The Privilege (and Threat) of Isolation: Open Dance Project Presents All the Devils are Here: A Tempest in the Galapagos

Power, death, intrigue, possession, revenge, empire. These are just a few of the themes that swirl around Open Dance Project’s All the Devils Are Here: A Tempest in the Galapagos, co-sponsored by DiverseWorks. The hour-long immersive production, choreographed by Annie Arnoult in collaboration with 11 ODP performers will be livestreamed from Midtown Arts & Theatre […]

Community, Collaboration, and Care: Houston Contemporary Dance Company Ushers in a Return to Live Performance with “Parallel Play”

Houston, who’s ready to play?  As the arts world cautiously emerges from its over year-long lockdown on live performance, Houston Contemporary Dance Company (HCDC) will present “Parallel Play” for Houston audiences April 16 and 17 at Discovery Green.  “Parallel Play” captures the pandemic sentiment in which we have found ourselves “alone together”. More specifically, “Parallel […]

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 […]

Dance Gallery Festival’s Eleven Course Texas Experience

After marking its 13th year in New York City just last weekend, the Dance Gallery Festival (DGF), made its annual leap to Texas, celebrating its tenth year at Sam Houston State University (SHSU) in Huntsville on Oct. 4 and 5. Held at the hilltop James and Nancy Gaertner Performing Arts Center, the sold-out Friday evening […]

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 […]

Closing the Loop: Jefferson Pinder’s Fire and Movement

I first met Ashley DeHoyos, Assistant Curator for DiverseWorks, Jefferson Pinder, the director of Fire and Movement, and Joseph Lefthand, who led drill instruction for the performers, on a balmy summer day in midtown Houston at a coffee house that was once a gas station. It seemed the perfect location to discuss with the Fire […]

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 […]

Delving Into History In Order To Move Forward

Delving Into History In Order To Move Forward: the unnamed three’s Hatch, and Brother(hood) Dance’s HAWA (The Ride), in collaboration with the Pilot Dance Project I will not have my life narrowed down. I will not bow down to somebody else’s whim or to someone else’s ignorance.—Bell Hooks If I didn’t define myself for myself, […]

Bodies of Light – A Review

I’d watched the construction of Nestor Topchy’s inner Loop art compound, Facebook post by Facebook post, but had not visited until the April 13th performance of  Bodies of Light, choreographed by Rebecca French. Few venues would have been as well suited as the Glass Crescent, one of the performance spaces on the property. I sat […]

“I Don’t Know Who This Is For”: In the loosening grip, jhon r. stronks explores gender performance

As a biracial, queer, nonbinary writer and artist, I always ask a person upon first introduction what pronouns they use. Although I’d met dancer/choreographer jhon r. stronks before, we’d never spoken at any length in person. Over email I asked Stronks what pronouns to use in this review (among other questions), but to this question, […]