Artist Profile #100: Keith Johnson (Long Beach, CA)

From Blog Director Jill Randall:

In the fall of 1996, Keith Johnson came and spoke in my Senior Seminar course at the University of Utah. I was very taken by him, and this conversation has stayed with me for many years. Keith was one of the first professional dancers I heard speak honestly and directly about his career path. 

I held onto his story for years. As I reached the point in my life where I was now mentoring and starting to share my own story about my career path, I wanted to find a way to share stories just like Keith's - stories that would be honest, direct, current, and helpful to future dancers. Keith's story was the seed for the entire Life as a Modern Dancer blog project.

It is an honor to have Keith be the 100th artist profiled on this blog. I am so moved that 100 artists have offered their time to share their stories. I thank each and every artist for sharing their story. Through this blog, we are reflecting, having dialogue, and getting inspired. Here's to more dancing and art making!

Thank you, Keith, for your inspiration.

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Hometown: Military brat but I consider Tempe, Arizona my hometown.

Current city: Long Beach, California

Age: 54

College and degree: Brigham Young University — Travel and Tourism/Geography

Graduate school and degree: University in Utah, MFA in Dance — started when I was 25, left and finished when I was 32.

Website: keithjohnsondancers.com

How you pay the bills: Faculty member at California State University, Long Beach and commissions for making dances.

All of the dance hats you wear: Choreographer, teacher, costume designer, organizer.

Non-dance work you do: I have worked retail but thankfully don’t have to do that these days. I’ve also coached gymnastics.

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Describe your dance life in your…. 

20s: I started dancing at 23 after I quit gymnastics and had a lot of time on my hands and a lot of energy. I was curious to try new things while I was finishing up my undergraduate degree at Brigham Young University. I didn’t like school but made the best of it and made some great friends and met some interesting characters. I went to BYU on a gymnastics scholarship. I am Catholic/Gay and liked to have fun so I’m not sure if I made the right choice of schools. However, I loved the Coach (Wayne Young), my teammates, and the Department of Dance at BYU was very encouraging, so I stayed. I worked for Sundance Summer Theatre (Pippin and Fiddler On The Roof) in the chorus and got a lot of experience on stage doing six shows a week all summer. I auditioned for Ririe-Woodbury and didn’t get in but was encouraged to apply to the MFA program at the University of Utah. I didn’t really want to go back to school but knew I needed more training. Abby Fiat talked to me and encouraged me. I trusted her wholeheartedly and decided to audition. I got in and attended school and loved it, but at the end of the year, Ririe-Woodbury held auditions again and I got in. I started in the company when I was 25. I was clueless, but years in sports had made me determined and focused. I danced with Ririe-Woodbury and did other gigs to make ends meet such as choreographing routines for gymnasts and teaching. At first, Ririe-Woodbury did not pay a consistent rehearsal salary so I also was on food stamps, took public transportation, and depended on unemployment funds. 

30s: I continued to dance for Ririe-Woodbury, finished my MFA, got tired of living in Salt Lake City and moved to Connecticut (to take care of my mom), and then to New York City where I danced with Creach/Koester and the Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company. I auditioned for lots of things that I didn’t get. I worked at Banana Republic (folding sweaters mostly!) to make extra money. I did residencies around the country when I could get them. I eventually applied and got the job at California State University, Long Beach and lived back and forth in NYC and California so I could still work for Terry Creach. I then was offered a job with Doug Varone and took a leave of absence from teaching to move back to New York. I formed my own company in 1998 to explore making dances outside of the university settings and for my own personal growth.

40s: I continued to dance with Doug Varone and Dancers until my body (hips) started to be in enormous amounts of pain. My mother died of ovarian cancer during my second year in the company, and I began the painful process of letting go both physically and emotionally to a dance life I loved so much. I wondered if I could even continue in any capacity. I developed quite a strong “love” for the painkiller Celebrex and could still perform but offstage could barely walk. Doug Varone and I talked and we carved out a plan for me to leave his company. He did this with incredible generosity, kindness, support, and love. He knew I was physically in pain and wanted to keep dancing, but we both understood that I would eventually not be able to go on. I finished up with Doug and went back to teaching. Within a month, I was walking with a cane and wondering how I could survive academia. My teaching actually became stronger because I developed a stronger eye for watching students. I continued to make work on the students, on other companies, and for my group. We toured a bit. I eventually got both hips replaced, got another major illness, made it through the tenure process. I bought a house and fell in love living in California. I also worked a bit with my friends Colleen Thomas, Nancy Bannon, and Bill Young. 

50s: My 50s have been the best. I still dance/perform every once in a while.  I worked with Victoria Marks for a bit. I choreograph a lot on my students and my company. I still do residencies. I make dance films with my friend Gregory R. R. Crosby. I’m a Full Professor now so I have the tenure promotion process behind me. I love to garden, am obsessed with goldfish, have two cats, am happily single (most of the time!). I never fold my sweaters anymore.

A turning point:

I was offered a job with Bill T. Jones, and after a long turn of events, lost it and was crushed. I thought I couldn’t live. I was so heartbroken, but I saw a post for an audition for Bill’s company and I showed up. I learned how strong I was and that I was a fighter. I got the job and I never was afraid again.

Major influences:

Abby Fiat, Ford Evans, Bill T. Jones, Doug Varone, Stephen Koester, Terry Creach, Joan Woodbury, Shirley Ririe, Loa Clawson, Kathy Johnson Clarke, Mike Naddour, Joe Goode.

Mentors/someone who believed in you:

Abby Fiat’s guidance and support for me has never waivered. I think she believed in me when I couldn’t see myself being able to accomplish things. Not a day goes by that I don’t think of something she told me in the classroom or in a private conversation. She anchored me and allowed the rope to be long so I could really drift and see the world.

On perseverance and determination:

Have courage, don’t give up, fight back, find your voice, define success for yourself and not how others define it.

With your company, how do you find dancers? How many are former students? How many live in the Long Beach area? Do you also work with dancers from around the country? If so, how do you creatively use time and space to make work?

I usually know the dancers who work for me on a personal level. I don’t do auditions. In many ways, I’m a shy person, and tend to be a loner, so it’s hard for me just to hire someone that I don’t know. I’ve done it once or twice and have had mixed results. I don’t like doing auditions because it just really doesn’t show me much. I use former students because I know them but am starting to move away from some of that as well. It’s hard on them to feel like they are still students and sometimes they want to move on because they want other opportunities to grow. I understand it and yet quite often I get really hurt. It’s like a break up. Right now my dancers are living everywhere around the country. It’s expensive to plan projects but I like this model best for me. I can’t rehearse consistently so I’d rather do intensive periods of rehearsal with each dancer understanding and knowing his/her responsibility before showing up. I’m constantly working on the works on myself or in my head so I run an efficient rehearsal process. When everyone is around, I like long hours and it’s like family. Sometimes I’m annoying and a pain in the ass to work with and sometimes I’m fun. I’m always grateful to the dancers and for their contributions. It’s painful for me when they leave after a process and even more painful if it’s permanent. I hate to let dancers go but I have done so because they didn’t work out. It’s very hard to do, so I make sure I choose carefully. I like a balance of genders, ethnicities, older, young, gay, straight, nerds, hipsters, parents, introverts, extroverts, funny, religious, non-religious, dramatic but they have to love my work and my process. They have to be inclusive of everyone in the room. They have to have courage and want to be in the room and do the work. I have to trust them or we are doomed.

What are the skills a modern dancer needs in 2015?

Perseverance and commitment. I would say the ability to be versatile, but not everyone wants that model, and maybe that doesn’t mean success to them personally. I think you have to care about the work more than anything, and to do that, you may need to sacrifice something along the way. I’m impressed by the young dancers coming up who think of new possibilities for staying in the art form even when the odds are against them. That inspires me. It’s fascinating.

The role of teaching in your career….what do you love most about teaching? What are some of its challenges? 

I’ve always loved teaching because I’ve had remarkable teachers that shaped the way I viewed the world. I am not a great student but I love to learn and I love that so many teachers have planted seeds of curiosity that made me want to go find out answers for myself. I love doing that now. I struggle with students who are passive in their learning, that don’t have a voice, that only think in terms of product. The academic institution and all its curriculum models, meetings, politics are crazy to me too from a teaching standpoint. I am deeply moved when a student finds me privately to say thank you for helping him/her and am distraught when a student wants to buy me a doughnut so he/she will get a higher grade.

On injuries and care for the dancing body:

LOL…..The body doesn’t last!! I wouldn’t change a thing. I’m beat up, can barely walk some mornings, hurt in weird places, but I respect and love my body for the journey we have been on. It’s been a wild ride ---- from my gymnastics career, to diving into Bill T. Jones's arms in "D-Man In The Waters," to dancing with Doug Varone in "Rise," to wondering how I would get from one day to the next. I also have eaten great food, had great sex, drank, did drugs, smoked, laid out in the sun for hours, and pushed my limits physically. I have no regrets….not one! It’s been hard to watch it break down. I get frustrated and sad but also have a deep-rooted joy about what I’ve accomplished. It’s a gift to move, and even on the days when it’s a struggle to put one foot in front of the other, I am still overjoyed by it. 

Can you talk a little about your interest in visual arts? What are you currently exploring and studying?

I love the visual arts and have dabbled in painting, printmaking, found object art, and sculpture. In my heart of hearts, I’d like to retire from dance and then study sculpture and do printmaking. I am working my way slowly towards this realization but am not ready to let go of dance/choreography yet. I’m still curious about making work…. maybe more now than ever before. I still want to make a work that surprises even me. I want to leave a body of work in both dance and visual art that someone may connect with and wonder, “How did he get there?” in another generation long after I’m gone.

Final advice to young dancers:

Trust yourself and your gut feelings over everything else. Don’t sell your soul for celebrity. Love process over product. Be kind. Have courage.

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Comments

[Laurence F. Johnson Sr.]

Dear Keith ,

I am so proud of you . Your artistic and athletic talent was evident from birth and brings back so many memories of that truth.We could go on for hours.You learned a valuable lesson in life when you discovered that " you can never be a loser by falling down,put down or knocked down.You are only a loser when you refuse to get up."

Take Care, God Bless and wishing you further successes,
Love, Dad

[Laura Johnson]

Dear Kiki,

You have been my mentor and inspiration, favorite delite and joy since I can remember, and frankly always will be. I may have not seen all your works and pieces but rest assure I understand their depth and value, perfection and human touch. You are an amazining and a huge sparkling lit spirit which I have been so lucky to have in my life. I know your deep, dark, intense sacrificies and ultra perfection and can never ever deny it. My brother....you are brilliant and gifted and soooo loved by many many many. Meet me in the front yard, we can practice and share our understood laughter! So very proud. Love, Your Sassle McFrissle

[Rick Curtis]

Keith-

What a great story of seeking and finding one's passion. Hope all is well my friend....

Rick Curtis