Neil Ellis Orts

Neil Ellis Orts is a writer and performer, living in Houston. Visit him online at neilellisorts.com.

Collaboration in a Time of Crisis

Collaboration in a Time of Crisis

Musiqa and Open Dance Project Present Second Collaboration, Inside/Out Inside/Out is a program of two dance-for-film pieces, a collaboration between Houston’s “music collective,” Musiqa, contemporary dance company, Open Dance Project, and film artist James Templeton. The first film, “Moving Pieces,” is set in and around the Midtown Art and Theater Center Houston (MATCH) (“inside”). The […]

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Ashley Horn’s The Long Stay—The Pilot Dance Project

Ashley Horn’s The Long Stay—The Pilot Dance Project

The Pilot Dance Project began its new season of projects by various choreographers with a site specific performance created by Ashley Horn. The Long Stay took place across three floors and several rooms in the distinguished downtown edifice known as the Hotel Icon. There were five performances across one Saturday afternoon, start times between 1:00pm […]

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Gentle/Men – John Beasant and Dancers

Gentle/Men – John Beasant and Dancers

The notion of men dancing is often met with mixed reactions, not equally positive and negative. In too many cases, a presumption of homosexuality is made—and indeed, there is a history of prominent gay male dancers. Many male dancers report the awkwardness of often being the only male in a dance class, or at least […]

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Shadow Dappled Relationships. Core Dance presents As the Shadows Grow Longer

Shadow Dappled Relationships. Core Dance presents As the Shadows Grow Longer

It wasn’t choreographer D. Patton White’s idea to make this dance. He was just central to the idea. Jeffrey Clark, Patton’s college friend, first had the idea and took it to Core Dance’s Co-Founder and Artistic Director Sue Schroeder. Clark had been watching Patton grieve the sudden death of his younger brother, Claiborne, and it […]

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Dancing Edgar Allan Poe

Dancing Edgar Allan Poe

The Pilot Dance Project presents Madness, Memories, and Woe How do you follow up a dance program based on Appalachian murder ballads? This was the question facing Heather vonReichbauer after completing her Dance Source Houston Artist in Residence last year. She felt she had created some momentum via the residency (where she developed the murder […]

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Peridance Headlines Dance Month at a Post-Harvey JCC

Peridance Headlines Dance Month at a Post-Harvey JCC

Among the many sad stories we’ve all heard here in Houston since Hurricane Harvey tried to wash us away, one of the saddest is when someone finds out exactly what their insurance policy covered—and most importantly what it did not. Standing in the hallway just behind the reception desk at the Evelyn Rubinstein Jewish Community […]

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The Pilot Dance Project Presents Jennifer Mabus’ Requiem

The Pilot Dance Project Presents Jennifer Mabus’ Requiem

The Pilot Dance Project Presents Jennifer Mabus’ Requiem August 5, 2017; 2, 3, 4, 6, 7 and 8pm, the Morales Funeral Home by Neil Ellis Orts East of downtown Houston, on Canal Street, an audience gathered in the foyer of the Morales Funeral Home (the first Hispanic owned funeral home in Houston), a stately edifice […]

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The Pilot Dance Project Presents jhon r. stronks’ Once upon a time . . .

The Pilot Dance Project Presents jhon r. stronks’ Once upon a time . . .

April 28, 29, 30 and May 5, 6, 7, 2017, 7:30pm, The Pilot on Navigation freneticore.net It’s an interesting challenge to write about a choreographer whose work you’ve been looking at for the better part of a decade. I’ve watched the work of john r. stronks evolve over the years, themes shifting, presentational style morphing […]

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Karen Stokes Dance – DEEP: Seaspace

Karen Stokes Dance – DEEP: Seaspace

October 20-22, 2016, Zilkha Hall, The Hobby Center by Neil Ellis Orts DEEP: Seaspace was already in progress as the audience filtered in. Audio interviews with Houston Ship Channel captains play as performers in white, baggy jumpsuits take slow, stiff steps across the stage. They pause, turn to the audience, and offer enigmatic stares before […]

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NobleMotion Pairs with Musiqa to Give us Tonal Impact

NobleMotion Pairs with Musiqa to Give us Tonal Impact

  by Neil Ellis Orts NobleMotion Dance has been a centerpiece of the Houston dance scene since they started producing work in 2009. Known for their tightly choreographed athleticism and use of technology they always bring a bit of spectacle to the stage. Teaming up with Musiqa for an evening in Zilkha Hall, the Hobby […]

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