Samuel Hobbs is a mixed-Latinx presenter, educator, and multidisciplinary artist (Dance, Art, Film, Music), and is the founder and Artistic Director of push/FOLD and the Union PDX - Festival of Contemporary Dance.
Bringing their vision as an independent artist into their work with push/FOLD, Samuel brings a collaborative, community centered spirit, working with various stakeholders in the arts to generate abundance-thinking that centers service and reframes leadership as a collective effort. In addition to their mentorship and equity work with organizations and developing artists, Samuel currently serves the Portland arts community as a board member of the Multnomah County Cultural Coalition.
As a artist, Samuel's process draws from themes influenced from Dreamtime (meditation and unconscious dreams), and the fascination with negative space and athletic forms. Intermixing the creative impulses as a composer and choreographer due to the experience of synesthesia with sound and momentum (hearing movement and seeing sound), Samuel finds “a sweet spot between the musical composition and the movement concepts” (Oregon ArtsWatch). Samuel’s movement practice incorporates their training in athletics and dance (Track, Swimming, Martial Arts, and West African, Street, Contemporary Dance, and Ballet), integrating their background in Osteopathy to create the somatic movement method called Visceral Movement Theory™ (VMT). VMT is the backbone of Samuel's signature movement style and training.
Samuel began composing and choreographing professionally in 2014, having works performed both regionally and internationally in festivals, commissions, and self-produced events. 2021 marked Samuel's international debut for choreography and music at the Dancing on the Edge Festival in Vancouver, BC, and the International Festival of Contemporary Dance in Mexico City, Mexico. Samuel recently received the honor of being named a 2023 Performing Arts Fellow by the Oregon Arts Commission, and also received their latest commission by Oregon Ballet Theatre to premiere in June, 2023 in Portland, Oregon.
As a performer, Samuel's professional career began in 2005, performing nationally and internationally, and teaching dance and partnering since 2008. Before dance, Samuel was a university track athlete studying Math and Computer Science at the University of Oregon. After attending their first contemporary dance concert in 2004, Samuel switched majors to study Music, Illustration, Sculpture, and Dance, graduating from Western Oregon University in 2007.
Outside of dance, Samuel works with the general public as an Osteopathic Manual Therapist at their private practice in Portland, Oregon; specializing in pelvic health, movement re-education, and visceral, neural, and vascular manipulation.
Visit Samuel's private practice: Movement Bodywork®
