Wind through several hallways and descend a couple of staircases in North Portland’s Jefferson High School, and you arrive at “The Dungeon”.
But there’s nothing scary about it.
Floor-length mirrors line one wall, posters of Jefferson Dancers of past years line the others. It may look a little drab, but it’s full of laughter, chatter and music.
“The Dungeon” is the home to the Jefferson Dancers: a program at Jefferson High School celebrating its 50th anniversary this year.
Steve Gonzales, a Jefferson High School alum, is the artistic director for the program.
“‘The Dungeon’ was my very first studio that I’ve ever danced in,” Gonzales said in an interview at Jefferson High School this year.
Gonzales was a dancer in the 1980s before taking over as director in 1999.
Steve Gonzales is the artistic director of the Jefferson Dancers as well as an alum of the program. In this photo from the 80s, Gonzales poses with his fellow classmates.
Courtesy Jefferson Dancers
Demetria “Bunky” Holden-William is a Jefferson Dancers alum and staff member. She leads Jefferson Dancers II, a second company that some students start with before advancing to Jefferson Dancers.
“The amount of dedication it takes to be a Jefferson Dancer was exactly the kind of push and drive I needed,” Holden-Williams said.
Together, Holden-Williams, Gonzales and other staff members teach tap, jazz, hip hop, and African dance at Jefferson High.
The expectations for participating student dancers are intense.
Demetria “Bunky” Holden-Williams is the artistic director for Jefferson Dancers II, a second company that some students start with before advancing to Jefferson Dancers. He is also an alum of the program.
Courtesy Jefferson Dancers
When you add up classes during the school day and three-hour evening rehearsals, sometimes students can spend up to five hours a day dancing.
Many schools have dance programs, but the Jefferson Dancers are nationally renowned, and its 50-year legacy is a point of pride for the school community.
Over the years, the program has received national awards and toured internationally.
Both students and staff feel the creativity that comes from dancing offers lessons students might not learn in the classroom.
“To have this much dance at a public high school is so amazing,” junior Lila Mae Wendroff said. “Dance is a very expensive hobby and thing to keep up with, so having access to such an amazing art form and this level of training is so amazing.”
Students learning more than just dance steps
Students come to the program with a range of experience.
Harlow Kleffner has been dancing since she was three. Now, she’s a senior at Jeff.
“Whenever people would ask me where I wanted to go to high school, I was like, ‘I’m going to Jefferson, so I can be a Jefferson Dancer,’” she said.
Jefferson Dancer Harlow Kleffner is a senior. She said she dancing helps her think critically, which comes in handy in other school subjects like math.
Blaine Covert/Courtesy Jefferson Dancers
Jay’Quan Lewis Price, another senior, didn’t start “seriously” dancing until high school.
“I didn’t know anything about the Jefferson Dancers,” he said. “My sophomore year, they said there were tryouts, and I was like, ‘Whoa!’, it was like this whole new world opening.”
Jay’Quan Lewis Price is a senior at Jefferson High School in North Portland. As a member of the Jefferson Dancers in their 50th year, he feels pushed to be a better performer.
Blaine Covert/Courtesy Jefferson Dancers
A large body of research shows that involvement in school activities — such as sports, band or dance programs — can be critical to keeping students engaged in academics and helping them graduate.
“School would be so much worse without the Jefferson Dancers,” said Piper Bott, a senior. “I would not be the same person without it…my confidence, my friends, and my love for the art has just skyrocketed.”
Bott said she was shy in middle school. When she started high school at Jefferson, she didn’t know anyone.
But the program provided a community, she said. Her friend and fellow senior, Danica Bynoe, giggles next to her.
“Being a Jefferson Dancer to me means that I’m able to allow myself to be creative and free around people that also love to do the same thing and that are my friends,” Bynoe said.
Danica Bynoe, a Jefferson High School senior, said being a Jefferson Dancer allows her to be creative.
Blaine Covert/Courtesy Jefferson Dancers
Gonzales said students learn commitment, motivation and how to serve as role models for other students.
Kleffner said being a Jefferson Dancer gives her something to look forward to at the end of the day. Dance helps her think critically.
“I can relate everything I learn in a dance studio to something outside of dance,” Kleffner said. “Whether it’s etiquette or math, it always connects somehow.”
Changes coming
Jefferson High School is facing changes, inside and out.
It’s next up on Portland Public Schools’ plan to modernize all of its high school buildings, with construction on the school projected to start next year.
Designs for those new studios show floor-to-ceiling windows facing the North Portland Library next door. According to the district, the fully renovated school building will be completed by the fall of 2029.
The building isn’t all that’s changing.
In just a couple of years, the plan is for Jefferson to start bringing in more local students to reverse a long-term trend of declining enrollment. That declining enrollment has also hit the dance department.
Wendroff said she’s excited about the remodel and enrollment changes, because it might mean more students will participate in the dance and arts programs at Jefferson.
“Hopefully, a lot more people are interested in the dance program, and they can learn about the Jefferson legacy, and I think it will be a great kind of restart, refresh,” she said.
With the upcoming enrollment change, the goal is to double the number of students at Jefferson.
But before then, the Jefferson Dancers get to do what they love best: perform in front of an admiring audience downtown — the way they’ve done for 50 years.
Jefferson Dancer Piper Bott didn’t know anyone when she started at North Portland’s Jefferson High School. But through dance, she met some of her closest friends.
Blaine Covert/Courtesy Jefferson Dancers
For seniors like Piper Bott, it’ll be their last Spring Concert as a Jefferson Dancer.
“When you’re dancing, it’s like you’re pushing your body to the limit,” Bott said, “but also, your emotions are also getting pushed to the limit.
“You’re performing, and you’re conveying it, and it’s very impactful on the audience, but also on you. It’s just like, it feels like you’re glowing, it feels like I’m glowing.”
Visit https://www.portland5.com/event/jefferson-dancers to learn more about the group’s 50th anniversary concert.