While the Seacoast seems awash in art galleries, live music venues, theaters and artist studios, the fact is, it's also awash in artists who feed off that energy to produce more art, attracting more visitors and residents alike. In turn, space to produce that work has become a rarified commodity. No one knows that as much as dancers, who need large spaces for practice and performance.

"The first studio I had was in the Button Factory (in Portsmouth). I lived at a house once that had a barn, though I didn't really teach there, and I was at the Wentworth Dennett school (in Kittery) for a little over a year," says dancer Drika Overton. "Then I begged, borrowed and stole space when I could-at the Connie Bean Center, the old Grange (in Kittery), the Seacoast Repertory space before it was owned by them. That's a great space, but it's not affordable right now. Space has just dwindled over the years."

Overton is the founder of MAD (Music and Dance) Theatricals, home to the original production "Clara's Dream, a Jazz Nutcracker," celebrating its fifth anniversary this year, and Portsmouth Percussive Dance Festival, celebrating its 10th anniversary this year.

Rehearsal space for "Clara's Dream"-performed locally at The Music Hall-and the prospects of building, and building on, the Portsmouth Percussive Dance Festival-performed at various locations around Portsmouth-are what get her excited about the prospects of her new place, called SPACE.

At first glance the Space for Performing Arts and Cultural Exchange is a creaky old brick post office in Kittery Foreside, 38,000 square feet shared with Divine Cuisine, a takeout Indian restaurant. SPACE is slightly smaller than the West End Studio Theater in Portsmouth, with a stage about the size of The Music Hall stage. On the inside, though, it's something bigger than that.

SPACE came about when former collaborator Cary Mabley bought the old post office, pretty much for Drika to use.

"We shared a space in the Button Factory in the 1980s. This has been the most difficult part of my work, finding an appropriate space to work in, and she's known that and felt that this space might provide an appropriate venue for the things I do, like the festival and "Clara's Dream" rehearsals and ongoing classes, which I haven't been able to do for a long time. I also know other dancers and performers in the area who have a need," Overton says.

The SPACE is billed as "a new arts and cultural facility in the region, which will provide the community with a diverse offering of classes, events and performances." What it represents is the chance to call a place home, and a whole host of potential connections and possibilities.

"I'm looking at really unusual events to produce that aren't occurring elsewhere, because I don't want to compete with what other people are doing," Overton says. "For instance, it's probably not going to happen, but right now there's a gamelan group from Bali touring. I'd love to have them come in and teach classes and do performances. We're not ready for that, but I'd love it. There's an Afro Pop group in Boston. I'm not sure we're big enough yet. But I'm going to test the waters."

Renovations are in the works, as are rentals for other performing artists, primarily musicians and dancers, for classes, rehearsals and performances.

"I want it to be dedicated for that use," Overton says. "It's available for rental when we're not using it. We're just starting, slowly with classes and building to small performances, but that will be down the road when we have seating and lighting. We've done some preliminary little face lifts, but there's a long-term goal of renovating the whole building at some point and developing the space from scratch so that it will be more utilitarian for more people. Because right now it's definitely kind of funky."