THURSDAY, MARCH 7, 2019 // 9
Nathan Boozer
Nathan Boozer, director and choreographer of Eugene-based Work Dance Company, leads a dance
number.
“We want the audience to feel like they are
included and like they aren’t there just to see
us, but that we are there to party with them,”
Boozer said.
Building community
Davis said he basically watched Boozer
grow up.
The two met in Eugene in 2001 through
the Eugene dance community. Davis was
completing his MFA in dance at the Univer-
sity of Oregon. Boozer was a 15-year-old per-
forming at local dance companies.
In 2007, Boozer started Work Dance Com-
pany, which has since received numerous
awards and sold out shows at the Hult Center
in Eugene and Portland venues.
The company began to make a name for
itself locally through their performances at the
Astoria Pride festival. “When we did our first
(Pride) four years ago I invited him to come
up and dance at the gala,” Davis said.
Davis then introduced Boozer to West.
The three share a vision for the Astoria dance
community.
“If you boil it all down to one thing all
three of us really strive for in our lives, (it’s)
building community and putting stuff out
there that helps educate and inspire,” Davis
said.
Last year, Boozer started teaching monthly
hip hop workshops at the Arts & Movement
Center. His workshops are well-attended, and
he has become a popular instructor.
“He has quite the following of dancers
here now,” Davis said. “We all secretly hope
that we’ll hypnotize him into moving here
someday.”
Its own show
The Astoria community has been incredi-
bly supportive in making the Enigmatic show
happen, Boozer said. When he was faced with
the predicament of finding lodging for his 20
dancers, the Astoria Riverwalk Inn donated
rooms for the weekend performance.
The gesture, which solved one of Booz-
er’s biggest logistical hurdles, brought him to
tears.
“It’s nice to see places like that in the com-
munity, that want to support the event,” he
said. “I feel like Astoria has that, where peo-
ple come together and it’s a community still.”
Davis and West both applaud Boozer for
inviting local dance companies to perform at
the show rather than using the dance compa-
nies he usually works with in Eugene.
“It was very important to me that the guest
groups be from here and around here...” he
said. “I want it to be its own show.” CW
Agnes Field
From left: Trixie Kerfuffle, Marco Davis and Jessamyn Grace West.