NobleMotion Dance Joyfully Returns Live and In Person

“This year has felt more theatrical than anything I could put on stage,” says Andy Noble, co-director of NobleMotion Dance.  His lively descriptions of We Interrupt this Program, the latest collaboration with wife and fellow co-director Dionne Sparkman Noble, belie his statement. Straight-faced dancers spaced equidistantly in a bizarre line dance gives way to a […]

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 […]

The Rhythm Lives As They Enter – Review of Kalpana Subbarao’s Ritmo Zindagi

Foot-tapping is an understatement when describing this heart-pounding work. A pulsating rhythm pumping life into the theater, Kalpana Subbarao’s Ritmo Zindagi (Rhythm of Life) is electrifying. The Spark Dance Grant recipient presented an outstanding new work in Act 1 of Silambam Houston’s August 13th performance at Miller Outdoor Theatre. The performance commences in darkness, with […]

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 […]