Velocity Dance Center’s “Strictly Seattle” is a dance laboratory in two distinct senses.
It introduces you to new dancers from all over the country. It also lets you see local choreographers — including Zoe Scofield, Pat Graney and Kate Wallich — try new things, sometimes with big future projects in mind. (Graney’s “A Study for Girl Gods” is her preliminary take on an evening-length work, “Girl Gods,” scheduled to premiere at On the Boards in October.)
The 84 dancers taking part this year fall into professional, intermediate and adult-beginner categories. But those categories don’t determine where the out-of-left-field surprises come from.