Creating with care, collaboration, and a creative eye
interview with Open space’s franco nieto
We're thrilled to kick off our 2026|2027 mainstage season with Portland-based dance company Open Space’s production, Do You See Me?
So, we put Open Space’s Artistic Director, Franco Nieto, in the hot seat and asked about his creative process, collaborations, and what inspired the creation of Open Space. Here’s a window into the artist and show!
Us: Let’s start by talking about the first inspirations for Do You See Me?
Franco Nieto: The first sparks for Do You See Me? actually began when I met Onry, our musical composer and live vocalist for this work. We met back in pandemic times, and I immediately became a super fan.
Through some one-off collaborative projects and a serendipitous collaboration, ideas started brewing for us to collaborate on a full evening-length work with the company where Onry could compose and perform live.
Us: Tell us a little bit about your creative process? How do you go about creating a work that is rooted in vulnerability and personal experience?
Franco Nieto: The idea of creating an autobiography felt very vulnerable (almost too vulnerable), so I started someplace that felt less intimidating. We began by pulling from the dancers’ stories and experiences of being seen or unseen and started creating phrase work from that.
As we moved further along, it felt impossible not to put some of my own narrative into the piece.
I brought back three or four of my past works for Do You See Me?, which made the piece feel like a choreographic biography in its own right. It’s been interesting to revisit those works and see the kind of choreographer I was in each of those moments. I had to give myself grace to look at them with fresh eyes and the knowledge I’ve gained since, and to approach the piece with care rather than a desire to change it.
Overall, I feel that the work has moments that speak directly to my life, and then there are moments that are abstracted enough for people to experience and interpret as their own.
Us: This piece is full of collaboration — with a composer, costume designer, dramaturg, and company members. How has that influenced the work?
Franco Nieto: The work is really steeped in the collaborators’ passion for creating good art. Everyone I asked to collaborate was willing to just go for it.
As I said before, the musical collaboration with Onry was the first piece of the puzzle. He's a dual vocalist who sings opera and soul, adding a lot of range to the performance. During the creation process, we didn’t put the choreography to his compositions until the week before the show, which allowed for magic to happen in real time.
I also reached out to another friend, Joshua Myrie, who is an amazing fashion designer, and created all the costumes for this work. And then, I brought in Noelle Kayser, who's been our founding resident choreographer for the last three years. She's someone I highly trust and acted as a sounding board for all of my ideas.
Us: Some audience members may remember seeing you perform at the Westside back in 2024, when we brought LED’s Kid Lightning. What does being a sister-company with LED look like for Open Space?
Franco Nieto: Lauren and I go way back. She was the first choreographer I worked with at Northwest Dance Project, and we reconnected in my mid-30s when I began working with her company, LED, in Boise.
Around the same time I started dancing with LED, I was also launching Open Space. As Open Space grew, many dancers began working with both companies, which sparked a new conversation: What could a sister-company relationship look like? Could we coordinate our planning and organization to build our seasons in tandem or with the freedom to share work with each other’s communities?
At the heart of this collaboration was a shared commitment to supporting the artists who dance with both companies. While Open Space and LED operate on a part-time basis, we wanted to create a model that would allow these artists to experience something closer to a full-time season, with more consistent work and greater financial stability.
Us: Open Space is rooted in community as well as youth education and programming. How do those aspects of the organization influence the Company and the art you create?
Franco Nieto: We created Open Space The School first, and then The Company. It was important to us to establish a strong foundation for a school we truly believe in—one that could benefit young people while also serving our communities here in Portland. The Company came second because we wanted to make sure we were building an education program that would genuinely serve these kids and give them the foundation they deserve.
Through my own experiences as a dancer, I’ve learned that validation can help us achieve those goals. I think people feel safer and more confident when they know they’re on the right path, which has very much influenced me as an educator.
Do You See Me? is presented as part of our 2026|2027 season at the Westside Theater, October 23-25, 2026. Click to reserve tickets.
Want to hear more? Join us for a Special Pre-Show Event: Behind the Creative Process with Franco Nieto Sunday | OCT 25 | 4:30-5:30pm