Shootout at the OK Ballet Corral
by Dean Speer

Preparing our studio in 1982...
It seems like every space needs some kind of work. Ours was no exception. It was a T-shaped room – a former dining/dancing/kitchen area of an Elks Club building, on two different levels, with three different floor surfaces. After an enormous amount of sweat equity from volunteers and staff, we finally readied the space. One thing that we didn’t anticipate was pulling BB Gun Bullets out of the walls. I’m not making this up! The former studio owner/director also lived in the building with her brood – more children than any of us could count, including a couple of boys, who, when they got bored thought it best to take this out on the walls by pulling out their guns and shooting.

Did I mention that this is a county where if the folk are hungry, they just go out to their back yards and, well, you know..at least so I’m told.

So, if you’re thinking of taking your frustrations out on your own studio walls, just remember the studio in Chehalis.