Pictured: Jay'Quan Lewis-Price (above) and Sierra Miller (below) during the final performance of Soar on Friday.
The Jefferson Dancers are celebrating their 50th anniversary today at Bodyvox Dance Studio in Portland. The award-winning dance company is part of Jefferson High School. They hope to raise $25,000 to support their program. Artistic Director Steve Gonzalez has led the company for over two decades.
Steve Gonzalez
It's our biggest fundraiser of the year, and this actually started as a house party. We had it in people's homes. And then it kept getting bigger and bigger, and it grew.
KBOO
Are you feeling added pressure for the 50th anniversary?
Steve Gonzalez
Yes. Yes. I mean, and I think the dancers feel it as well. But just, you know, it's a legacy. And this is a huge milestone for us.
KBOO sat in on a rehearsal for their show, Soar.
Pictured: Senior Henry Roth (left) and Junior Lila Mae Wendroff (right) practicing at rehearsal for Soar.
Steve Gonzalez
[To team] Okay, places. Here we go. Focus, focus, focus. I know everybody's not here, but just fill in the gaps, okay?
We have four studios. This one, this is called The Dungeon. And then next door is Studio 54. Back in the day, I mean, we had I mean, this was the performing arts high school to go to, and, it drew students from all over the city, suburban, to come here for the arts for, for not just dance, but for theater as well. Music. Band. And dance. Honestly, it's the only program that held on through the reconstitution of the school and everything else.
Jay'Quan Lewis-Price
My name is Jay'Quan Lewis-Price.
KBOO
So what inspires you to dance?
Jay'Quan Lewis-Price
My family. Because, when I was, like, like, probably middle school or elementary, my sister, some of my sisters—well all of my sisters went here and I have five—and, she was on the stage, like, at a performance, and I was like, oh my gosh, here to like Jeff.
It was really cool. Like, it was really inspiring. I was like, Oh my God, I want to do that. I want to do it so bad.
KBOO
Jay’Quan said the dancers had to watch a video of the Jefferson team back in the day. He was inspired.
Jay'Quan Lewis-Price
How can we make it like that again? Like how can we bring it back? And I'm just really I really want to push my last year because I'm a senior. I want to push my last year to really, like, be like that again, like really badly, because I want to. I don't know how to say it. I want the feeling to come back, basically.
Steve Gonzalez
[To team] You have a few minutes between each of the pieces. That'll be nice. But you do need to change costumes really fast. Yeah.
We have two student pieces. The first one is going to be Harlow's, and the second one will be Piper's. They're both seniors.
Pictured: Poison Waters (left) hosted the Soar performance. Senior Harlow Kleffner waits to give an introduction to the piece she choreographed herself.
Harlow Kleffner
[To team] So this is a piece, and it's called semi-conscious, and it's basically a story about someone's semi-conscious thoughts kind of taking over and taking them on a rise.
It follows the story of Jay'Quan, and he basically falls asleep, and then he gets sort of manipulated and controlled by these monsters who are kind of like, I think of them as part of his, like, subconscious brain. And then kind of how they sort of take over him and take him on this like wild ride through, like his subconscious mind. And I, to be honest, I didn't really know where I wanted the piece to go. But I just kind of went—I did it as I went.
Piper's inspiration was emotion-driven. She won an award for her choreography last year.
Piper Bott
If you let your emotions build up for too long, it's just not going to work out in a good and healthy way. The it's the idea of people covering up their emotions and hiding it, putting on like a mask and performing and then having that mask kind of break.
Pictured: Jefferson Dancers during rehearsal for Soar.
Jay'Quan said he's nervous for the performance, but excited.
Jay'Quan Lewis-Price
It's exciting and everything imaginable because this is the 50th anniversary, like it's the biggest thing. Like, I want to, I want to, I really want to shout out for Steve because he's like, like a big influence for me, and he's showing me like he's teaching so many things, and it's so cool.
And I like it, it's like, is he over, like it's permanent, to where it's like he really showed me a path, and I'm really grateful for him. Like extremely. He doesn't even know if he really doesn't know. And I would love to continue. I want to go to college and pursue—become a professional dancer.
- KBOO