Meet the Team
Meet the Founder
Eliza Wilder (she/her) | Executive Director
Eliza is an event producer with a BFA in Theater Directing from Cornish College of the Arts. Her work in the last decade has included seven years at Amazon, project managing corporate events at large scales, while also producing sold-out runs of theater and circus shows, various roles in the wedding industry, and founding and co-directing High-Fidelity Fusion, an annual international partner dance festival.
Eliza has training in Ballet, Modern and Broadway Jazz from childhood with 25 years of performance experience and 10+ years of choreography. She co-founded The Devil’s Advocates burlesque company, and has danced with Sister Kate, a nationally-recognized dance troupe, dedicated to celebrating and continuing the legacy of jazz-era chorus girl dancing, as well as formerly training as a circus aerialist with SANCA. She has been partner dancing since age 16, when she was lucky enough to start Lindy Hop, Blues and Fusion, For the last 17 years, she has continued to dance and study all three, folding in Charleston, Balboa, Vernacular Jazz, Juke Blues, Struttin’, Drag Blues, traditional African Dances from Benin and Guinea, Micro Fusion, sprinkled with a little House and Tango. She is currently training in WCS and deepening her Lindy Hop practice.
She is also an independent filmmaker and has won numerous awards for her 2019 dance film “Wanted”, which she executive produced, directed by Samara Lerman. She teaches partner dancing nationally, and actively invests in the local dance community, running the monthly event Revival Fusion (with an incredible team).
Starting a venue has been Eliza Wilder’s dream for over five years, in which time she has been building out a business model and gathering market research. When we lost the venue for our monthly dance Revival Fusion in April 2024, several friends and investors stepped forward to help make this dream a reality. Originally planning to start a new venue from scratch, we have been searching for a space for 10 months. When Hallie Kuperman announced she was closing, we were already primed and ready to go.
Century was the first place Eliza danced in Seattle when she moved here as a fresh-eyed college student and it holds a special place in all of our hearts. We plan on working closely with Hallie to manage this transition, ensuring as much continuity as possible and continuing to employ the majority of the staff.
Our Story
Meet the Board
Alyssa Manning
(she/her)
Alyssa is an event planner, entrepreneur, artist, investor, and retired research scientist. She co-directs High-Fidelity Fusion with Eliza, and is the visual art manager and an organizer for SEAF, a large annual arts festival. She also creates various smaller education- and community-focused dance and arts events. She transformed her basement into a dance studio to have an optimal space in which to offer these smaller events. Alyssa is the founding board chair for The Dance Thing, a local partner dance non-profit with an emphasis on culturally relevant education and programming.
Alyssa’s passion for dance has developed through performing, learning, competing, and teaching many partner and solo dance styles for over 30 years. Her most extensive movement training has been in both competitive and social ballroom dances, jazz dance, and yoga. She currently spends many hours enjoying the blossoming of creative expression that comes from combining varied dance forms that is fusion dancing. She is excited to begin learning Argentine tango in 2025.
David Cohen
(he/him)
David is a patent attorney, practicing IP law for over 25 years in Seattle. A graduate of Stanford, NYU Law, and UW Computer Engineering, David has worked at ÆON Law and Perkins Coie as well as managing his own law firm. He serves on the board of Hillel at UW, led its multi-year strategic plan development, and as the organization’s treasurer, helped double its operations to $2M/year. He enjoys home improvement projects and loves partner dancing.
David has danced at the Century Ballroom for over 25 years. Starting in college with social ballroom dances, he has studied a bevy of partnered dance styles. He loves the distinct musicality, techniques, and aesthetics of each dance: from Viennese waltz to cross-step, from triple-step swing to Lindy hop, from West Coast Swing to blues, from salsa to Argentine Tango. An active member of the fusion community, David loves traveling for dance events and exchanges across the country and overseas. He occasionally teaches (encouraging newcomers of all backgrounds to give partner dancing a confident try) and is on the Revival Fusion organizing team. David is thrilled to help our dance community thrive, and is looking forward to even more opportunities to experience joy on the dance floor.
Dandelion Mané
(they/them)
Dandelion Mané is a software engineer, generative artist, and partner dancer. Their varied career has included working on AI research at Google Brain (now Google DeepMind), cryptocurrency at Protocol Labs, and cocreating the generative art project named QQL with Tyler Hobbs.
Make a Larger Impact
This could be you!
Our community is stepping up. You can make a one-time donation through our GoFundMe. You can make a bigger impact by investing or making a more substantial contribution. Thank you for being part of supporting the dance community in Seattle.
*Additional investors have graciously stepped forward and have requested to remain anonymous.