Dance Salad Festival Will Again Serve Houston Audiences Distinctive Dance Dishes

Now in its twenty-fourth year in Houston, Dance Salad Festival will again serve audiences a feast of contemporary and classical dance, with at least two US premieres and three world premieres from nationally and internationally-recognized choreographers. I had the privilege to connect with Valentina Marini and Sussanna Leinonen, and our exchanges reflect both an appreciation […]

Debra Dickinson Presents “Jerome Robbins on Broadway” at ERJCC

Even if one is not a fan of Broadway musicals, the name and legacy of Jerome Robbins is clearly understood, especially as a dancer. I can’t say this with definitive certainty, but I’m sure that everyone with an inclination to move has had, at least at one point in their lives, a fantasy of themselves […]

METdance Celebrates Unity in ‘Better Together’

METdance’s upcoming production Better Together features a selection of six works that demonstrate the power and strength in unity and how connection is sparked through community and collaboration. The theme of this show is as to the point as the title suggests. “The way the that the world is right now – we are better […]

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, […]

The Dance Gallery Festival/Texas Experience: Offering a Taste of the Trajectory of Contemporary Choreography in New York and Texas

For two nights at the Gaertner Performing Arts Center Dance Theater at Sam Houston State University (SHSU), audiences partook of ten pieces by ten different artists chosen from over 300 submissions, reflecting a tightly woven network between Huntsville, Texas, and New York City. The duet-heavy show offered a progressive dance dinner to the nearly-full house, […]

Constructing Life Among Art: Karen Stokes Dance Premieres Multi-layered Work at MATCH

Imagine a world so largely consumed by art that people move among masterpieces as mere ants in nature. There is an intimate connection between creative forms of expression, as well as art and our everyday existence that choreographer Karen Stokes explores in her latest work, “Gallery Construction.” By turning stationary creations into an intriguing and […]

Never Again

Never Again Reminding us of history so that we need not repeat it The work of choreographer Toni Leago Valle has often dealt with political subjects, particularly issues faced by women. Motherhood in I am Goddess and female body image in Cracked, for example. So when I say with Never Again Valle may have produced […]

The Sky Was Wild With Sunshine

In the vestibule of Matchbox 2 at Midtown Art & Theater Center Houston (MATCH), Pilot Dance Project dancers Adam Castaneda and Shanon Adame engage in a coy kinetic conversation under a tent of crunchy gold fabric. Over a soundtrack of twinkly tunes, they slink playfully through its backdrop of colorful string arranged in a rainbow […]