Soundance Inc., a not-for-profit artistic and educational organization Soundance lost its studio in Tribeca (read article below) in 2000. Vanessa Paige Swanson, Artistic Director, continued Soundance out of a small office until late March 2004 when she met Philippa Woolley and Nandu Vadakkath, Founders and Directors of The Stable. Woolley and Vadakkath were the opposite of Soundance, they had the space but had not been able to create a not-for profit organization while simultaneously continuing programs, teach and keep up with parenting. Thus a match was made and Soundance moved to The Stable on May 1st, 2004.


Soundance Closes its Doors With A Reminder of its Necessity

By Darrah Carr
Copyright 2000 Darrah Carr

"Last night's performance at Soundance Studio, presented by Vanessa Paige Dance with a variety of guest choreographers, was an extremely bittersweet occasion. At the start of the show, we were informed that this was actually the last performance ever to be held in the studio. After 22 years (11 of which were under the direction of Soundance), the studio at 385 Broadway is closing its doors, because the lease has been taken over by a dot.com company that can afford to pay a tenfold increase in rent. Paige, the executive director of Soundance Repertory Company, referred to the transition as 'another casualty of the gentrification of Tribeca.' Listening to her opening remarks, I was reminded of an article in the April issue of Dance Magazine entitled 'Space: The Final Frontier: The new economy and skyrocketing rents force dancers to play the real estate game.' Although the article said that dance centers in San Francisco are being the most severely hit by the advancement of the dot.coms, as I absorbed Paige's announcement, I began to fear for the safety of small, intimate studio spaces in New York City and wonder about the ways in which that impacts our dance community."

BIOGRAPHIES OF INSTRUCTORS:

Vanessa Paige Swanson, Artistic and Executive Director, Soundance at The Stable
Vanessa holds a BA in Dance and English from Hamilton College. Upon graduation, she joined Eba Dance Theater in Albany, NY as a full time professional dancer and educator. During her 9 year career at Eba, Vanessa performed the works of Isadora Duncan, Charles Weidman, Jamie Cunningham, Maude Baum and Kevin Wynn throughout the Northeast and in Europe and Asia.

Vanessa also taught and developed curriculum for a wide variety of children's and adult classes at the Eba School, focusing on dance for toddlers and young children and on adult beginners. She also taught dance/movement at the NYS Theater Institute and at the youth and adult programs at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.

In 1997, Vanessa relocated to NYC, and was named the Director of Soundance in 1999. Through Soundance, she has continued to teach young children and adults, and has taught and written curriculum for many successful programs in NYC public schools. She is also on the faculty of the Berkeley Carroll School and BAX (Brooklyn Arts Exchange).

As a choreographer, Vanessa's dances have been produced throughout NYC and in Europe and Central America. She is currently writing a book on teaching dance to young children.