Rearview Mirror: Don’t Miss Dance, Street Sips, and Notebooks Galore

Three’s the Charm

It’s rare when I attend a mixed-bill dance performance and walk away liking all three pieces equally. Last weekend I attended Spring ’26, the show closing out contemporary dance company Whim W’Him’s 2025/26 season. Speaking before the show, artistic director Olivier Wevers warned the audience that we had no idea where we were about to get transported. Static Bloom, choreographed by Los Angeles-based James Gregg, opened like a clap of unexpected thunder. Set to Osheyack’s hypnotic, droning track, A River’s Mouth (along with other songs), the piece utilizes all seven company members, deploying them in what can only be described as a pulsating, high-energy, choreographic wonder. It felt fresh and exciting, part night-at-Berghain, part intricately crafted studio work. A feat of endurance and sharply executed movement, the choreography showcased the company’s collective skill, blowing open the expected into one of those pieces you can’t stop thinking about for days after it’s over.

Six contemporary dancers in gray costumes pose closely together on a brightly lit stage with a plain, textured wall in the background.

Black Moon

Photo by Jim Coleman

The other two pieces on the bill, Rena Butler’s Black Moon, and Wevers’ Dark Echoes Come Shining, are equally as memorizing, if in a more traditional way. Black Moon seemed to be a meditation on solitude—depression, loneliness, anxiety—and the expanding ring of hope that occurs through connecting with other people. Beautiful group work had dancers stretching, reaching, and bending into silhouettes that brought to mind group images in an Italian Renaissance painting, their emotions laid bare with each motion. The duets in Dark Echoes Come Shining were elegant, balanced, and heartfelt, with signature Wevers flourishes: lifts that catch the breath, crackling emotion between the dancers, and tension in transitions that has an electric edge. I took my fiancé to the show, and even he, who didn’t have much exposure to dance before we started dating, was still talking about it the next day.

DON’T MISS OUT: There are two more opportunities to see Spring ’26, which runs through Saturday at Cornish Playhouse. Tickets here.

Shelves filled with various notebooks, stationary items, and office supplies are displayed in a store with wooden tables in the foreground.

Courtesy of The Outpost

Paper Passion

I’m sure it’s no surprise that I love paper goods and everything associated with them. Notebooks, pens, stationery sets. I have always been into writing down my thoughts and sending snail mail. So, when I heard about the opening of the Outpost, a new paper goods store in Pioneer Square, which has everything you need to kit out an office in high style, I knew I had to check it out. From German notebooks to a rainbow of Le Pens, steel Japanese toolboxes, old-school Penco clipboards and organizational trays—it’s really easy to rack up a bill here. The shop’s colorful products pop against navy blue floor-to-ceiling shelving, and a stationery bar lets customers try out pens and notebooks before they buy. I’m picky about what I write with—down to the width of pen tip and color of ink—so this option is clutch, and it’s fun to see the messages and drawings people leave as they test the wares.

A Seattle Public Utilities water refill station stands on a city sidewalk near a street intersection with crosswalks and surrounding buildings.

Courtesy of Seattel Public Utilities

Sip, Sip Hooray

I drink a LOT of water. Anyone who has been around me for an extended period of time has probably seen me chugging from one of the many, many branded water bottles I’ve been gifted during my years as a member of the press. Lucky for me—and, well, the rest of the city too, Seattle Public Utilities installed seven free drinking water refill stations downtown last week. Adorned with illustrations from local artist Stevie Shao that “celebrate Seattle’s mountain-sourced and watershed-protected drinking water,” according to SPU’s website, the dispensers are at the following locations:

1000 2nd Ave.
501 Olive Way
1398 3rd Ave.
898 3rd Ave.
298 James St.
100 Pike St.
201 Occidental Ave.

A collage of nightlife and fashion event photos shows dancers and models performing and posing under bright lights at Kirkland's Thirst Trap Bar during the lively Street Sips night.

Image by Seattle magazine

Get Social with Seattle Mag

Last week, Seattle mag launched Page 12, Seattle’s Society Pages, a digital destination where you can share your pics from events, auctions, fundraisers, openings, galas, fashion shows, and more. Check out the people, places, and happenings shaping the city’s social scene, and next time you’re at an event, snap some shots and submit them here. Your photos may be featured on the site. Warning: We can’t guarantee that browsing the page won’t leave you with at least a little FOMO.

A bottle of Browne x Nordstrom sparkling wine, two filled champagne flutes, and a Nordstrom gift bag on a wooden table.

Courtesy of Brown Family Vineyards

Perfect Pairing

In recognition of Nordstrom’s 125th anniversary, Browne Family Vineyards has released an exclusive méthode champenoise Brut. The limited-edition sparkling wine is available now at Nordstrom Cafés nationwide, bringing together two Washington powerhouses and celebrating the success and legacy of Northwest business. Using the same method traditionally used in the Champagne region of France—where secondary fermentation takes place in the bottle—Browne crafted a Brut that is crisp and bright, with notes of green apple and citrus. It’s the ideal summer sipper.

FUN FACT: This is not the first time that Browne and Nordstrom have crossed paths. According to a press release about the collaboration: Courtney Browne, proprietor of Browne Family Vineyards, worked at Nordstrom during her college years.