The home of Dogtown Dance Theatre and the RVA Dance Collective at 109 W. 15th Street in South Side is for sale.

The performing arts theater, like other entertainment venues, was hit hard by the pandemic, with the building largely shuttered for the past two years and unable to fulfill its mission of providing a home for independent performing artists and small dance companies.

The operation, which lists nine staff members, reportedly has begun winding down now that a key executive is leaving.

Jess Burgess, a dance activist who has handled the building’s management for years, is headed to the Greenville, S.C., Center for Creative Arts to be its new chief executive officer, beginning May 2.

The grand finale for the operation apparently will be the 9th Annual Richmond Dance Festival, scheduled to run over three weekends, Friday, April 29, and Saturday, April 30; Friday, May 6 and Saturday, May 7; and Friday, May 13, and Saturday, May 14.

Organized by Dogtown Dance Theatre and supported by a local foundation, the festival is billed as showcase for the works of 23 area choreographers and nine producers of dance films. According to the theatre’s website, the event is to include African and Filipino dance along with modern dance and improvisation.

Seventeen years ago, dance injected new life into the vacant building, which was constructed in 1939 to serve as the gymnasium for Bainbridge Junior High School. The school closed in 1975.

In 2005, Dr. Robert E. Petres, a retired obstetrician, and his son, Rob Petres, artistic director of Ground Zero Dance Company, came across the building during a hunt for a dance studio and purchased it.

After three years of work, Dogtown Dance Theatre moved in, followed by the RVA Dance Collective that Ms. Burgess founded and served as artistic and executive director. Her departure also has led to the collective shutting down.