On Firmer Footing: Houston Contemporary Dance Company presents Terra Firma in its Return to the (Indoor) Stage

After nearly two years of navigating a pandemic and managing increased awareness of political tensions and racial violence, we all could benefit from firmer footing. Houston Contemporary Dance Company (HCDC) will take the lead, offering their expression of finding solid ground with Terra Firma at the Hobby Center for the Performing Arts on Saturday November […]

SPA Presents the premiere of Harrison Guy’s Colored Carnegie

The Society for the Performing Arts presents the premiere of Colored Carnegie by choreographer and cultural trailblazer Harrison Guy on November 12 and 13, 7:30pm, at Jones Hall. Through dance, new music, spoken word, sets, and costumes, Colored Carnegie tells the story of the segregated branch of the Houston Public Library. With the hire of […]

Houston Contemporary Takes Jones Hall in New SPA Initiative

When Meg Booth moved to the Bayou City from the East Coast to take up her current position as CEO of the Society for the Performing Arts, she came with the understanding that the city’s vibrant arts ecosystem was one-of-a-kind. “One of the reasons why I was enticed to come to Houston was because the […]

The Hour is Coming, and It is Now: Adam Castaneda’s Lazarus in the Promised Land

On November 6 and 7, 2021 at The Storyhive, Adam Castaneda premiered Lazarus in the Promised Land, a brand-new, evening length work exploring the story of Castaneda’s paternal grandparents, Lazaro and Adelina, who, upon migrating in Houston from Mexico in the 1950s, became Jehovah’s Witnesses, raising their children and grandchildren in accordance with the denomination’s […]

Chapman Dance Provides a Welcome Sanctuary

Standing in line at the MATCH box office; sliding into a stranger-adjacent seat while sending a wave to an acquaintance on the opposite side of the intimate theater; noting the hush as house lights dim; joining the eruption of applause for our host issuing welcomes and reminders — dancegoing is vaguely familiar. Even if we […]

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 […]