Localities/ An Odyssey Pt.III
December 16-20, 2026
The Tricia Stromberg Studio Theater | SPectrum Dance Theater | Seattle, WA
The holiday season brings the third installment of Byrd’s Localities series with Localities/An Odyssey, Pt. 3, a series of dance works inspired by Donald Byrd’s unpublished memoir, charting a deeply personal and poetic journey through memory, identity, and artistic formation.
More impressionistic than narrative, the memoir-in-motion unfolds as a series of choreographic vignettes—“islands” in a sea of recollection—that explore pivotal moments in Byrd’s life, from his Jim Crow-era childhood in Florida to his experiences at elite academic institutions in the Northeast, and the artistic crucibles of New York, Los Angeles, and Seattle. Performed by Spectrum Dance Theater company members, the work weaves together abstract movement, spoken memoir, and music with Byrd’s narration—raw, lyrical, and emotionally unflinching—which grounds the work in lived experience while allowing the dance to suggest a deeper, more elusive truth.
Performance Schedule:
Wednesday, December 16 at 8:00 pm
Thursday, December 17 at 8:00 pm
Friday, December 18 at 8:00 pm
Saturday, December 19 at 8:00 pm
Sunday, December 20 at 3:00 pm
know before you go
Information for those attending performances at The Spectrum Dance Theater, Tricia Stromberg Studio Theater.
800 Lake Washington Blvd, Seattle, WA 98122
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The Box Office at Spectrum Dance Theater opens 1 hour before show time for in-person ticket purchases and will call.
The box will remain open until the show starts.
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Please check in at the Box Office (the front desk) at the main entrance upon arrival.
Doors open 1 hour before the performance starts.
No late seating is permitted. Doors close promptly at the start of the show.
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Localities/An Odyssey Pt. 2 will take place in The Tricia Stromberg Studio Theater, formerly referred to as the Spectrum Dance Theater Upper Studio.
This studio is equipped with stage lighting, flooring, and seating similar to those found in most black box theaters.
Please silence your devices before the performance.
A talk-back with the Company and Artistic Director will follow each performance.
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The studio is not ADA-accessible, is located on the second floor, and is accessible only by stairs.
If you are feeling sick, please stay home to ensure the safety and wellness of others. Masks are optional and available at the Box Office by request.
Please do not bring any large bags into the theater, as space is limited and the seating is cozy.
Weapons are not allowed at Spectrum Dance Theater, and we ask that you report any inappropriate behavior or suspicious activity to a staff member immediately.
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Tricia Stromberg Studio Theater (upper studio) at Spectrum Dance Theater, 800 Lake Washington Blvd, Seattle, WA 98122
There is plenty of free parking in the lot adjacent to the south side of the building.
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Spectrum Dance Theater is accessible by the #2 bus line to Madrona Park. The last stop is two blocks north of Spectrum. Look for the brick building on Lake Washington.
We are also accessible via the #27 bus line to Colman Park/Yesler Terrace. Take the stop on Lake Washington Blvd, just across the street from Leschi Mart, and on the same block as Leschi Marina. Walk north along Lake Washington Blvd about 1/4 mile. Look for the brick building on Lake Washington.
You can visit the King County Trip Planner to plan your route.
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Phone: 206-325-4161
Email: marketing@spectrumdance.org
2026/27 season
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2026/27 season -
Inquiry. Memory. Joy. Reflection.
Four productions exploring what we remember, what we carry, and what dance can reveal.
Spectrum Dance Theater’s 2026/27 Season invites audiences into a year of bold contemporary dance shaped by inquiry, memory, joy, and reflection. The season continues the Company’s commitment to challenging expectations, confronting history, and illuminating the complexities of the human experience. It also marks Donald Byrd’s twenty-fifth anniversary as Artistic Director, an important milestone in Spectrum’s ongoing artistic evolution.
Explore the ideas and intentions guiding this season, then discover the full lineup of performances below.
Over the past quarter century, Spectrum has become recognized for fearless artistic inquiry, rigorous physicality, and dance theater that asks audiences to engage deeply with the world around them.
“Taken together, these four productions reveal a season shaped by curiosity rather than certainty; by reflection rather than nostalgia; by a belief that dance can help us better understand history, one another, and ourselves,” said Byrd. “Whether through experimentation, celebration, remembrance, or contemplation, each work asks audiences to consider how memory continues to shape the present and how art creates spaces in which we might imagine more fully what it means to be human.”
Season Performances
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Occurrence #15
October 22-25, 29-30, 2026
Tricia Stromberg Studio Theater | 800 Lake Washington Blvd, Seattle, WA
The 2026/27 season opens, as it has become tradition, with the latest iteration of OCCURRENCE, OCCURRENCE #15, Spectrum’s annual laboratory for artistic exploration. Rooted in experimentation, play, and process, the OCCURRENCE series offers audiences an opportunity to witness creativity in motion, where ideas emerge, evolve, and sometimes surprise even their makers. -
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Localities/ An Odyssey Pt. 3
December 16-20, 2026
Tricia Stromberg Studio Theater | 800 Lake Washington Blvd. Seattle, WA
The third installment of Donald Byrd’s Localities series, Localities/An Odyssey, Pt. 3, draws from Byrd’s unpublished memoir to explore memory, identity, and artistic formation. Unfolding through impressionistic choreographic vignettes, the work traces pivotal moments across his life and the places that shaped him, from Florida to New York, Los Angeles, and Seattle. Abstract movement, spoken memoir, music, and Byrd’s narration come together to create a deeply personal reflection on lived experience and the truths held within memory. -
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Resilience
Mar 14, 2027 - 3:00 pm
Benaroya Hall | Benaroya Hall 200 University St, WA, Seattle 98101
In the spring, Spectrum renews its collaboration with Music of Remembrance, returning to the music of Erwin Schulhoff. This collaboration also represents a return to a composer whose work has long held a particular significance for Donald Byrd. First encountering Schulhoff’s music during a Music of Remembrance performance of the Duo for Violin and Cello, Byrd was captivated by both the composer’s extraordinary imagination and the devastating historicalreality of a brilliant artistic voice silenced by the Holocaust. The collaboration continues Spectrum’s ongoing dialogue with memory, history, and the enduring capacity of art to bear witness.
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Plague
May 13-16, 2027
Stromberg Studio Theater | 800 Lake Washington Blvd. Seattle, WA
Spectrum’s 2026/27 season concludes with the world premiere of Plague. This powerful new work is not about AIDS itself, but rather a series of meditations and ruminations on the emotional landscape surrounding the AIDS epidemic. It explores grief, fear, longing, intimacy, absence, resilience, and remembrance, reflecting on an event that reshaped lives, communities, and culture while continuing to reverberate through the present.
