Opening night looked familiar at the Reverie (Image: Reverie Ballroom)
But change is coming with renovations, overhauls, and new paint (Image: Reverie Ballroom)
By Domenic Strazzabosco
Reverie Ballroom, housed on the second floor of the Capitol Hill’s Odd Fellows Hall on the corner of Pine and 10th, is up and running after taking over after 28 years of swing dance, waltz, salsa and more from the Century Ballroom.
“More than anything, I’m holding a vision of this place being a thriving arts center where people can come and try a little bit of all kinds of things,” said Eliza Wilder, the executive director of Reverie Ballroom.
CHS Seattle reported in January that Century Ballroom’s owners Hallie Kuperman and Alison Cockrill were not renewing their lease on the space and that a new group was stepping forward to continue using it in a similar fashion to the last three decades.
Though the transition happened on April 1, there wasn’t a single day when dance classes weren’t available. Wilder noted that since so much of the Seattle dance community relies on the rooms, she feared that even one day off would be too much for everyone.
Reverie has managed to continue hosting all the programming even as major renovations to the two ballrooms have begun. To manage, they’ve shifted all classes into the Grand Ballroom while the adjacent West Hall gets refurbished. Classes will shift everything back to the West Hall when it’s time for work on the Grand Ballroom to begin. Wilder expects each room to take about two months and hopes all renovations to be done by late summer.
Renovations, which pay specific attention to protecting the historic architectural features of the 1908 building, include new paint, windows, lights, sound systems, and furniture. The Grand Ballroom will also get a new dance floor, a decision that was made after the team discovered that the floor was so thin they could not attempt sanding it again without the risk of the tongues and grooves coming through.
Wilder has been dancing at the space since she moved to Seattle to attend Cornish College of the Arts. It quickly left the impression on her as an incredibly special place for Seattleites to build community and dance seven nights a week. Wilder had been running a monthly dance at a studio in Greenwood until last year, when she was notified the building was being sold to a developer. Though she had long aspired to open a venue of her own, she did not think it would happen for a while. That is, until a group of her friends came together and encouraged her to begin looking for spaces. That was just six months before it was announced that Century Ballroom would be closing.
After a few months of debating whether the dream of taking over the ballroom was too big in scope, they submitted a letter of intent in December. Despite hesitations, Wilder describes the whole process like fate persistently knocking at her door. She also characterized Kuperman as being an incredible cheerleader throughout the whole process.
“We just kind of kept having people show up at exactly the right time,” Wilder said. “Every time it seemed like maybe we wouldn’t pull it off, then something opened.”
Throughout the transition and renovations, Wilder has managed to keep the instructors who were employed with Century Ballroom, and is especially grateful for their flexibility as the space for classes has been cut in half while renovations take place.
The old Century Sign came down earlier this month (Image: Century Ballroom)
“I think I think they’re really integral to the success and well-being of their space,” Wilder said, speaking about the instructors. “Each one of them really goes above and beyond to make people feel welcome and included and met right where they’re at and their learning process.”
Looking ahead, a more diverse programming will be available than just dance classes. When the West Hall renovations are completed, likely sometime in June, a daytime Vinyasa yoga program will begin being offered. The Instagram for the program is already up and running: @reverieyogaseattle. Wilder, who has spent a lot of time in the burlesque and circus world, also plans to invite more of that into the spaces. She noted that the lack of midsize venues within Seattle to host these types of events makes Reverie Ballroom the perfect place for them to be held.
“I feel like, as long as this place has been here, there are still so many people who live in Capitol Hill who don’t really know about what’s happening here. It’s a bit of a hidden gem in a way,” Wilder said.
“My hope and desire is to actually be much more involved and integrated with the neighborhood — having it feel much more accessible for people to come here and buy a ticket to a show or take a dance class or just come stand on the street in the summertime and listen to the music wafting out of the windows.”
Reverie Ballroom is now open at 915 E Pine. Learn more at reverieballroom.com.
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