It is still summer, when many performing arts groups are on hiatus, but Seattle’s Mood with him The contemporary dance company is currently rehearsing for a series of free pop-up park shows in late August. Whim W’Him’s citywide mini-tour is an annual event, but next spring, artistic director Olivier Wevers will take his dancers beyond the West Coast for the first time since the company’s founding in 2009.

At a time when many dance companies – and arts organizations in general – are trying to recover from the economic blows of the pandemic and struggling with high inflation, touring seems counterintuitive. Costs can be prohibitively high and expected revenues relatively low. After all, indie artists like Whim W’Him are not superstars like Taylor Swift, who is likely to gross more than $2 billion by the end of 2024 from her “Eras Tour,” according to music trade publication Pollstar.

But Whim W’Him is one of several local contemporary dance companies that seemingly defy logic and take their work on tour. They do it not for the money, but despite the economic risks. It’s something that can raise their profile on the national and even international dance scene. Some, like Degenerate Art Ensemble, find touring useful for refining their work in progress. Others, like Drama Tops, want to build close relationships with like-minded artists and audiences.

“The arts are so little presented,” Wevers says. “Touring gives dancers the opportunity to showcase their creativity and artistry.” And it gives audiences around the world a chance to get a glimpse of what’s happening in what Wevers calls our little corner.

Whim W’Him: Tour next spring

Wevers considered touring when he formed Whim W’Him, but decided it wasn’t worth it.

“Touring (in its current form) is not a sustainable business model in my opinion,” he says. And it takes time to convince leading figures in the art scene in other places that it is worth importing a dance developed in Seattle to New York, Paris or Tokyo.

Instead, the former principal dancer with the Pacific Northwest Ballet decided to put the money he would have spent on touring into building a full-time organization that could employ dancers for at least 32 weeks a year and also help pay their health costs. He also wanted to create a platform for himself and other choreographers. Since its inception, Whim W’Him has brought more than 45 dance artists from around the world to Seattle.

But next spring, after 15 years, Whim W’Him will travel outside the Pacific Northwest for the first time. They will go to the Mutual Dance Theatre and Arts Centers in Cincinnati, Ohio, as well as TITAS/DANCE UNBOUND in Dallas, one of the largest dance venues in the country. The reason is simple: They have been invited to both venues, and in Dallas they will perform alongside better-known dance companies led by nationally recognized choreographers such as Mark Morris and Twyla Tharp. Wevers considers the invitations an honor.

Unlike many other independent arts groups, Whim W’Him didn’t go to established showcases to ingratiate itself with potential presenters. Instead, through word of mouth and the pandemic-era video Whim W’Him produced and distributed, the dance company caught the curatorial attention of people like Charles Santos, executive director and artistic director of TITAS/DANCE UNBOUND.

Wevers is especially proud that the venues cover all of Whim W’Him’s costs, from travel to food and lodging. They also pay the artist fees for Wevers and his seven dancers, as well as the salaries of Wevers’ support staff. The trips to Texas and Ohio would have cost the company more than $25,000 to each venue, Wevers estimates.

He and Santos have had many conversations about what Texas audiences will see. “We’re doing everything new,” Wevers says. “They’re really taking a risk with us.” But he calls this tour “the icing on the cake” for Whim W’Him, something that will raise his company’s national and even international profile.

Degenerate Art Ensemble: On tour for years

Touring may be new to Whim W’Him, but it is the foundation of the Degenerate Art Ensemble. The 25-year-old Seattle-based multimedia art group has performed locally and internationally for most of its existence. Unlike Whim W’Him’s wevers, DAE co-founders and artistic directors Joshua Kohl and Haruko Crow Nishimura have built their reputations through appearances at worldwide arts festivals and residencies, where they and their collaborators perform and refine unfinished works.

DAE toured their first European tour with a 13-piece band and three dancers, mixing theater performances with music club shows. “The funding model was that we raised money for airfare to get there,” says Kohl. “The venues covered the cost of food and other transportation. We toured like an indie rock band.” At one point they played 40 nights in 40 cities. Although festivals and theaters now guarantee them fees, DAE still scrapes together grants and private donations to cover the costs of travel, food and the like.

“Imagine having to pay for flights for five to 10 people,” Kohl wrote in an email, as well as lodging, meals, local transportation, artist and technical fees, and shipping of elaborate sets and costumes. “Shipping to Europe alone could cost $15,000, including customs.”

Over the years, DAE has refined his approach to art-making and now creates a performance that evolves over the course of the tour.

“We used to put everything on the line,” says Kohl. “We would work on a piece for two years and then perform it for a weekend.” Now, rather than working toward a one-off premiere, Kohl sees DAE’s process as a kind of “anti-premiere.” DAE refines the performance by presenting it to different people in different places. “You can get the most out of the creative process if you do it iteratively and over a longer period of time.”

DAE is waiting to hear – perhaps as soon as this month – whether they will receive a significant grant from the National Dance Project, which supports the creation and touring of new dance works and awards about $100,000 to 20 artists each year, including $35,000 for touring expenses. Earlier this year, DAE learned they were among 40 finalists for the money. Two other groups with Seattle ties – Zoe | Juniper and Drama Tops – are also among the finalists.

Drama Tops: Maintaining Relationships

Although Drama Tops is much newer than Degenerate Art Ensemble, they work in a similar way, asking audiences for feedback to shape new works. While the duo – Shane Donohue and Elby Brosch – don’t perform in venues around the world, audiences at performances at Whitman College in Walla Walla and in Portland have seen early versions of their latest work-in-progress. “FATHERS”, a piece about their own fathers and what it means to mentor younger gay men.

“I think we’re interested in how traveling to different geographic locations can help us better understand the nuances of our life experiences and our art,” Brosch says. He and Donohue value feedback, but they’re also interested in speaking with younger gay artists. Donohue says, “During the pandemic, so many of our peers stopped working. We see all these young people trying to figure it out, and we want to hear from them how we can take action to help our community.”

The two artists have traveled no further than San Francisco in the seven years they’ve been performing together. They don’t have a steady Drama Tops budget; they don’t even dance full-time. Both have day jobs and use their own money – Donohue estimates it to be between $500 and $2,000 – to fund tours to venues that share their passion for art by, for and about LGBTQ+ communities.

They are also courting private donors and applying for grants, although they have never received more than $1,000. As finalists for a grant from the NDP, their tour budget could now increase significantly.

“That would be so exciting,” says Brosch. “It would pave the way for us to go to the places we’ve dreamed of.” Both physically and metaphorically. They are particularly interested in meeting curators and artistic directors who showcase LGBTQ+ artists and are committed to promoting gay artists and their audiences.

“DADS” will premiere next spring at Seattle’s Washington Ensemble Theater, and if they win the grant, they plan to tour their hometowns in Wisconsin and Florida, as well as other venues across the country.

Connecting artists and audiences

Megan Kiskaddon, executive director of Seattle-based contemporary performance promoter On the Boards, says tours are as important for promoters as they are for the artists themselves. They’re a way for people to get to know contemporary artists who are making headlines.

Over its 45-year history, OtB has introduced Seattleites to innovative choreographers such as Bill T. Jones and Crystal Pite, and theater artists such as Willem Dafoe and the late Spalding Gray. This December, it presents the West Coast premiere of “Boy mother / faceless bloom,” a collaboration between Degenerate Art Ensemble, visual artist Senga Nengudi, and interdisciplinary artist Yuniya Edi Kwon. Kiskaddon calls this an important facet of OtB’s mission: to connect artists with “forward-thinking audiences.”

Unfortunately, organizations like OtB don’t attract large audiences by performing innovative works, Kiskaddon said. “Even if we sold out our 300 (seat) house, we wouldn’t cover the cost of production.” OtB relies on partnerships and cost-sharing with like-minded groups to attract touring artists from outside the region and country.

Larger venues like Seattle Theatre Group, with three stages and a new outdoor concert hall in Carnation, can host a wider range of touring shows, including Broadway hits “Hamilton” or “Wicked” or bands like LCD Soundsystem. Ticket revenue from these shows subsidizes performances by less commercial artists, and helps STG cover the costs of commissioning and performing new works—some of which will likely tour—such as a collaboration between former Seattle-based troupe zoe | juniper and San Francisco band Xiu Xiu, which will premiere next May.

In the meantime, Wevers and his dancers at Whim W’Him’s Queen Anne Studios are focused on their impromptu shows in August and the start of their artistic season on September 13. Although he is thinking about the upcoming tours, there is probably no place like home for Wevers.

“It’s great that we’re touring,” he says, “but what’s really important is creating platforms and opportunities to make Seattle a center for creativity and innovation. That’s really at the heart of what we do.”