Keeping Watch

Overview

Keeping Watch is a visceral journey of coming out, daringly presented by dancer/choreographer Rush Johnston. On a journey that winds its way through growing up poor in South Carolina, the fear of revealing their queer and gender identity to family, and the general homophobia of the church, Keeping Watch is a soul bearing emotional gut punch that will stir your consciousness and emotions to their cores. Rush takes the audience on this ride directly, breaking the fourth wall by speaking their hopes, fears and dreams to those that will listen and understand. This brave, bold work contains some nudity and graphic imagery, and is suggested for an audience over 18.

Cannonball, produced by Almanac Dance Circus Theatre, is the first and largest independent festival hub of the Philadelphia Fringe that presents risk-taking independent artists in back-to-back performances next to delicious lounge spaces, fostering creative collisions and community conversation.

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About the Artist

Rush Johnston (they/them) is a Bronx-based multimedia choreographer, performance artist, poet, dancer, filmmaker, and movement researcher. Rush creates at the intersection of visual and performing art, often exploring modes of artistic expression beyond the binary. As a queer, Native, neurodiverse artist, their 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 Rush’s creative vision, often encompassing themes of political turmoil, queerness, and mental health.

Rush’s 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. They have had works selected to perform at venues across the US and internationally including Koresh Artists Showcase and International Dance Festival in Philadelphia, PA, Milwaukee Fringe Festival in Milwaukee, WI, Falling In Dance Festival and ESTIA Day Fest in New York, NY, the NDEO National Conference in San Diego, CA, and ImPulsTanz Dance Festival in Vienna, Austria. Additionally, Rush’s work reaches beyond the proscenium stage into the realm of installation and dance theater with their works “Making a Mess” and “Keeping Watch.”

Rush graduated from the South Carolina Governor’s School for the Arts and Humanities in 2018 and holds a BFA in Dance from the Peabody Conservatory of Johns Hopkins University. During their time at Peabody they have worked with renowned artists such as Kyle Abraham, Christian Denice, Danielle Agami, Yin Yue, Matthew Cumbie, and Katherine Helen Fisher, as well as Jennifer Archibald and Jacob Jonas through residencies and summer intensives. In 2021, Rush was awarded a LAUNCH Grant by the Peabody Institute toward their installation work. Rush is the founder and artistic director of Kaleid Dance Collective, an interdisciplinar

Credits