The Jefferson Dancers is the performance group of advanced students from the magnet arts dance program at Jefferson High School in Portland, Oregon, United States. 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.
Currently, Steve Gonzales holds the title of Artistic Director of the company that is now the longest running dance program in Portland, Oregon.
The company performs annually in Portland venues, such as the Newmark Theatre. The company also performs in Portland's Singing Christmas Tree. Past international tours have included performances in England, France, Germany, Italy and Canada, and in 1991 the company performed in Moscow and Leningrad. The group has also performed at Kennedy Center, in Hood River, Oregon, and in numerous schools around the state, often teaching children's dance classes.
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. [2] [1] [3]
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.
The Oregon Museum of Science and Industry is a science and technology museum in Portland, Oregon, United States. It contains three auditoriums, including a large-screen theatre, planetarium, and exhibition halls with a variety of hands-on permanent exhibits focused on natural sciences, industry, and technology. Transient exhibits span a wider range of disciplines.
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.
Willamette Week (WW) is an alternative weekly newspaper and a website published in Portland, Oregon, United States, since 1974. It features reports on local news, politics, sports, business, and culture.
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.
Samuel Francis Adams is an American politician in Portland, Oregon. Adams was mayor of Portland from 2009 to 2012 and previously served on the Portland City Council and as chief of staff to former Mayor Vera Katz. Adams was the first openly gay mayor of a large U.S. city.
Thomas Jefferson High School is a public high school in Portland, Oregon, United States, founded in 1908.
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.
Jason Zimbler is an American former actor best known for portraying Ferguson Darling on the Nickelodeon television series Clarissa Explains It All.
The Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater (AAADT) is a modern dance company based in New York City. It was founded in 1958 by choreographer and dancer Alvin Ailey. It is made up of 32 dancers, led by artistic director Robert Battle and associate artistic director Matthew Rushing.
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.
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.
Portland Center Stage at The Armory is a theater company based in Portland, Oregon, United States. Theater productions are presented at The Armory in Portland's Pearl District. Portland Center Stage at The Armory was founded in 1988 as the northern sibling of the Oregon Shakespeare Festival in Ashland, Oregon. It became an independent theater in 1993 and in 1994 Elizabeth Huddle became producing artistic director. Chris Coleman took over in 2000 as the company's fourth artistic director. In 2018, Marissa Wolf was named the fifth artistic director and Cynthia Fuhrman named Managing Director.
Jefferson Smith is a former radio personality, and former politician in the U.S. state of Oregon. He is a member of the Democratic Party of Oregon, founder of the Bus Project, and 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.
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.
No Vacancy Lounge (NVL) was a short-lived nightclub in Portland, Oregon's Old Town Chinatown neighborhood, in the United States. "No Vacancy" began in 2014 as a party hosted at various local venues. NVL opened in a former McCormick & Schmick's restaurant December 2017, following an approximately $1 million renovation. The venue was named Willamette Week's 2018 Bar of the Year. The club hosted a variety of acts and events but was most known for electronic dance music (EDM). Conflict between NVL, a neighboring tenant, and the property manager began almost immediately. In February 2019, the bar closed as the result of the dispute and financial difficulties; some scheduled events were moved to other venues.