Help Rush Dance and Choreograph in Vienna!

Hi, my name is Rush Johnston, and I'm a dancer and choreographer based in Baltimore, MD. I've recently been selected as one of twenty participants for the ATLAS Choreographic Training Programme at ImPulsTanz International Dance Festival in Vienna, Austria. Partaking in this program has been a long-term dream of mine, and I need your help to make it come true.

ATLAS is an elite choreography program where aspiring dance makers can come together from all over the world to collaborate, receive top-tier mentorship, and workshop new ideas. This program uniquely offers a dynamic research environment to intensively work on artistic development through feedback and peer-to-peer exchange. Over the course of a month, it provides studio space, performance opportunities, and ways to share my work, as well as a rich network of emerging and mid-career artists to engage with during my time there.

ATLAS is part of ImPulsTanz, Vienna's International Dance Festival. Founded in 1984, ImPulsTanz has become one of the most distinguished festivals for contemporary dance worldwide. Every summer thousands of professional dancers, choreographers, teachers and dance aficionados from all over the world come together to exchange ideas, investigate together and inspire each other and turn Vienna into the epicentre of contemporary dance and performance. More than 100,000 people visit the festival each year, making it the biggest of its kind in Europe. There are more than 140 performances in different venues all over Vienna and around 240 workshops and research projects to take part in.

It is a tremendous honor to be selected as a choreographer for such a prestigious program, and any way you can help me participate in this opportunity would be greatly appreciated.

A Little More About Me

I am a Baltimore-based multimedia choreographer, performer, filmmaker, and movement researcher. I create at the intersection of visual and performing art, often exploring modes of artistic expression beyond the binary. My work often plays with perception and identity, inviting viewers to question proposed truths of self and social misunderstanding. Social justice work is a key element of my creative vision, often encompassing themes of political turmoil, diversity, and mental health.

I graduated from the South Carolina Governor’s School for the Arts and Humanities in 2018. I am currently earning my BFA in Dance at the Peabody Conservatory of Johns Hopkins University and am in my final semester this Spring. During my time at Peabody I have worked with renowned artists such as Kyle Abraham, Danielle Agami, Yin Yue, Matthew Cumbie, and Katherine Helen Fisher, as well as Jennifer Archibald and Jacob Jonas through residencies and summer intensives.

Additionally, I am a creator and collaborator. My choreographic work has found a home within a multitude of concert and commercial dance settings, often reaching beyond the stage into photography and dance film. Finally, I am the founder and artistic director of Kaleid Dance Collective, an interdisciplinary artistic platform for creative experiments and exhibitions.

Thank you so much for considering giving to my next creative venture!