Two of my favorite people will be sitting down face to face this month over bagels and coffee, no less, at Performance Works NW to talk about Portland’s dance history. As part of Mycelium Dreams: the PASTfuture Long-Form Archival Conversation Series, Portland dance artist Linda K. Johnson continues her work documenting the histories of veteran Portland dancers and dance-adjacent artists.

This month, on June 8, she’ll be in conversation with Barry Johnson, my fearless editor and longtime arts journalist, and the reason I’m writing for Oregon ArtsWatch today.

For the past 14 years, Barry Johnson, an incredibly gifted editor, writer, and storyteller who has been writing about dance and culture for decades, has also been my patient and generous mentor here at Oregon ArtsWatch. We first met in a four-week class he taught on arts journalism at The Attic, A Haven for Writers in Portland. The two-hour Tuesday evening sessions offered a welcome respite and creative outlet during a time when I was a full-time mother to a four-year-old and managing life at home.

Each week, Johnson brought in a different article to analyze and discuss with our lively class full of enthusiastic art lovers, guiding us through the structure and purpose of arts writing for journalism through colorful storytelling and joy. 

At the end of the workshop, I wrote my first story for him: a review of Broken Flowers, a dance work by Portland choreographer Agnieszka Laska that addressed the horrors of human trafficking. That piece marked the beginning of my writing career with Oregon ArtsWatch, and Johnson has been there ever since, offering feedback, encouragement, and insight.

Our conversations, most of which have taken place in the margins of my Google Docs, have profoundly shaped my approach to writing and deepened my understanding of dance, culture, and the role of journalism in nurturing the arts community I live in. Last week, we met up to catch up — and for me to interview him ahead of his upcoming conversation with Linda. 

What I didn’t know was that Johnson’s own path into dance writing began with a kind of cosmic alignment of several events that shaped his thinking. In 1978, shortly after moving to Seattle, Johnson attended Bumbershoot, a major Seattle music and dance festival, and accidentally stumbled upon American dancer and choreographer Merce Cunningham’s performance.

What he saw was Cunningham’s solo 50 Looks, which featured Cunningham walking down the diagonals of the stage holding a series of still poses while carrying a chair. Johnson was mesmerized. “And all he’s doing is walking, and his hips are popping in that kind of Merce way that Merce’s hip kinda pops when he walks. And his head’s high, and he’s holding that chair. And I’m watching him get to the end, and he starts walking back, and I’m like totally entranced by Merce walking with that chair back and forth; that’s all that’s going on; there’s no music, there’s no nothing. There’s Merce walking to and fro on the stage with this chair.”

“And after it was over, I went, ‘Why the hell was that interesting?’ I had this perplexity about dance as a result; I just couldn’t figure out why Merce was so cool, why was that so interesting, what was it, was that dancing, I don’t know. “

In 1978, when Johnson was working as the advertising manager at the Seattle Sun newspaper, a dancer came in to place a classified ad for a class she was planning to teach. She was charismatic, persuasive, and deeply embedded in the city’s modern dance scene. After Barry helped her craft the ad, she looked at him and said, “You should come take my class.” He did — and spent the next couple of months learning modern dance and stepping into a community he hadn’t previously known.

When the Twyla Tharp Dance Company came to the University of Washington not long after, Johnson knew he was interested in journalism. He volunteered to write a review of the performance for the Sun. Over three days, he immersed himself in the dancers’ world.

He watched rehearsals, interviewed company members, and even went out dancing with them in the evenings. “Sometimes they would have two rehearsals in a day,” he said, “and in between, they would play tennis!”

“These people were crazy; they were madly physical,” he recalled. “They were on a totally different level of physicality. They were pushing right to the limit of the human body’s ability to control itself all the time. They were just, on a centrifuge, like the stage was a centrifuge, and they were flung to the edges of the stage and then brought back around. My god, it was thrilling … it was really good; I was hooked.”

“The night of the performance comes. They dance, I watch it, I take notes — books full of notes. Then I ask myself, ‘What’s a dance review?'”

For almost two days, with the help of a friend and news reporter from the Sun, he started working on the story. “I probably wrote 70 versions of the story, back and forth between the two of us. I was writing for him, something he would understand. And gradually, in the process of those versions, he was teaching me some of the basic structures of a dance review for a newspaper. I was learning how newspaper stories operate. And so that’s how I started. I got positive feedback on the article; you need that.”

“What really drew me in,” Johnson added, “was modern dance. That earthier, grand union kind of dance. The kind that asked: What is dance? Who gets to do it? Why do we have these structures? Why does every dancer have to be small and skinny?”

He was interested in the freedom of the form and the way it challenged convention. It all tied back, he said, to that moment watching Merce.

“When I see a dancer perform, I love it when it feels like they’re making it up right now — even though I know they’re not, unless it’s improv,” he said. “It gives this sense that we’re exploring bodies, minds, and emotions together.” For him, watching dance is both a physical and emotional mirror. “Ultimately, it translates to: I should be exploring my own life in the way she’s exploring movement.” Laughing, he says, “We’re always trying to fix ourselves.”

When I asked him why he started writing about dance, Johnson offered this: “When I read the dance writing in Seattle at the time, I found it unreadable. The critics had this pontificating attitude, like they were guarding some standard and put on Earth to grade dancers. I don’t like that kind of writing. As a reader, I want more than a writer’s judgment, I want to see their receipts. Show me where the dance is coming from, what it felt like to sit there, how the audience reacted.”

“I never got that kind of bodily experience when I was reading their stuff. It seemed remote. I wanted a hotter, closer experience. I think a piece should be like a movie. Sometimes I have a close-up, sometimes I’m at midrange, sometimes I’m across the street or at 10,000 feet, even, surveying. The best stories, I think, take you and give you different kinds of perspectives on the subject. So I wanted to do that.”

Johnson moved to Portland in the early 1980s and worked as an editor and writer for Willamette Week. In 1983 he joined The Oregonian as editor of the arts section. He left The Oregonian in 2009, amid the collapse of print journalism, and soon after founded the digital-only Oregon ArtsWatch to help revitalize arts writing and thinking in the city.

He’s been observing Portland’s dance scene since the 1970s, watching artists’ careers unfold, intertwine, and evolve. He’s seen them collaborate, perform in each other’s work, and then strike out on their own.

If you love Between Two Ferns–style banter, PBS-style deep dives, and hearing artists talk candidly about their lives, work, and the culture that shapes them, this one’s for you. Come for the bagels and coffee; stay for the stories. You can learn more about Barry Johnson and Portland’s dance scene over the last 50 years at Linda K. Johnson’s upcoming interview with him, part of the Mycelium Dreams series at Performance Works NW. Don’t miss it.

Performances this month!

Griot (Work-in-Progress Showing)
Rejoice! Diaspora Dance Theater
5 p.m. June 1
Reed College, Reed College Performing Arts Building, 3203 S.E. Woodstock Blvd., Portland

A Griot is the memory keeper of a community. A hereditary position passed down through generations in traditional West African communities, the Griot’s job it is to preserve the community’s history and culture through singing, music, and dance. Join Rejoice! Diaspora Dance Theater as they trace the Griots from Senegal to Brazil and the American South and the impacts they have had on communities, lineage, and culture. 

Oluyinka Akinjiola and Michael Galen’s choreography features music developed and performed with Tama master and Griot Massamba Diop. The performance also includes an immersive score by Galen, which incorporates field recordings from Brazil and Senegal.

Riverdance 30: The New Generation
Presented by Hult Center for the Performing Arts
June 3-5
Hult Center for the Performing Arts, Silva Concert Hall, One Eugene Center, Eugene

This theatrical production showcases traditional Irish music and dance, and is known for its electrifying footwork, elaborate costumes, and live music, featuring a score composed by Bill Whelan. It debuted as an interval act during the Eurovision Song Contest in 1994 and has since revolutionized Irish dance by bringing it to the global stage. 

The OBT Collection
Presented by Oregon Ballet Theatre
June 5-8
Newmark Theatre, 1111 S.W. Broadway, Portland

Oregon Ballet Theatre presents a capsule collection of four one-act ballets. For Pixie is a haunting pas de deux set to Nina Simone’s Wild is the Wind, inspired by OBT artistic director Dani Rowe’s grandparents’ fierce and unconventional love story. Quartet for Five, choreographed by Bobbi Jene Smith and Or Schraiber, is an intensely physical contemporary dance accompanied by Philip Glass’s music, performed live by members of the OBT Orchestra. A world premiere from Nicolas Blanc promises to thrill with a fresh contemporary edge, hailed as “the next big find” by Classical Voice SF. The collection closes with Of Three, Lauren Flower’s delicate and intimate work for three dancers that lingers long after the final notes of Chopin’s romantic score.

Riverdance 30 – The New Generation
Presented by Portland’5
June 6-8
Keller Auditorium, 222 S.W. Clay Street, Portland

This theatrical production. moving north to Portland after its run in Eugene, showcases traditional Irish music and dance. After debuting as an interval act during the Eurovision Song Contest in 1994, it’s gone on to huge popularity, revolutionizing Irish dance by bringing it to the global stage. 

Shine the Light
Presented by The Reser
11 a.m. June 7
The Patricia Reser Center for the Arts, 12625 S.W. Crescent St., Beaverton
FREE

Join The Reser for a free community open house and celebration. A family-oriented day filled with art appreciation, interactive activities, and performances by many local groups and artists, it includes PHAME Academy, Rainier Breakers, Abby GoLucky, the Korean Music Institute of Oregon, Mini Shama Ogle & Troupe, Sultanov Ballet Academy, Congruency Dance Collective, Nartana School of Kuchipudi Dance, Pride of Portland Chorus, New Wave Opera, Sarada Kala Nilayam, The Historical Conjurer, The Honeybees, and more.

Alongside the onstage performances, The Art Gallery at The Reser will host hands-on activity stations for all ages. This event is free and open to everyone.

PASTfuture Long Form Archival Conversation
Linda K. Johnson with Barry Johnson
11 a.m. June 8
Performance Works NW, 4625 SE 67th Ave, Portland
Bagels+coffee+snacks+kind people
FREE | Donations gratefully accepted

The PASTfuture Long-Form Archival Conversation Series is part of Mycelium Dreams, an ongoing dance cartography and interview project begun in 2022 by Portland dance and interdisciplinary artist Linda K. Johnson. This archival project invites dance artists to reflect on their artistic journeys and create hand-drawn maps inspired by the connectivity, reciprocity, and relational quality of mycelium networks. Continuing the theme of interconnectivity, the interview component, PASTfuture, aims to create an inclusive oral record of the stories of dancers in the Portland community. This month, the series features a conversation with Barry Johnson, longtime Portland arts writer, editor, dance lover, and founder of Oregon ArtsWatch.

Student Artist Showcase
NW Dance Project
4 p.m. June 8
Portland State University, Lincoln Performance Hall, 1620 S.W. Park Ave.

This annual event showcases the talents of students from NW Dance Project’s Youth Dance Program, featuring performances in ballet, contemporary, jazz, and more. It’s a celebration of the dedication and creativity of young dancers, providing them with a platform to showcase their talents.

Sleeping Beauty and Reawakened Dreams
Oregon International Ballet Academy, Choreography and production by Ye Li and  Xuan Cheng
June 14-15
The Patricia Reser Center for the Arts, 2625 S.W. Crescent St., Beaverton

Marking its 10th anniversary, Oregon International Ballet Academy (OIBA) presents a landmark performance at The Patricia Reser Center for the Arts. The celebratory program features a reimagined Sleeping Beauty and the world premiere of Reawakened Dreams, a contemporary ballet by acclaimed choreographer and OIBA Co-Director Ye Li, a tribute to a decade of artistic excellence, bold innovation, and community impact.

Co-directed by Xuan Cheng, artistic director of OIBA and ballet mistress of Hong Kong Ballet, and Ye Li, the program brings together current students, alums, and guest artists — including James Johnson of Oregon Ballet Theatre’s Second Company. It also features newly worked material from Li’s signature, international prize-winning piece, The Waiting Room, woven into the finale. 

Alembic Artists in Performance 
Presented by Performance Works NW/Linda Austin Dance
June 26-29
Performance Works NW, 4625 S.E. 67th Ave., Portland
Thursday is a ticketed dress rehearsal and preview, offering a cheaper ticket option.

Unveiling the 11th cohort of Alembic Artists, Performance Works NW/Linda Austin Dance presents three new artists who have been working in the studio over the past year. Sophia Tweed Ahmad, Kye Grant, and Kai Hynes each brings deeply personal, boundary-blurring practices to performance. In Inseparables, Sophia Tweed Ahmad and Ashi Dancler offer a duet rooted in identity, ancestry, and sound-based ritual, expanding on a solo that premiered in Spain. Kye Grant shares genre-fluid, participatory work shaped by voice, dance, and public space: Projects such as Club Alive and Planet Lloyd reflect their playful, place-based approach to connection. Kai Hynes presents Wormgrunt, a darkly poetic solo that merges butoh and experimental theater, where sound and sensation evoke the strange stirrings of an unseen world.

El Fuego Nuevo: Deseos del Corazon
Presented by Ballet Folklorico Academia Gabriela 
Noon June 29
The Patricia Reser Center for the Arts, 2625 S.W. Crescent St., Beaverton

Ballet Folklorico Las Rosas de Oregon debuts as a professional company with a vibrant celebration of Mexico’s cultural heritage. Featuring dancers of all ages from Ballet Folklorico Academia Gabriela, the show journeys from the pre-Hispanic era to the rhythms of Baja California, Sinaloa, and Veracruz, with traditional dances, colorful costumes, and live music.