Mission
Conduit Dance, Inc. creates opportunities and fosters engagement for artists, students, and audiences across Oregon and the Pacific Northwest. Through its programs, the organization preserves historic works of contemporary dance, provides essential resources for artists, and offers professional training and educational opportunities that are relevant, consistent, and of the highest quality.
Conduit was founded in 1995 by Linda K. Johnson and Mary Oslund, and since 2022, has been led by Artistic Director Shaun Keylock. For the last 30 years, Conduit has supported hundreds of dancers, choreographers, performers, dance students, and teachers. Drawing from its extensive archives, the organization produces exhibitions, performances, screenings, workshops, talks, and lectures, both at its studio in Portland and in partnership with artists and other organizations nationwide.
History
Conduit began in 1995 when Mary Oslund and Linda K. Johnson discovered an empty studio in the Pythian Building on SW Yamhill in downtown Portland. Conduit Core Artists, Keith Goodman, Gregg Bielemeier, Michael Menger, and Tere Mathern joined Oslund and Johnson, sharing the space for making and performing their work and teaching as independent dance artists. Conduit quickly became a hub for contemporary dance in the region.
For the last 30 years, Conduit has supported hundreds of dancers, choreographers, performers, dance students, and teachers. Conduit’s accomplishments include providing affordable space for ongoing movement investigation, dance-making, and performance, a weekly schedule of classes taught by accomplished dance artists, annual Summer Dance Intensives, work exchange opportunities, artist residencies such as its Charged Commission Project, regional, national, and international artists performing and teaching, and a range of performance platforms over the years, most prominently Dance+ - a festival of curated, fully produced performances from 2011-2015.