Rogelio Lopez, Andrew Merrell, and Bahareh Ebrahimzadeh

Dreaming/Preparing/Dancing: Two Days Until Drifter with Keith Johnson/Dancers

By Jill Randall

Keith Johnson/Dancers comes to the San Francisco Bay Area for the first time this coming weekend with its production, Drifter, and a cast of eight. Drifter will be onstage at the Joe Goode Annex in San Francisco.

It is an honor to spotlight Keith’s work on Life as a Modern Dancer today. Keith was the inspiration to create this website 10 years ago! Read the background story here.

Today I share part one of a “virtual interview” I did with Keith and the cast in recent weeks.

*Updated note on Saturday, March 4, 2023:
Content warning: This performance contains scenes of violence, loud noises, and disturbing historical transcripts. Please take care of your own needs and honor your body while viewing.

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Jill Randall (JR): Keith, give me the elevator pitch in a few sentences please! What is this show about, and what is it exploring?

Keith Johnson: Drifter explores the decade of the 1960s and the sense of hope and change that was imminent. It also explores the turmoil, confusion, distrust, and disappointment that occurred. Was it all an experiment? What happens when you peel back the layers and see more clearly the undertow of the decade? On a personal level, it explores Family, Forgiveness, Redemption, Hope, and Destruction.

JR: What really excites you about Drifter?

Keith Johnson: I'm excited about this show because the dancers are remarkable. We made it before, during, and after the pandemic and never gave up on it. It has changed because the dancers in the works have changed too. Things resonate in different ways for them and myself after coming back to the studio to put it together. It also helps me to understand my childhood.

JR: For collaborators, how long have you been working with Keith?

Rogelio Lopez: I met Keith in my MFA program, and he became my mentor. I was honored to be in several of his pieces during graduate school. A year after my MFA graduation, I joined his dance company in 2015. I’ve been involved in his work ever since.

Paul Matteson: Keith and I partnered together in Terry Creach’s choreography 25 years ago. I then danced in Keith’s work in 1999 as part of a three-week intensive alongside the Ririe-Woodbury Dance Company in Salt Lake City, Utah. We rehearsed six to eight hours a day to make an incredibly physical dance, Running/Still/Life. And at the end of each day, we traveled back to a small hotel and played board games and laughed. 

I love the physical heart in Keith’s work. There is raw humanity and some unshakeable sadness buoyed by a willingness to keep on trying again. In rehearsals, the phrasing and details emerge over time. His processes are rigorous and satisfyingly relentless. There are landings of meaning that happen each day which provide the process with the same sequential momentum as his movement style. 

JR: Rogelio and Bahareh, can you share a bit more about what you also love about the work, and the process?

Rogelio Lopez: Keith has an artistic vision that inspires me to pay attention to my movement vocabulary and the costumes, lighting, and sets. He focuses on letting the movement speak without the addition of unnecessary face gestures, over dramatization of feelings, etc. The work is pure and poignant. His process offers prompts for us to investigate, and in turn he directs us and brings our strengths forward.

Bahareh Ebrahimzadeh: What I have always loved about Keith's work is that the process is very much a part of the work that is ultimately created. You don't just show up and learn steps. You build together, you contribute, your history matters, and how you approach movement matters. He looks at each body as an individual and weaves their rich history into the work. 

He does the same thing with his own life. Every piece has some bit of Keith in it, and now that I have worked with him for 16 years off and on, I feel like I can see him on stage with every work. I also love that no matter what the work is about he loves to see the body move and articulate so you'll always see some very interesting movement and partnership between dancers. He is a master of moving human bodies through space together.

Check out Drifter at the Joe Goode Annex on Friday, March 3rd and Saturday, March 4th at 8pm. Sima Belmar will lead a Q and A Friday night. Purchase your tickets here.

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