Festival:26
Foster Theater & Livestream
May 27-31, 2026
push/FOLD presents the sixth Union PDX - Festival of Contemporary Dance, a four-day festival bringing local and national dance artists to Portland's brand-new Foster Theater to perform, teach, and connect with audiences.
This year, Festival:26 features two world premiere works and three Portland premieres by artists working across Kathak, Indigenous Heritage Aztec Dance, and contemporary dance.
Across four days, you will experience live performances, masterclasses, professional development workshops, post-show talks, and public events — all taking place at the Foster Theater. All mainstage performances are presented live in Portland and livestreamed worldwide.
Festival:26 Artists
- Ritual Azteca Huitzilopochtli (Salem, OR)
- Rosanna Tavarez (Los Angeles, CA)
- Tarika Dance Company (Houston, TX)
- VOLTA (Los Angeles, CA)
- push/FOLD (Portland, OR)
Post-Show Q&A | May 29 & 30
Join us on May 29 and 30 for a facilitated Q&A with the artists. Hear about how the works were created, what inspired them, and what it is like to build a life as a professional dance artist today.
Closing Festival Soirée | May 31
Stay after the performance for our closing Festival Soirée to chat and mingle with the artists and celebrate the vitality of dance within Portland.
Social Media Links
Performances (In-Person & Livestream)
May 29 & 30 @ 7:30pm
May 31 @ 4:00pm
** May 29 & 30 | Facilitated artist-talks and Q&A follow each performance. **
Each performance features the same program so you won't miss any of these incredible artists!
Festival Soirée (In-Person)
May 31 | Post-performance
Join us as we close the festival with a swagger and a Soirée to celebrate the vibrancy of dance in Portland and mingle with the artists.
** This event is open to the public and does not require the purchase of a ticket. **
Student Engagement (In-Person)
May 28 @ 8pm
We invite Portland-Vancouver-Metro area dance students to preview Union PDX - Festival:26 during our invited dress rehearsal May 28 @ 8pm.
Interested schools and program coordinators, please contact us at contact@pushfold.org to learn more and register your students.
VENUE & BOX OFFICE
Venue & Box Office
** Box office assistance via phone closes one-hour prior to performance start. **
Venue: Foster Theater
5444 SE Foster Rd.Portland, OR 97206
Ticket Info
Supporter - $75General Admission - $45
Artist, Educator, Student - $20
Arts-for-All - $5
** Prices include all fees **
Multi-Camera Livestream - $20 & Up
Livestream tickets have virtual access through July 4.
** Prices include all fees **
LIVESTREAM
Livestream
May 29 & 30 @ 7:30pm PST
May 31 @ 4:00pm PST
** Your livestream login instructions and link are included on your virtual ticket. **
Join us live as each in-person performance at the Foster Theater is streamed to your home with an incredible multi-camera production. Make it an evening the night of the performance, or pause and come back later, virtual ticket holders have access to the livestream through July 4.
Don't forget to engage with the artists during the live artist-talk and Q&A utilizing the live-chat, and keep your eyes peeled during intermission for a special surprise.
Click Here, or on the image above to access the livestream login.
Festival:26 Artists
- Grupo Ritual Azteca Huitzilopochtli (Salem, OR)
- Tarika Dance Company (Houston, TX)
- Rosanna Tavarez (Los Angeles, CA)
- VOLTA (Los Angeles, CA)
- push/FOLD (Portland, OR)
Click on the names of the artists above to learn more and support their work.
MASTERCLASSES & WORKSHOPS
Masterclasses
Masterclass Dates and Times: TBD
Studio: Foster Theater
5444 SE Foster Rd.
Portland, OR 97206
Ages 13 to Professional
All masterclasses are free/donation-based geared towards advanced and professional movers of all genres. A suggested minimum donation is $5 at time of registration.
Participants may register in advance online, or at the door if space is available.
Tonali & Quetzali Carlos | Ritual Azteca
Danza Xōchitl-Quetzal (pron. Sho-chee-tl Ket-sal)
Aztec Dance
Class Time: TBD
This master class introduces Danza Azteca through the specific movement structure of Xōchitl-Quetzal (Precious Flower Dance), a physically demanding, rhythm-driven practice activated through live drumming. Dancers will work with repeated base steps that establish stamina, grounding, and rhythmic clarity, layered with evolving movement phrases (flor) that shift spatial focus, direction, and dynamic intensity.
The class emphasizes repetition, endurance, and precision as tools for holding form over time. Participants will experience how duality, patterning, and live rhythm shape both individual movement and collective timing, engaging fully with weight, impact, breath, and spatial organization. Designed for experienced movers, this class offers a lineage-based movement system that sharpens rhythmic responsiveness while expanding physical capacity and awareness of communal movement.
Mamie Green | Volta
Colliding Bodies
Contemporary Partnering
Class Time: TBD
Colliding Bodies explores highly physical and acrobatic partnering in a safe and grounded way. Rebound, theatricality, and gesture are used to tell stories through connection to another body. Through class, we will discover how to manage each other’s weight in unusual contexts and learn Volta's phrasework and repertory.
Rosanna Tavarez
Countertechnique
Contemporary
Class Time: TBD
A full-bodied Countertechnique masterclass that reshapes how dancers organize momentum, alignment, and direction within space. Through a focused sequence of exercises from the Countertechnique Toolbox, dancers draw on principles of anatomy, spatial awareness, and mental–physical coordination and develop clarity of intention, responsiveness to changing pathways, and increased range and fluidity within complex movement patterns.
Experienced movers will engage core Countertechnique principles strengthening connectivity, balance, and coordination while sustaining physical intensity.
Tarkia Nath
Kathak Dance Movement
Kathak
Class Time: TBD
This workshop centers Kathak as a precise, grounded movement practice driven by clarity of alignment, weight shift, and spatial design. Dancers will work with angular pathways, controlled transitions, and intentional shaping of the body to generate form, rhythm, and individuality in motion.
Drawing from the Kathak concept of ang—the body’s structural and expressive posture—the class frames spatial geometry as an active tool rather than an abstract idea. Participants are invited to apply these principles physically, using Kathak’s movement logic to refine efficiency, presence, and personal movement design.
Workshops
Masterclass Dates and Times: TBD
Classroom: Foster Theater
5444 SE Foster Rd.
Portland, OR 97206
Professional Artists
All workshops are free/donation-based professional-development classes geared towards artists of all genres. A suggested minimum donation is $5 at time of registration.
Participants may register in advance online, or at the door if space is available.
** Class schedule (dates and times) to be released soon! **
Deciphering Grants & Budgets
Session Time: TBD
Instructor: Sara Parker
Participants from all disciplines and backgrounds build a tacit understanding in how grants serve the trajectory of our professional and artistic careers, and learn to leverage grant application questions to fully inform foundations of our work in the broader context of our community and needs.
This session provides tangible tools to demystify the grant and budgeting process with strategies designed to be directly applicable to your next submission or project.
Leveraging Artist Statements
The Art of Writing About Your Art
Session Time: TBD
Instructor: Sara Parker
This interactive session guides artists to create compelling narrative and succinct writing methods for crafting language around your artistic practices. Discover techniques and strategies to unlock the power of story to promote and market your craft and take you to the next level as an artist and leader.
To Tour or Not to Tour
Tools to Tour for the Independent Artist & Company
Session Time: TBD
Instructor: Minh Tran
Are you an emerging artist looking to tour your dance work? This boot camp workshop covers the essentials—budgeting, agents, presenters, tech riders, and showcases—while also highlighting how to build valuable connections within the dance community. Participants gain practical touring skills while expanding their professional network, designed for independent artists ready to take the next step.
SPONSORS & PARTNERS
Jingzi Zhao | 2023 Union PDX Festival Artist: Sridharini Sridharan