Free Dance Theatre Northwest Performance Inspired by Local History



Three sisters—Bertha, Inger, and Pauline Leland—came from Norway in 1904 to settle in what is now University Place, Washington, located on the shores of Puget Sound southwest of Tacoma, an area once covered with forests of mighty trees. All three sisters married men involved with logging operations and established lives and families in the community. The sisters could never have imagined that 109 years later, the stories of their lives and other aspects of local history would inspire Dance Theatre Northwest’s Artistic Director Melanie Kirk-Stauffer to create a new work titled “Impressions.”

This unique dance interpretation of the community's past will be presented to the public free of charge, at 5 p.m. on Saturday, August 17, at the University Place Library Atrium, performed by DTNW Regional Company members, including Katie Neumann and Chhay Mam, as well as students of all ages. The program includes classical ballet, jazz, tap, and musical theater style dance.

 

DTNW Junior Company member Solana Sartain      Photo by Maks Zacharov

Kirk-Stauffer said, "We hope to honor our long time relationship with the University Place community. It has been fun for all of us to learn from the historical society and from the visit made to the fairly new Museum of History now located near UP City Hall.”

In the era of the Leland sisters' arrival, residents and the school district were so determined to build a university they gave their community the name “University Place” in anticipation of the future. The dreamed-of university never materialized but the name stuck. So did the community’s attitude toward the value of education, leaving a legacy of  excellent schools. The area also became known for its apple orchards, tomato farms, horse ranches, and early fire fighters, all of which have influenced "Impressions.

Kirk-Stauffer added, “I am grateful to the museum board members Howard and Barbara Lee for this opportunity as well as to the UP City representatives and to our dancers, volunteers and board members helping us to coordinate it all."

The Library Atrium is located at 3609 Market St. University Place, WA 98466 (Between 37th St W and Bridgeport Way W).

The company will also present a mini performance at Bridgeport Place on Friday, August 9th at 2:30 p.m. Bridgeport Place is located at 5250 Bridgeport Way W.

Admission and parking are FREE and both facilities are handicapped accessible.  For more information call: (253) 778-6534.

 

The photo of the Leyland sisters was provided by the University Place Historical Society.

 

Not Quite Stonehenge, But Nearly as Strange

I first spied the oddly convoluted landscape, now known as Chambers Creek Properties, from the deck of the tall ship Adventuress, several years ago. I had no idea what it was. Shortly after we sailed south of Point Defiance in Tacoma and under the Narrows Bridge, I noticed the bare acreage off the ship's port side. Wide open and sculpted, it stretched from the waters of Chambers Bay to the top of a long hill, between the wooded residential area of University Place  and the historic town of Steilacoom, Washington's oldest incorporated community. Here and there at the base of the hill stood the unidentifiable remains of massive concrete structures. I could tell that some serious alteration of the earth's surface had taken place there, and not by the hand of Mother Nature.

From Gravel to Golf

Later, I learned the history of this strange place, a saga going back over 200 years, to a time when the local Native Americans from the Steilacoom tribe lived in the area. The first non-native settlers arrived in 1832, with the Hudson Bay Company, and built Fort Steilacoom just south of the property. By the 1850s, as more forts were being erected around Puget Sound, the site already had a primitive gravel mining operation and soon became home to other industries to do with milling, timber, and gravel. Now, this expanse of well over 900 acres is owned by Pierce County and the former gravel pits have been reshaped to become a world class designation for golfers, selected as the site of the 2015 U. S. Open Championship tournament.

Even though I'm not a golfer, I wrote a previous blog post about this place after visiting the Chambers Bay Grill, and admiring both the view and the excellent food. That visit took place during the heat of summer, when the long walk down to the bay sounded fine but the prospect of walking all the way back up did not. So it wasn't until the first weekend in February 2012 that I actually took the time to walk the paved trails that wind through the grassy fields and past what remains of the mining operations, all the way to the beach via a lovely bridge that arches over the railroad tracks. Sunday morning, my husband and I arrived early at the grill and enjoyed a breakfast I'm still thinking about, perfectly prepared and generous. Then we drove (yes you can drive) down the long curving road to a parking lot below, where walkers had just begun showing up, many with their dogs.

Come along with me as I visit this interesting place once again, through my photos.

University Place Celebrates Its "Patch" of Turf on the Web

You didn't hear the rumble and roar of propulsion, but a launch took place today and is making history. The City of University Place, Washington, is the first in the state, and one of the first in the West, to claim its own edition of Patch, an exciting new phenomenon spreading across the nation faster than crabgrass but a lot more welcome. Editor Brent Champaco is already known as an award-winning journalist. He wrote for several newspapers, most recently the News Tribune in Tacoma, and brings to this new position a love for, and deep knowledge of, University Place, after covering this community  for several years.

So what is Patch? It's the web's latest, greatest way for people to get up-to-the-minute news, information, photos, and a chance to participate in all of those things through a website designed specifically for their community. Headquartered in New York, Patch is a dream now manifested for a team of professional journalists and others who want to give people in cities with populations of 15-100 K,  relevant, timely, useful, meaningful, and most importantly, HYPER-LOCAL coverage. What it is NOT, is another generic, one-size-fits-all website supposedly offering local information when it's all just gleaned from the web. University Place Patch get's its news by being a real part of the community. There's just one "place" it's about and that's University Place. People there are excited.

So am I, because I'm part of Patch too. Today you can read my story on the unveiling of the Terry D. Reim Memorial sculpture at the University Place Civic Building, taking place on October 16,1010. I'll be writing a regular column on the arts as well. So, in the words of Editor Brent Champaco, here's a welcome to the wonderful world of Patch. Watch it grow. Maybe your town needs one of its own.