It might be easy to overlook the passing of Portland’s Keith Goodman. Goodman — who died yesterday of an apparent heart attack at the conclusion of a dance performance — wasn’t nationally notable, after all. As a result, his death will be missed by many PDX people, sandwiched in as it is between the recent high-profile celebrity deaths of Ed, Farrah, MJ and now Oxi-Clean pitchman Billy Mays.
But Keith — a noted dancer and choreographer — had more direct positive impact here in Portland over the years than any of the aforementioned celebrities for thousands of kids here in Portland. As a long-time dance instructor and staff member at Buckman Elementary, he taught students — especially boys — that dance was powerful, accessible, moving, and yes — cool. He continued that work with his troupe Dance Gatherer, holding annual summer camps for kids. And his gentle spirit impacted everyone around him, dancer or not.
My own daughter, now a former Buckman student (as of two weeks ago) has her own strong memories of Keith. And even though she’s not much of a dancer (she says, anyway), we stopped by to say goodbye to Keith on the last day of school. (I reminisced about the fact that he was the first one to give her a voice solo as part of a dance performance back in 1st grade, and chuckled about the fact that, even then, she didn’t think it was notable enough to mention to her parents ahead of time so we’d be prepared with the camera!)
The recent spate of celebrity deaths have left my two kids unaffected, for the most part (although I was able to share my appreciation for Jackson’s talents via old YouTube video clips in a “this was once cool, children” kind of way.)
My daughter’s at the coast right now with her dad for the weekend. I could answer the questions about Jackson’s alleged craziness, or Farrah’s pop icon beginnings with ease before. (I won’t need to go into detail about Mays, thankfully; he’s not on her radar.)
But I honestly don’t know how I’m going to be able to tell her about Keith later tonight.
(There will be a memorial for Keith at some point, and the Buckman community & staff are planning how best to honor him as part of that memorial. I’ll post and/or point to details once I know them.
More about Goodman here:
The O – Keith Goodman: A celebration of grace
Keith V. Goodman, Portland dancer, dies at 54)
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