Mile Zero Dance Society (MZDS) has a lot to celebrate this year. The professional dance company is celebrating 30 years in 2015, as well as a new location in McCauley.

MZDS is devoted to expanding contemporary dance within Edmonton, focusing on three core areas: creation/collaboration, training/mentorship, and performance/production. It has actually been a part of McCauley and Boyle Street for quite some time, with a location for a number of years across the street from the Victoria School for the Performing Arts. Then, it moved into The ARTery on 95 Street and Jasper Avenue, which sadly closed its doors at the end of March. Now, MZDS has taken over the former yoga studio on 108 Avenue and 95 Street. “We’re taking it from a yoga space to something less zen,” says Artistic Director Gerry Morita, with a laugh.

“The space was already well set up for our use,” she continues. “We are installing our sound system and a few more lights, and we have chairs for sit down events. The front area will be more multipurpose: our office, gallery space, and even window installation/performance area.”

For MZDS, a central location continues to make sense. “This neighbourhood keeps choosing us! Whenever we hunt for a new studio, we search many areas, and this is always where we settle,” says Morita, who has been Artistic Director for 10 years.

Moving into such a high profile location is a reflection of, and will hopefully add to, the revitalization and growing arts scene in the area. “MZDS has enjoyed the low rents and relatively large spaces we can find here, especially in comparison to areas around the university. We find that MZDS members and audiences like to stay ‘central’ so we want to be accessible by bus. When we first moved to McCauley, it was rather lonely, but now there appears to be many other arts groups and more activity in the neighbourhood.”

For more about Mile Zero Dance Society, visit www.milezerodance.com.