San Francisco Historic Dance Landmark Burns

Fire destroys former S.F. home of Irish fraternal organization

Rhythm & Motion dance studios used call their home here in San Francisco.  I did work exchange here on and off, checking students into classes.  I got my inspiration for starting Root Magazine from the mess of flyers all over the building, each colorful xerox competing with the next for attention.  I bitched and moaned with the rest of the woman at the lack of changing rooms and old toilets.  I got completely creeped out when venturing into the basement for some chairs and spotted the old dusty bar that seemed to be evidence of speakeasy days.

Before the studio moved into their new location in conjunction with the ODC Dance Theatre, this was a place many people considered home.  The main dance studio, with its wooden vaulted ceiling and old stage had the space for upwards of 20 live musicians playing for a huge dance class.  It had leftover room for those who snuck in as an impromtu audience.  You can see the windows of the main studio ingulfed in flame in the picture above.  Those windows would steam up like crazy and we'd crack them open breathing the cool air outside unless our teachers wanted them shut to keep extra warm!

The classes go on somewhere else in the city, but this building was a special place and it will be missed.

Comments

[Gibson Pearl]

I posted this to my blog earlier...

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To everyone who had dance memories of this place...it is, as I write this, burning down. Apparently they cannot get into the building in order to save it, and it may collapse soon.

Wow. It was such a beautiful space, and held so many memories for me. That's where I took my first ever bellydance class in October 2000. I remember well the night I went there, very nervous. There happened to be a power outage, so everyone was just sitting in the hallway, hanging out. I recognized Jill Parker from the previous weekend when I had gone to see Ultra Gypsy for the first time at El Rio. She caught my eye and smiled.

Then as I got more obsessed with classes, the place became a regular stop during my week. I remember first meeting Rose (Harden) when Jill moved me up to the intermediate side of the classroom. Rose often led the lead-and-follow routines and was known for chewing gum in class, hee hee. It was here I built my tribal fusion base training. I learned the cues, moves, and style of ATS but Jill had already outgrown the turban/choli/skirts look, which was fine by me. I knew NOTHING about bellydance and just stumbled along as I could.

I remember feeling a peculiar freedom and comfort as I would look around the class at 30 or so other students, all showing their bellies, all different body types, all immersed in moving their bodies in whole new ways. Just a big bunch of women (with the occasional man) dancing and moving.

I remember first meeting Teri Sage and asking her if she was in the company. She laughed and said "no!". We later joined UG at around the same time. Some of my best friends to this day are ones I danced with in UG.

God that was so long ago, in so many different ways.

[Manish]

Amazing

[vancouver dental implants]

I don't have any dance memories on that place but i can feel the significant value of that place to the people who experience that place. Very amazing. . .