The Jefferson Dancers are a multi-ethnic company of dancers who attend Jefferson High School Middle College for Advanced Studies in Portland, Oregon. Here, the school's most advanced dance students take pre-professional dance training, and attend daily 90-minute technique classes followed by three hours of rehearsal.
The company was founded by Mary Vinton Folberg in the early 1980s. Folberg served as artistic director of the dance company from its founding until the mid-1990s. In 1992, Folberg went on sabbatical, during which Julane Stites served as artistic director of the company. That year, the company was the subject of the 30-minute Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) program titled A Musical Encounter: The Dance Program. Stites left the program for the Arts & Communication Magnet Academy in Beaverton in 1999. [1]
In 1995, Folberg left the dance department of Jefferson High School to found The Northwest Academy, an alternative arts high school in Portland. Program alumni and MOMIX dancer Steve Gonzales has served as artistic director since 1999. [1] [2] [3]
"Throughout the year, we bring in professional guest artists and choreographers, and the dancers also perform student-led pieces crafted by our talented company members," says Artistic Director Steve Gonzales. [4] "The Jefferson Dancers offer an extraordinary opportunity for students at one of Oregon's most racially diverse high schools. We work to provide students with an immersive experience in a professional environment that fosters creativity, commitment, and achievement. We lay a foundation for success in all aspects of life and further study in the arts." [4]
The Portland Institute for Contemporary Art (PICA) is a contemporary performance and visual arts organization in Portland in the U.S. state of Oregon. PICA was founded in 1995 by Kristy Edmunds. Since 2003, it has presented the annual Time-Based Art Festival (TBA) every September in Portland, featuring contemporary and experimental visual art, dance, theatre, film/video, music, and educational and public programs from local, national, and international artists. As of November 2017, it is led by Executive Director Victoria Frey and Artistic Directors Roya Amirsoleymani, Erin Boberg Doughton, and Kristan Kennedy.
Lake Oswego is a city in the U.S. state of Oregon, primarily in Clackamas County, with small portions extending into neighboring Multnomah and Washington counties. Population in 2020 was 40,731, an 11.2% increase since 2010, making it the 11th most populous city in Oregon. Located about 7 miles (11 km) south of Portland and surrounding the 405-acre (164 ha) Oswego Lake, the town was founded in 1847 and incorporated as Oswego in 1910. The city was the hub of Oregon's brief iron industry in the late 19th century, and is today a suburb of Portland.
Willamette University is a private liberal arts college with locations in Salem and Portland, Oregon. Founded in 1842, it is the oldest college in the Western United States. Originally named the Oregon Institute, the school was an unaffiliated outgrowth of the Methodist Mission. The name was changed to Wallamet University in 1852, followed by the current spelling in 1870. Willamette founded the first medical school and law school in the Pacific Northwest in the second half of the 19th century.
The Oregon Shakespeare Festival (OSF) is a regional repertory theatre in Ashland, Oregon, United States, founded in 1935 by Angus L. Bowmer. The Festival now offers matinee and evening performances of a wide range of classic and contemporary plays not limited to Shakespeare. During the Festival, between five and eleven plays are offered in daily rotation six days a week in its three theatres. It welcomed its millionth visitor in 1971, its 10-millionth in 2001, and its 20-millionth visitor in 2015.
Marylhurst University was a private applied liberal arts and business university in Marylhurst, Oregon. Marylhurst was founded as St. Mary's College in 1893 and run for many years by the Sisters of the Holy Names of Jesus and Mary. The former campus is located about nine miles south of Portland, Oregon on the Willamette River. Although Marylhurst University was a Roman Catholic school, it served students of all faiths and backgrounds.
The Pacific Northwest College of Art (PNCA) is an art school of Willamette University and is located in Portland, Oregon. Established in 1909, the art school grants Bachelor of Fine Arts degrees and graduate degrees including the Master of Fine Arts (MFA) and Master of Arts (MA) degrees. It has an enrollment of about 500 students. The college merged with Willamette University in 2021.
Oregon Episcopal School (OES) is an American independent, coeducational, college preparatory, day and boarding school in the Raleigh Hills area of Portland, Oregon. It was preceded by St. Helen's Hall, a day and boarding school for girls established in 1869. OES was established in 1972 when the girls school merged with Bishop Dagwell Hall.
Jefferson High School is a public high school in Portland, Oregon, United States.
Mary Vinton Folberg is the former Head of School at Northwest Academy, a former teacher, and former dancer. She was Miss Oregon in 1958. She founded the dance program at Jefferson High School in Portland, Oregon, which has become internationally recognized within the dance community. The performing leg of the Jefferson High School dance department is The Jefferson Dancers, which performs locally, nationally, and occasionally even internationally. The Portland, Oregon, newsweekly Willamette Week has referred to The Jefferson Dancers as "Portland's best dance company". Mary also has two twin daughters, Lisa and Rachel Folberg. After leaving Jefferson High School in 1995, Folberg founded The Northwest Academy, which is an independent, college-preparatory, middle- and high-school program in downtown Portland with a unique academic and arts partnership. She was born in 1940, and holds degrees in literature and dance and taught in California and Oregon public schools. Fohlberg is the 2013 recipient of Portland Monthly magazine's Light A Fire Award for Lifetime Achievement. She also is the recipient of a 1981 Kennedy Center Award for Excellence in Arts Education and the Metropolitan Arts Commission Award in 1982, 1988, and 1989.
Oregon Ballet Theatre (OBT) is a ballet company in Portland, Oregon, United States. The company performs an annual five-program season at the Portland Center for the Performing Arts and conducts regional and national tours. It was featured in the October/November 2007 issue of Pointe magazine, with principal dancer Kathi Martuza on the cover.
Northwest Academy is an independent, arts-focused middle and high school in downtown Portland, Oregon, United States. The school is accredited by the Northwest Association of Independent Schools (NWAIS). Teachers include former college instructors and professional artists, directors, dancers, musicians, and writers. Students are grouped by proficiency rather than age and advance based on demonstrating what they have learned.
The Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre (PBT) is an American professional ballet company based in the Strip District of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. It was founded in 1969.
Cleveland High School is a public high school in inner southeast Portland, Oregon, United States. It is part of the Portland Public Schools district. Its attendance boundary covers much of the western part of Southeast Portland.
Libby Appel served as the fourth artistic director of the Oregon Shakespeare Festival (OSF) from 1995 to June 2007. Appel directed more than 25 productions at OSF, and her artistic vision influenced the 11 plays presented each year during her tenure. Despite the festival's name, she placed increased emphasis on new works. “We have made major connections with world playwrights, artists whose voices we’re particularly interested in.” Appel said. “We commission playwrights, we develop plays here; we have playwrights in residence. We’re a world force now, and I’m really proud of that.”
Arts & Communication Magnet Academy (ACMA) is a publicly funded arts magnet school in Beaverton, Oregon, United States. It is a member of the International Network of Schools for the Advancement of Arts Education.
KXRY is a non-commercial class D radio station in Portland, Oregon, United States, operating under the name XRAY.fm. It is a mixed-format progressive, independent radio station which broadcasts progressive talk radio, cultural programs, and music of a wide variety of genres played by its disc jockeys. Its broadcast license is owned by Cascade Educational Broadcast Service. KXRY streams online at xray.fm.
Ballet Fantastique is an Emmy®-nominated American ballet theater company based in Eugene, Oregon in the Pacific Northwest, USA. Ballet Fantastique creates and performs all-original dance theater repertoire and immersive audience experiences. Ballet Fantastique became a resident company at Eugene's Hult Center for the Performing Arts in 2014 and tours across the US and internationally.
Jefferson Smith is an American former radio personality and politician who served in the Oregon House of Representatives, representing District 47 in east Portland, from 2009 to 2012. He was one of two candidates for Mayor of Portland in 2012 to advance beyond the primary election, but lost to Charlie Hales in the November general election. He also founded Bus Project.
Elizabeth Woody is an American Navajo/Warm Springs/Wasco/Yakama artist, author, and educator. In March 2016, she was the first Native American to be named poet laureate of Oregon by Governor Kate Brown.
John R. "Jack" Faust is a retired Portland, Oregon, attorney, television personality and political activist.