Private Project

Moving History: Portland Contemporary Dance Past and Present

Composed of thirty-five original interviews and archival footage, this film speaks to both to the history of contemporary dance in Portland, Oregon and, at the same time, larger issues in contemporary performing arts communities, including the impact of AIDS in the 1980s, relationships between urban dance scenes and universities, the rise of gentrification and the cost of studio and performance spaces, and more. “I wanted to make this film to invite relative newcomers to recognize and learn about this history of Portland dance and to honor those who built Portland’s contemporary dance scene. I offer this film as an invitation to connect with the past,” Nordstrom says.

Beginning with the inception of the Portland Dance Theater and continuing through the Reed College Summer Dance Workshop, Art Quake, Conduit, Performance Works NW, and White Bird, among many others, Nordstrom’s film celebrates the companies and individuals that have made Portland the vibrant contemporary dance haven it is today. At its heart, Nordstrom’s film explores what it means to be a working artist and to make a life in pursuit of a deep love of dance.

Part of the goal of this film is to take this material, preserve it, and to centralize it. In conjunction with making this film, Nordstrom is partnered with the Portland State University Special Collections Archives to create Portland's first dance archive. The Portland Dance Archives houses footage of seminal performances referenced in the film, and some of the film’s interviews in their entirety. This archive is available online at http://pdxscholar.library.pdx.edu/pda.

  • Eric Nordstrom
    Director
  • Carolyn Stuart 
    Key Cast
  • Margretta Hansen
    Key Cast
  • Cerinda Survant
    Key Cast
  • Mike Barber
    Key Cast
  • Linda K. Johnson
    Key Cast
  • Joan Findlay
    Key Cast
  • Minh Tran
    Key Cast
  • Carla Mann
    Key Cast
  • Martha Ullman West
    Key Cast
  • Tahni Holt
    Key Cast
  • Mary Oslund
    Key Cast
  • Jim McGinn
    Key Cast
  • Catherine Egan
    Key Cast
  • Gregg Bielemeier
    Key Cast
  • Linda Austin
    Key Cast
  • Patrick Gracewood
    Key Cast
  • Tere Mathern
    Key Cast
  • Ashley Roland
    Key Cast
  • Bonnie Merrill
    Key Cast
  • Cathy Evleshin
    Key Cast
  • Jamey Hampton
    Key Cast
  • Josie Moseley 
    Key Cast
  • Judy Patton
    Key Cast
  • Nancy Matschek Martino
    Key Cast
  • Pat Wong
    Key Cast
  • Paul King
    Key Cast
  • Walter Jaffe
    Key Cast
  • Hannah MacKenzie-Margulies
    Assistant Editor
  • Ben Martens
    Music
  • Project Type:
    Documentary
  • Runtime:
    1 hour 12 minutes
  • Completion Date:
    April 4, 2017
  • Production Budget:
    10,000 USD
  • Country of Origin:
    United States
  • Aspect Ratio:
    16:9
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    No
  • Student Project:
    No
  • NW FIlm Center
    Portland, Oregon
    United States
    April 6, 2017
    Premiere
  • University of Oregon
    Eugene, Oregon
    United States
  • Vancouver School of Arts and Academics
    Vancouver, Washington
    United States
    September 21, 2017
  • NW Screendance Expo
    Eugene, Oregon
    United States
    October 13, 2017
  • Dance Studies Association
    Columbus, Ohio
    United States
    October 21, 2017
Distribution Information
  • Eric Nordstrom
    Country: United States
Director Biography - Eric Nordstrom

Eric Nordstrom is a dance filmmaker, performer, and teacher. As a director and editor, his films feature such prominent dancers and scholars as Simone Forti and Ann Cooper Albright. He is a recipient of grants including two Regional Arts and Culture Council (RACC) Project Grants, the RACC Professional Development Grant, and a Studio 2 Residency. In Seattle, he has performed with Karen Nelson, and in Portland, Oregon and was a core company member with Mary Oslund+Co. He studied with Mitchell Rose and Bebe Miller at The Ohio State University, where he earned his MFA in Dance. Eric has taught dance at The Ohio State University, Kenyon College, the University of Oregon, and Conduit Dance, Inc., Seattle Festival of Dance Improvisation, and is currently on faculty at Lewis and Clark College.

Add Director Biography
Director Statement

This film, "Moving History: Portland Contemporary Dance Past and Present", is the result of a decade of my own work as a professional dancer in Portland, Oregon, followed by several years of archival research and conducting the interviews that form the heart of this documentary. As I embarked on the journey to make this film, I realized that my knowledge of Portland dance history was limited. In recent years, in part due to gentrification and wider national and international spotlights on Portland, this city has seen a lot of new people with an interest in dance arrive, and through their own practices, they are becoming a part of a rich genealogy of Portland dance. I wanted to make this film for dancers, choreographers, technicians, critics, and audience members— as a proposal to connect with the past, and also an invitation to recognize and learn about this history of dance. In making the film, I realized that the story of contemporary dance in Portland is both about a very particular history of this city, and also serves as case study of how gentrification, AIDS, and town/gown relationships influence dance in many places around the United States.
 
This film is the result of archival research from libraries, individual collections, and interviews. I worked in the archives at Reed College and Portland State University, which both contain a trove of documents in the forms of photographs of past performances, press releases, course rosters, and other primary sources from when both colleges were central to the dance community in Portland, and participated in the shaping of Portland Dance. The most information has come from my one-on-one interviews with over thirty prominent figures from the history of contemporary dance in Portland. Many of the artists with whom I spoke had their own archives—old VHS tapes of their performances, often relegated to closets or basements. Part of the goal of this film is to take this material, preserve it, and to centralize it.
 
With this film, my intention is to do three things: 1. Gather information about Portland dance history through these interviews and this archival footage. 2. Preserve this information by recording the interviews and converting artists’ VHS videos into a digital format. And 3. Partner with the PSU Special Collections Archives to house footage of selected seminal performances referenced in the film, and some interviews in their entirety. Available online at http://pdxscholar.library.pdx.edu/pda.