Push/FOLD Is Celebrating the Fifth Anniversary of Union PDX With World-Premiere Dance Performances

The festival of contemporary dance kicks off on Thursday, Nov. 16, at the Hampton Opera Center.

Union PDX (Courtesy of push/FOLD)
By Bennett Campbell Ferguson

For five years, Union PDX (push/FOLD’s annual contemporary dance festival) has been a vibrant and vital part of Portland. Now, in celebration of the festival’s anniversary, push/FOLD plans to unleash a series of performances in the genres of street, Bharatanatyam, contemporary break and more as part of this year’s Festival:23.

Kicking off on Thursday, Nov. 16, Festival:23 (which will be held at the Hampton Opera Center) will feature two world premieres and two Portland premieres. Among the festival’s artists are the Italian company Compagnia Bellanda and the Dominican-born dancer and choreographer Evelyn Tejeda.

Festival:23 will also feature works from Portland companies. That, of course, includes push/FOLD, but also Open Space Dance and Los Angeles’ Outrun the Bear (and no, there are no actual dancing bears involved...that we know of).

Rounding out the program will be a student outreach performance, six master classes taught by the festival artists, and two professional development workshops. Plus, artist talks will follow the performances on Nov. 17 and 18.

Festival:23, which considered over 127 choreographer applications from around the world this year, can be viewed in person or streamed. Tickets are available on push/FOLD’s site.

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