Some of the world’s premier dancers and choreographers come to the Bates Dance Festival in Lewiston to teach, perform, learn, collaborate and set new trends in the art of dance. As the 30th season winds down, Paul Matteson, who grew up in Cumberland, is a shining example of just how important this festival is to the world of dance.

A typical jock in high school, a member of the baseball, hockey and ski teams, Matteson became interested in the theatre. Being involved in the plays at school conflicted with his team sports. Still, he found time to squeeze it all in before graduating from Greely High School.

His aspirations and career goals became unclear, so after a year at Middlebury College in Vermont, bouncing from psychology, religion and theatre, “I felt lost,” Matteson said while taking time out from rehearsing at Merrill Gymnasium at Bates on Monday afternoon to talk about how he ended up here.  

He took a leave of absence from college and headed out west to become a “ski bum in Wyoming. When my money ran out, I came back to Portland. I read about the Ram Island Dance Company and just showed up to a class being taught by Gwyneth Jones. She said it was too advanced for me, but encouraged me to keep coming.”  That’s when he heard of the Bates Dance Festival and enrolled as a student for the 1993 festival.  

It was then that he realized his calling was in dancing. He re-enrolled at Middlebury and changed his major to dance. During the summers, he kept coming back to the dance festival at Bates and caught the eye of some of the world-renowned choreographers who were teaching and performing.

He moved to New York with the promise of being part of a project that one of the teachers from the Bates Dance Festival was working on. After that, he waited tables and auditioned for other projects and performances. He was a freelancer, dancing in various productions before being picked up by the David Dorfman Dance Company. He then became a principal dancer with the internationally touring Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company from 2008-2012, performing all over the world and at The Kennedy Center Honors. For a dancer, this is comparable to being a baseball player in the major league and appearing in the World Series. He is at the top of his profession now, focusing on his own choreographic collaborative explorations.

During his fast-tracked rise to the top, he still returned to the Bates Dance Festival. In 2000, Matteson came back as a performer.  The next summer, he was part of the emerging choreographers program. The past four summers he has been teaching at the festival.  

“Right now, I am looking for a little stability in my life. I am married and want my daughter to have a permanent home. I have accepted a teaching position at Amherst and Mt. Holyoke in Massachusetts, part of a five-college collaborative.” The Five College Dance Department is one of the largest dance departments in the country, combining the programs of Amherst, Hampshire, Mount Holyoke and Smith Colleges and the University of Massachusetts at Amherst.  

Teaching, experimenting, creating and exploring the world of dance is part of the culture at the Bates Dance Festival. World-renowned performers and choreographers come to not only teach what they know, but to learn from others, experiment and investigate new ideas and techniques.  “It has a reputation as a home for artists. Collaboration and an exchange of ideas is what makes it so special.” Matteson said.  From a fledgling student learning the basics to being recognized and renowned, Paul Matteson has come full circle at the Bates Dance Festival.