Rush
Rush Johnston (they/them) is a Brooklyn-based multimedia choreographer, performance artist, poet, dancer, filmmaker, and movement researcher. Rush creates at the intersection of visual and performing art, often exploring modes of artistic expression beyond the binary. As a queer, Native, disabled artist, their work often plays with perception and identity, inviting viewers to question proposed truths of self and social misunderstanding. Social justice work is a key element of Rush’s creative vision, often encompassing themes of political turmoil, queerness, and mental health. Rush also performs as a drag artist under the name Butch Ashley and continues to subvert and bend gendered norms in experimental drag spaces.
Rush’s choreographic work has found a home within a multitude of concert and commercial dance settings, often reaching beyond the stage into site-responsive work and dance film. They are particularly invested in dance theater and immersive dance experiences and are working to actively decolonize their movement practices. They have had works selected to perform at venues across the US and internationally including Philly Fringe and International Dance Festival in Philadelphia, PA, Milwaukee Fringe Festival in Milwaukee, WI, International Human Rights Art Festival, The Tank, and Barnard Movement Lab in New York, NY, the NDEO National Conference in San Diego, CA, and ImPulsTanz Dance Festival in Vienna, Austria.
Rush holds a BFA in Dance from the Peabody Conservatory of Johns Hopkins University, as well as a Directed Studies minor in Art History. They have worked with renowned artists including Christian Denice, Danielle Agami, Yin Yue, Matthew Cumbie, Cara Hagan, Katherine Helen Fisher, Jennifer Archibald, danah bella, and Jacob Jonas. Rush has been awarded several grants including a LAUNCH Grant by the Peabody Institute toward their installation work “Making a Mess” and a South Carolina Emerging Artist grant for their dance film “SPLICE,” which works to destigmatize mental illness. In 2025, Rush was selected for the inaugural Cultivating Queer Disabled Visions residency in Borrisokane, Ireland, at which they continued their research in mushroom mycelium as a framework for queer, disabled communities.
Rush is the founder and artistic director of Kaleid Dance Collective, an interdisciplinary artistic platform for creative experiments and exhibitions. Kaleid has been selected for artist showcases throughout the country including WESTFEST, Going Dutch Festival, The Illumination Series, SLOWShare, Dance Parade NY, THAT SHOW, and NACHMO DC. Kaleid has also been commissioned by Spoke The Hub, The Tank, and MADE in the Garden for site-specific and immersive performances.
Rush has also continued their artistry in the administrative and critical landscapes, as they serve as an Administrative Coordinator to the Hunter College Dance Department, a staff writer to the Dance Enthusiast, and a Programming and Curatorial lead for Dance Parade NY. Rush is a dance researcher and scholar and will begin their graduate studies in Fall 2026 at the University of Maryland – College Park MFA Dance Program.
