Festival:23
Hampton Opera Center & Livestream
November 16-19, 2023
push/FOLD presents the fifth annual Union PDX - Festival of Contemporary Dance! This year, Festival:23 shares two world premiere works and two Portland premieres by local, national, and international contemporary artists in the genres of Street, Bharatanatyam, Contemporary Break, and Contemporary dance styles:
- Compagnia Bellanda (Gorizia, Italy)
- Evelyn Tejeda (Dominican Republic & Peterson, NJ)
- Open Space Dance (Portland, OR)
- Outrun the Bear (Los Angeles, CA)
- Sridharini Sridharan (Portland, OR)
- push/FOLD (Portland, OR)
Opening on November 16, the full festival returns with our student outreach performance, three public performances over the weekend, six professional-level masterclasses taught by the festival artists, and two professional development workshops.
Stay with us after the show on November 17 & 18 as we chat with the artists in a facilitated Q&A. Learn about their process and artistic developments, features of their work, and experiences as professional artists navigating their communities and the world today.
Join us on November 19 for our closing Festival Soirée to chat and mingle with the artists and celebrate the vitality of dance within Portland.
Social Media Links
Digital Program
View and Download: Click Here »
Audience Survey
Performances (In-Person & Livestream)
November 17 & 18 @ 7:30pm
November 19 @ 4:00pm
** November 17 & 18 | Facilitated artist-talks and Q&A follow each performance. **
Festival Soirée (In-Person)
November 19 | Post-performance
Join us as we close the festival with a swagger and a Soirée to celebrate the vibrancy of dance in Portland and mingle with the artists.
** This event is open to the public and does not require the purchase of a ticket. **
Student Outreach (In-Person)
November 16 @ 8pm
We invite Portland-Vancouver-Metro area dance students to preview Union PDX - Festival:23 during our invited dress rehearsal November 16 @ 8pm.
Interested schools and program coordinators, please contact us at contact@pushfold.org to learn more and register your students.
Masterclasses (In-Person)
November 17 & 18
- Contemporary Jazz | Franco Nieto Contemporary Jazz
- Jedatam Method | Evelyn Tejeda Contemporary, Street
- Sync Up | Outrun the Bear Contemporary Partnering
- Natya Katha | Srdiharini Sridharan Bharatanatyam, Natya Katha
- Floor Flirting| Copagnia Bellanda Contemporary Break
Register Below
Workshops (In-Person)
November 19
- Deciphering Grants - Part 1 & 2 Instructors: Eleanor Sandys & Samuel Hobbs
Register Below
LIVESTREAM
Livestream
November 17 & 18 @ 7:30pm PST
November 19 @ 4:00pm PST
** Your livestream login instructions and link are included on your virtual ticket. **
Join us live as each in-person performance at the Hampton Opera Center is streamed to your home with an incredible multi-camera production. Make it an evening the night of the performance, or pause and come back later, virtual ticket holders have access to the livestream through December 31.
Don't forget to engage with the artists during the live artist-talk and Q&A utilizing the live-chat, and keep your eyes peeled during intermission for a special surprise.
Digital Program
View and Download: Click Here »
Audience Survey
Share about your experience: Click Here »
Click Here, or on the image above to access the livestream login.
Festival:23 Artists
- Compagnia Bellanda (Gorizia, Italy)
- Evelyn Tejeda (Dominican Republic & Peterson, NJ)
- Open Space Dance (Portland, OR)
- Outrun the Bear (Los Angeles, CA)
- Sridharini Sridharan (Portland, OR)
- push/FOLD (Portland, OR)
Click on the names of the artists above to learn more and support their work.
MASTERCLASSES & WORKSHOPS
Masterclasses
November 17 & 18
Studio: Hampton Opera Center
211 SE Caruthers St.
Portland, OR 97214
Ages 13 to Professional
All masterclasses are free/donation-based geared towards advanced and professional movers of all genres. A suggested minimum donation is $5 at time of registration.
Participants may register in advance online, or at the door if space is available.
Franco Nieto (Open Space)
Contemporary Jazz
Contemporary Jazz
November 17 @ 1:30pm - 3:00pm
Designed to improve fluidity of the spine and torso, this class deepens our understanding of the pelvis and how it helps drive our movement. We will get grounded, find physicality and musicality while working on transitions into the floor and around the space. This contemporary dance class fuses jazz, and contemporary techniques with no judgment on oneself.
Evelyn Tejeda
Jedatam Method
Contemporary, Street
November 17 @ 3:15pm - 4:45pm
Influenced by Tejeda's background in Hip-Hop, Popping, Break, and Contemporary Dance, Jedatham Method plays with the floor, hits, spirals, and dissociation, enhancing the articulation and expressive potential of the body.
Outrun the Bear
Sync-Up
Contemporary Partnering
November 18 @ 11:45am - 1:15pm
Co-taught by Megan and Ilya, participants develop their open physical communication and nuanced listening techniques to research and approach creating and performing duet materials—action/reaction, playfulness/spontaneity, and the sharing of energy in real-time.
Sridharini Sridharan
Natya Katha
Bharatanatyam, Natya Katha
November 18 @ 1:30pm - 3:00pm
Bringing a contemporary approach to the expression-based nuance and foundations of Natya Katha, students adapt rhythm, gesture, and form to explore this powerful medium, enhancing their technique and performance expression in their contemporary work.
Compagnia Bellanda
Floor Flirting
Contemporary Break
November 18 @ 3:15pm - 4:45pm
The rules of physics will be exploited in favor of an aesthetic search for movement: falls to the ground will be used to channel the force that is created in them, harnessing it in slips to follow trajectories. We will study how to use the levers, which the body provides, in a dynamic and intuitive way.
** Please bring pants and shirts that cover the shoulders, hips, upper arms, and legs **
Workshops
November 19
Classroom: Hampton Opera Center
211 SE Caruthers St.
Portland, OR 97214
Professional Artists
All workshops are free/donation-based professional-development classes geared towards artists of all genres. A suggested minimum donation is $5 at time of registration.
Participants may register in advance online, or at the door if space is available.
** Class schedule (dates and times) to be released soon! **
Deciphering Grants
November 19 @ 10:00am & 11:45am
Instructors: Eleanor Sandys & Samuel Hobbs
In this two-part workshop, participants from all disciplines and backgrounds build a tacit understanding in how grants serve the trajectory of our professional and artistic careers, and learn to leverage grant application questions to fully inform foundations of our work in the broader context of our community and needs.
Through exercises, conversation, and real-world examples, thes workshops supplement artists’ experiences in grant writing and budgets. These sections are designed to provide tangible tools and demystify the granting process and building budgets to be directly applicable on your next submission or project.
** Each part of this workshop series build can be taken together or separately. **
Part I | 10:00am - 11:30am
Participants will learn about the components of grant applications, understand the typical grant review process, and identify the benefits, and barriers, to applying for grants.
Part II | 11:45am - 1:30pm
Designed with a hands-on approach, participants have an opportunity to bring their current projects to workshop and dive deeper into your process and ways to hone and execute your vision. We also touch on the basics of project development and budgets.
SPONSORS & PARTNERS
The Autzen Foundation
Herbert A. Templeton Foundation
Carolen Hope & Steve Lyford
Union PDX - Festival:22 Artist Hosts
Jingzi Zhao | 2022 Union PDX Festival Artist: Megan Doheny