Tonight and tomorrow are the last chances we have to save Portland’s contemporary dance center, Conduit.

Dance needs space; space to rehearse, space to perform. Much of Portland’s most innovative dance—from experienced choreographers and the young and hungry—happens at Conduit Dance (918 SW Yamhill Avenue, Suite 401). Here, audiences find performance, dancers find classes and space to dance, choreographers find space to work out their ideas and rehearse their companies. And Conduit has been at it for 14 years.

Now is the time for all good dance lovers to come to the aid of their Conduit. If you followed the hullabaloo over OBT’s financial crisis, you know that it’s tough times for arts organizations. And the small-to-mid sized are even harder hit. So go out and enjoy the We Are Conduit DANCE benefit concerts, Friday and Saturday at 8 PM. $15-$100.

With work by James Healey, Jim McGinn, Anne Mueller (OBT), Oslund+Co/Dance, POV DAnce, Tere Mathern Dance (Friday only), and Candace Buchard & Adrian Fry (OBT) (Saturday only).

Read this history of Conduit and where it fits into Portland dance history that Martha Ullman-West wrote on the occasion of Conduit’s ten-year anniversary.

And Barry Johnson reports on the situation Conduit finds itself in, some ways out of it,, and why Conduit matters.