Readers may be familiar with Franklin’s dance program, known as Dance at Franklin — but what, exactly, is it? According to their website, Dance at Franklin’s mission is “to be a premier pre-professional training ground for interdisciplinary performance artists in Portland, Oregon with a focus on excellence, equity, and the creation of culturally relevant content.” Sonia Kellermann, Dance at Franklin’s director and the teacher of all of Franklin’s dance classes, explains the program as: “Dance at Franklin is the overarching name for all the dance that happens in this space.” Kellermann adds that Dance at Franklin is a nonprofit, and, as such, “all of [their] operating budget is [made] through grant writing, audience donations, and volunteer efforts.” It is very important to her that all programming comes at no cost to families or students.
Kellermann regularly brings in guest artists, choreographers, Franklin alumni, and even guest companies to work with students. She considers herself a generalist in terms of her technical expertise, teaching everything she is trained in and bringing in outside specialists to teach anything on which she is not an authority. Kellermann believes that it is important that different voices be brought into the dance space, and adds that while she strives to honor traditions, including through having her students learn dances from cultures around the world, “[she is] very conscientious about not pretending to speak for a community that is not [hers].” With that in mind, Kellermann makes sure to invite a variety of different artists to come in and work with her students.
On the topic of partnerships, Dance at Franklin recently partnered with White Bird, a Portland nonprofit that presents contemporary dance and brings in dance companies from out of town. Graham Cole, White Bird’s executive director, says that community outreach is very important to the organization, explaining how they work with the community in a number of ways. One way the organization tries to live out that value is through their partnerships with other nonprofit organizations to hold conversations. Coming up soon they will be partnering with the Native Arts and Cultures Foundation to engage in a conversation about indigeneity and its connection to contemporary performance on Nov. 6. This conversation is being held in conjunction with their upcoming early November performances by Okareka Dance Company, a New Zealand Indigenous dance company. Additionally, they engage in ticket equity initiatives — including student discounts that can be found on their website — and partner with other studios and companies to host workshops and masterclasses for the community. They recently partnered with the Oregon Ballet Theatre to host a workshop led by choreographer Trey McIntyre, which a number of Franklin students attended.
A key opportunity Kellermann and White Bird provided for students was a class led by a number of professional dancers from White Bird’s recently partnered dance company, BODYTRAFFIC. Professional dancers from the BODYTRAFFIC company, including Katie Garcia — who is also involved in managing BODYTRAFFIC’s education and outreach initiatives — came into Franklin during Kellermann’s 7th period Advanced Dance Performance class on Oct. 9 and taught pieces of BODYTRAFFIC’s current choreography. Kellermann described the class as an “overwhelming success,” and added that, “students got to experience what it is like to work as a professional dance artist.”
Students asked questions about the dancer’s career trajectories and were able to receive some professional advice, giving the class a “real practical value in addition to [being] just a fun experience,” says Kellermann. According to Garcia, the experience was “really fun” and the students “were very eager and willing to go to this new place that we were taking them.” Garcia adds that the group of around 40-50 students were all having fun and laughing — she believes that is one of the reasons work like this is important; being able to spread just a bit of joy in an hour and a half class is a very meaningful experience.
Engagement with different people and companies like this is something Kellermann feels is a very important aspect of Dance at Franklin. “It’s important that students get different perspectives, [and] different areas of expertise,” says Kellermann. “It’s not just enriching, it’s a vitally important part of a student’s well rounded dance education.”
Another BODYTRAFFIC dancer, Joan Rodriguez — who also works on marketing and social media for the company — says that BODYTRAFFIC, like White Bird, highly values community outreach and connection. The company makes a point to run workshops or otherwise engage with the community at every stop they make as they tour their performances.
In addition to teaching a class at Franklin, White Bird also paid for 24 Franklin students to attend the BODYTRAFFIC show on Oct. 11, while a number of other Franklin students utilized the student discount. The show was incredible — a breathtaking display of the abilities of the human body, and a mesmerizing arrangement of choreography and storytelling. After the show, there was a talkback session in which questions could be asked of the dancers, who ended up once again providing information on their career paths to interested Franklin students.
All three of these groups seem thoroughly dedicated to dance and to sharing it— perhaps equally as important. White Bird’s next show will be from Nov. 7 to Nov. 9 by the Okareka Dance Group. BODYTRAFFIC will be performing next in Beverly Hills on Dec. 6 and 7. All members of the Franklin community should keep an eye out for Dance at Franklin’s next show at their Winter Dance performances.
