Vitacca Ballet’s FEM4 Places Artistic Gems on the Houston Stage 

For their fall offering, Kelly Ann Vitacca knew that she wanted her namesake contemporary ballet company to bring exciting female creators to the Houston dance scene. “To do a whole woman-created evening is something special for us,” says Vitacca. “I looked for who might be in line with our creative image, and creators who would be very […]

Kathak Multiplied: Innovation and Connection in Kalpana Subbarao’s 5×5 Performance

When we consider the purpose of dance and other art practices, we usually discuss their value as expressions of ideas and emotions, contributions to the cultural discourse, creative explorations of a subject, or awareness of a particular point of view. And this is good; if art needs justification, these purposes are more than enough. Sometimes, […]

Group Acorde’s Premiere “Beat” Explores What’s at the Heart of Mental Health and Resilience

There’s an intriguing link between the heart and your mental health. Studies reveal that a consistently elevated resting heart rate may signal anxiety, depression or even PTSD, long before other symptoms appear. The rapid pulse during moments of stress is not just a physical reaction—it’s a window into the mind’s struggles. For Group Acorde, this […]

Music is Born: Kalpana Subbarao’s 5×5  

According to the Sangita Raknakara, a definitive musicological text from 13th century India, when vocals, instruments, and dance come together, “music is born.”  On a recent mid-fall evening at the Kaplan Theater at the ERJCC, Kalpana Subbarao and her collaborators prepared to share the virtuosic rhythmic compositions and choreography that made up the 5×5 program, […]

The Reach and Limit of a Work-Life Balance – Isabella Mireles Vik presents Human Resource: Corporeal Experiences in Professionalism

Performers: Ariaza Ariaza, Lindsay Cortner, Gabrielle De La Rosa, Isabella Mireles VikSound piece: Jamie Hernandez 2024 Texas Biennial, Blaffer Art Museum/Dudley Recital Hall, University of HoustonOctober 17, 2024 Just a year ago, the Dance Dish ran an artist highlight on Isabella Mireles Vik that described her work as visceral and challenging, potentially disturbing to an audience. […]

Chapman’s Entanglements Resonates on Both a Human and Quantum Scale

“We’re in the universe and the universe is in us.”  Resonating over projected images of the cosmos, Neil deGrasse Tyson’s breathy baritone poetically summarizes our connection not only to the stars in our vast universe but to one another. Science, it turns out, posits what mystics, spiritual teachers and artists have suggested all along: We […]

Choreographing Memory: Mark Aguilar Explores His Sister’s Experiences

Choreographing Memory: Mark Aguilar Explores His Sister’s Experiences “Metamorfosis”Choreographer – Mark AguilarPerformer – Aniya Wingate Mark Aguilar’s six-and-a-half minute dance, “Metamorfosis,” starts with a montage of home video, at least one of which is date-stamped in 2009. The focus is children. Driving kiddie racecars and bumper cars. Swinging in a backyard. A family activity taking […]

A Tapestry of Femininity: Exploring The Pilot Dance Project’s “Aureate”

I imagine each member of the audience for The Pilot Dance Project’s evening-length work Aureate leaving The DeLuxe Theater in Houston’s Fifth Ward mentally clasping their own tendrils of meaning. Within the tapestry woven by Artistic Director Adam Castan͂eda and choreographer/designer Ashley Horn, one might focus on individual themes like the natural world, sacred iconography, […]