OCR Text |
Show The Salt SUNDAY/April 27, 1997 Lake Tribune JACK GOODMAN Prize-Winning Poet, Page D-4 Page D- following Stinets Keith Johnson Travels Through Dance World BY HELEN FORSBERG THE SALT LAKE TRIBUNE Keith Johnson came to Utah as a gymnast,left as a dancerandis returning this week as a choreographer. “He's in full bloom,” said his former teacher Abby Fiat, an associate professor of modern danceat the University of Utah. “There's a vitality, a weight to his work. He’s told me moreabout the humancondition throughhis senseof gesture and weight.” Johnson, a native of Tempe, Ariz., came to Brigham Young University in 1980 on a gymnastics scholarship. He was a non-Mormon ata Mor- mon school. The experience served him well, he said. “T kind of learned whatit waslike to be a minority,” he said. “There werea lot of lessons there. In his senior year at BYU, after he had complet- ed his gymnastics requirements,a friend suggested he take danceto fill his class hours. A month later, he was asked to replace an injured dancer in the student company. Johnson, 36, went on to earn a master’s degree in modern dance at the U. He danced with the Ririe-Woodbury Dance Company from 1986-94 and toured with the Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company for 18 months in its acclaimed production of “‘Still/Here.” Johnson lives in New York, where he dances * <4 with the all-male Creach/Koester Dance Compa- ny. He has spent the past month in Salt Lake City choreographing a new workfor Ririe-Woodbury. Keith Johnson, ex-Ririe-Woodbury dancer now with Bill T. Jones Company, choreographed “Traveling (Thereare nostars in mysky)" for R-W. It willpremiere Friday at Salt Lake City’s Capitol Theatre, Thetitle: “Traveling (There are nostars in my with Jones for several weeks and then was asked sky).” Inspiration comes from the constellations to join the company. “I was in awe, he said. “I never thought it would happen. I didn’t think I and from the evolution of his ownlife. Three years ago, Johnson left Utah to join the Bill T. Jones troupe. It was a dream cometrue. was the type, I thoughtit was mostly a black com- The dance company wasthefirst he had seen, guy from Salt LakeCity.” pany. I didn’t know if they would take some white when it presented the full-length “Secret Pas- Then the job with Jonesfell through. “That was “Here was this charismatic man and the perfor- equally devastating. I learned life can change in a second, because minedid.” tures” here in 1985. mancewasbrilliant,” Johnson recalled. Almost a decade later, Johnson apprenticed Shortly after, Johnson’s mother was diagnosed with cancer; he moved home to Connecticut to RIRIE-WOODBURY DANCE COMPANY - 4s ~~ May 2 and 3 — 7:30 p.m CAPITOL THEATRE 50 West 200 South Salt Lake City Tickets $25 and $16 Group, senior and student discounts available A ~~! nal illness. Jones is HIV-positive; his partner Arnie Zane, died of AIDS in 1988 The piece became the center of controversy when influential New York dancecritic Arlene Croce refused to see it, deeming it “victim art.” There werescathing rebuttals to her article in 7/he NewYorker. It paid off. He was asked to join the troupe for the second time. The job primarily involved touring the world in “‘Still/Here,” Jones’ controversial piece on accepting, and then fighting, a termi- : A. you aware of ee ZCICT Chub Yan for your dinnerware vd thre 2OMF Chub , Ae ' bitter, but I wanted to be in the company.” ition dressed in Keegistry Completion Han Cas ae help her through chemotherapy. During that time, he cameacross an ad for an audition with Bill T. Jones. “I was still a little The piece, which featuresvideosof ter ill patients talking about their diseases. See JOHNSON, Page D-6 SLCC GRAND THEATRE presents Neil Barth as Tevya aX Fa Book by Joseph Stein Lyrics by Sheldon Harnick - Music by Jerry Bock Directed by Annie Fields-Walters (na a (goatee! May 23 - June 7, 1997 ee §00-453~ gift (4438) (Zi IMI 1575 South State * Phone 957-3322 |