Seattle, WA

In 1979 artist Jack Mackie took advantage of construction along Broadway E. to install, in the sidewalk, nine sets of numbered bronze footsteps for various dances. In a twelve block stretch you'll find nine sets of numbered bronze footsteps including tango, waltz, rumba, mambo, even a made-up dance named "bus stop."

“Dance Steps on Broadway” is one of the first public art projects funded by Seattle’s Percent for Art Ordinance. The law, enacted in 1973, mandates that 1 percent of the budgets of certain city capital projects be set aside for artworks at those projects.

The project got pushback from some Capitol Hill residents before its installation. “We were at a community meeting up here,” Mackie recalls. “And someone in the crowd stood up and said, ‘This is an outrage! It will make people trip and fall over!’”

But forty years after Mackie installed his bronze footsteps, not only has nobody filed a complaint about tripping; the "Dance Steps" have reached community icon status. Pedestrians often stop to study the diagrams, wearing down the bronze with their attempts to tango or waltz.