a stellar example. Conceived and run by Jodi Fleischman with a major assist from Pat Breen and a host of volunteers, there were around 130 dancers including a swaggering contingent from Alaska. Bands led by Ron Bailey and Elnah Jordan slayed. Instructors went all out and then some. I partnered with Erika Olsen to teach a connection class set to blues music and realized, while dancing with her later at the after-party — this stuff really works! We had just the sort of magic dance we imagined fostering within the workshop, and it was glorious.
The immersion in dance that a weekend or extended camp provides can, at once, be intimidating and extraordinarily inspiring. To be sure, it’ll likely be exhausting, exhilarating, challenging and fun. There may be tears, though assuredly plenty of laughter. And for we introverts posing as extroverts, it’s a whole lotta peopling. But what peopling. Gathering with friends we’ve shared camps with many times over or with those we’re meeting anew, dancers are, I find as a general rule, lovely, brilliant, motivated and in search of lively connection.
What an honor to be part of the love and blessed movement found in a community focused on music, dance and joy. In the afterglow I feel so grateful for everyone who dares to dance, finds the courage to connect, and works toward understanding and grace.
I highly recommend giving yourself a thoughtful gift of dance this holiday season, whether it be a plan for a weekend getaway, dance vacation, new classes, or simply venturing out to a new dance spot…indulge your excitement and treat yourself. See the full complement of events online at the Dance Calendar.
See you on the dance floor —Sean Donovan
Dance is an art in space and time. The object of the dancer is to obliterate that.
—Merce Cunningham