Shaun Keylock Company Carries on the Conduit Dance Legacy
Merger extends SKC’s strategy for archive services and legacy management; SKC commits to preservation of more than 20 years of Portland dance history.
PORTLAND, OR., August 24, 2022 – Shaun Keylock Company (SKC) announced today that it has completed its acquisition of Conduit Dance, Inc, a nonprofit dance organization. This transfer enhances SKC’s projects and accelerates its mission as one of the Pacific Northwest’s leading contemporary dance companies.
Effective September 2022, Conduit Dance’s board of directors, Michael Griggs, Chisao Hata, and Tere Mathern, former artistic director of Conduit, have enthusiastically and unanimously voted to transfer Conduit Dance, Inc. to SKC who shares Conduit’s mission to advance contemporary dance. The combination of these two organizations leverages Conduit’s transformative model, further allowing SKC to gain its nonprofit status and preserve more than 20 years of Portland dance history through the company’s programs.
There is a story behind this moment. 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.
Tere Mathern Dance performs at Conduit Dance, Inc., 2012
During its 20-year history (1995-2015), Conduit supported hundreds of dancers, choreographers, performers, dance students, and teachers. Many people considered Conduit their dance home and a center for connection and community. Conduit’s accomplishments included 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. After losing its space in 2015 and finding a new way forward became unsustainable, Conduit went dormant in 2016.
Mathern and SKC founder Shaun Keylock met when Keylock began taking classes at Conduit. In 2010, Keylock participated in Conduit’s work exchange program adeptly supporting its programs in exchange for dance classes and creative space. Keylock and Mathern, mentee and mentor, became friends and colleagues. Here Keylock began to form his vision for a future in dance, later earning a B.A. in Dance and Art History from Pacific University, and then starting his own company in 2018.
SKC shares Conduit’s mission to advance contemporary dance while fostering an exchange of ideas between artists and communities. The company is known for its distinctive visual style, at once technically sound and radically subversive, often exploring the many facets of LGBTQ+ identity. SKC’s first full-length production was developed through a 2019 New Expressive Works artist residency. In 2019, SKC also began building national recognition receiving the White Bird Dance Barney Creative Prize for “New Voices in Dance '' and touring to Houston to be presented at the annual Barnstorm Dance Festival.
Keylock is currently developing several new projects with his company and most recently was choreographer for the U.S. debut of “When the Sun Comes Out” a queer chamber opera directed by Alison Moritz for the Portland Opera.
Edromar Undag (left) and Kenny Frechette (right) perform Gregg Bielemeier’s “ManTango Opera Lounge” at Lincoln Performance Hall, 2021.
In 2021, Keylock initiated a project to feature works by Portland legacy choreographers such as Gregg Bielemeier and Josie Moseley to be performed by SKC dancers. Thus far, there have been two productions in this retrospective project: “Romp” (2021) and “Lovely Beautiful” (2022). Augmenting this project is SKC’s commitment to sustain the legacy of Conduit Dance by supporting an archive of its history and impact on the regional dance and artist community. SKC’s offices and studio, located in the historic Baker Building in North Portland, will become the temporary site of Conduit’s archives.
These efforts, along with Keylock’s award winning choreography motivated the Conduit Board to propose that Conduit’s mission of advancing contemporary dance be carried on and reimagined in the Shaun Keylock Company.
“I am grateful to find a way to support a new generation of dance artists and carry-on Conduit’s legacy. The impressive work that Shaun has already accomplished, and a commitment to dance sustained during one of the most challenging periods in our lifetimes, gives me confidence that SKC will be at the center of a rejuvenation of contemporary dance in our region.”
— Tere Mathern, former Artistic Director of Conduit
SKC will bring the perspective of Conduit’s history and impact to its work, finding new ways to carry that work forward, placing marginalized artists, contemporary issues, and unique and radical experiences at its heart.
“I have long admired Conduit Dance as one of the most significant responses to the necessity of dance in Portland, offering so many different opportunities for artists to create, perform, and share their work. I am excited to carry on the legacy of this important institution as we continue to build our capacity and advocate for the next generation of dance makers in our community.”
— Shaun Keylock, Artistic Director of SKC
About the Shaun Keylock Company
Shaun Keylock Company (SKC) is one of the Pacific Northwest’s leading contemporary dance companies. As a commissioner, collaborator, and presenter, SKC performs locally and nationally with the top choreographers, artists, and dancers while proudly celebrating LGBTQ+ identity in dance and the performing arts. Since its founding in 2018, the organization has been an originator of many unique projects and collaborations, from staging the first queer chamber opera “When the Sun Comes Out” to preserving the archives of community dance elders. In the progressive, independent spirit of Portland, its aim is to advance the artistry of contemporary dance and queer performance while fostering an exchange of ideas between artists and communities.