Authors
Abby Koenig
Abby Koenig received her Bachelors of Fine Arts in Dramatic Writing from the Dramatic Writing Conservatory at the State University of New York at Purchase. She is a published author of creative non-fiction, in addition to being a regular contributing writer to the Houston Press, Arts + Culture Magazine, Dance Source Houston and Houstonia Magazine, among others. She is also a playwright with several of her works produced in New York, Houston and Colorado. In 2011 she received her Masters Degree in Communication from the University of Houston. She is a professor of communication at Houston Community College and the University of Houston Downtown.
Adam Castañeda
Adam Castañeda is a dancer, writer, and arts administrator based in Houston, Texas. He is the artistic director of The Pilot Dance Project, and when not performing with his own company, he dances with the Michele Brangwen Dance & Music Ensemble. Outside of dance, he is a proud full-time faculty member of the English department at Houston City College.
Addie Tsai
Addie Tsai teaches courses in literature, creative writing, humanities, and dance at Houston Community College. She collaborated with Dominic Walsh Dance Theater on Victor Frankenstein and Camille Claudel, among others. Addie holds an MFA from Warren Wilson College and a doctorate in Dance from Texas Woman’s University. Her queer Asian young adult novel, Dear Twin, is forthcoming from Metonymy Press. Her writing has been published in Banango Street, The Offing, The Collagist, Nat. Brut, The Feminist Wire, and elsewhere. She is the Nonfiction Editor at The Grief Diaries, and Senior Associate Editor in Poetry at The Flexible Persona.
Chris Becker
Chris Becker is a Houston-based composer and writer. He has written articles on music, visual art, dance, theater, and other subjects for Houston CityBook, Arts and Culture, TX, Houston Chronicle, Houstonia, Houston Press, Acoustic Guitar, Sequenza 21, The Jazz in M.E.E., and Los Angeles Review of Books. Becker is also the author of the critically acclaimed book, Freedom of Expression: Interviews With Women in Jazz, a collection of in-depth interviews with 37 female musicians representing nearly every style of jazz one can imagine, and one of the contributors to Punk Ethnography: Artists & Scholars Listen to Sublime Frequencies (Wesleyan University Press).
D.L. Groover
D.L. Groover, a Two-time Lone Star Press Award winner for Arts Criticism, writes about the stage for the Houston Press, OutSmart Magazine, and Playbill. He is co-author of Skeletons From the Opera Closet, an irreverent look at that loudmouth art form.
Eli Bivens
Eli Bivens is an artist, writer, dancer, educator and choreographer based in Houston, Texas. Eli is a company member of San Jacinto Dance Company, a writer for Dance Source Houston, a Fulbright Germany alum, an intern at Galveston Ballet, and a movement instructor for Bay Area Dance Moves. Eli earned their Bachelor of Arts in English from Sam Houston State University and holds an AA in Fine Arts from San Jacinto College. They are currently completing a Certificate of Technology in Dance Education through the San Jacinto College South Dance program, under the direction of mentors Jenn Salter and Jamie Williams. Eli has had the privilege of apprenticing with the late artists Dan and Marsha Phillips, as well as studying under several other teachers including Jennifer Mabus, Dionne Noble, Stephanie Troyak, Elisa D'Amico, Jo Rowan, Gabrielle Ruiz, Keith Cross, Joyce Beck, Janel Amsallem and Judith Grywalski. Eli Bivens has had the pleasure of performing in works by choreographers such as Teoma Nacarrato, Jennifer Salter, Jamie Williams, Whylan Rucker, Miranda Maynard, Roderick George of kNonameartist, and Stephanie Troyak. Eli values radical inclusivity, fairness, and collaboration in their artistic process. Their research as performance focuses on queer histories of the European interwar period, with their first professional work, “In Memoriam Le Monocle”, presented alongside the works of San Jacinto Dance Company in 2024 and 2025, and again for adjudication at the 2025 South-Central ACDA Regional Conference. Their solo work, “Songs My Mother Taught Me”, was presented as a part of Dance Source Houston's Cohort 36 Mind the Gap series at the Houston MATCH. After graduation, Eli Bivens intends to continue pursuing their research in dance and dance history as well as investing in their art, their students, and the arts community of Houston, Texas.
Jessica MacFarlane
Jessica Maria MacFarlane (she/her) is an interdisciplinary researcher, creative writer, and bookseller from Houston, Texas. Her work focuses on general archiving, researching, editing, publishing, festival and event organizing, bookselling, and library assistance. She holds an MA in Individualized Study with a focus on Dance Studies and Creative Writing from NYU-Gallatin and a BFA in Dance Studies from Texas State University. She currently lives in Austin, Texas.
Jessica Ray Herzogenrath
Jessica Ray Herzogenrath, PhD, researches, teaches, and writes about U.S. cultural history, particularly popular dance. In addition to the dance dish, you may find her writing in the The Oxford Handbook of Dance and Ethnicity, the forthcoming compilation Dancing on the Third Coast: Chicago Dance Histories, and Feminist Modernist Studies.
Kerri Lyons Neimeyer
An artist and educator from upstate New York, Kerri Lyons Neimeyer joined Frame Dance Productions' Community Ensemble in 2015. It was the best decision she ever made.
Lavanya Rajagopalan
Dr. Lavanya Rajagopalan is a dancer/choreographer, arts educator, advocate, and administrator, and Executive Artistic Director of Silambam Houston, a ‘Houston Cultural Treasure’.
Lydia Hance
Lydia Hance is a choreographer, filmmaker, collaborator, and educator. Lydia Hance is the Founder and Artistic Director of Frame Dance Productions, a contemporary dance company making collaborative works for the screen and stage.
Michael Wade Simpson
Michael Wade Simpson is editor of culturevulture.net. He writes about the performing arts for the Santa Fe New Mexican. Previously, he reviewed dance for the "San Francisco Chronicle." MFA dance, Smith College. Founder, "Small City Dance Project," Newburyport, Massachusetts.
Mirannda Lindberg-Clark
Mirannda Lindberg-Clark received her Masters of Fine Arts in Dance from Sam Houston State University where she worked with dance professionals such as Dionne and Andrew Noble, Jennifer Mabus, Dana Nicolay, and Erin Reck. She currently dances and performs professionally in the Houston area as a member of Nicolay Dance Works and the Texas Renaissance Festival's performance company. Mirannda also dances with choreographers Timithy Holecek-Child and Amy K. Barnes on various projects. Mirannda primarily works in arts administration and dance education and uses her free time to continue her research in the field of dance and technology. With a deep love for the arts and writing, Mirannda is grateful for the continued opportunity to write for Dance Source Houston and hopes to share that love for dance with her readership.
Nancy Wozny
Nancy Wozny is a contributing editor for Dance Magazine. She covers the arts for Culturemap, Pointe Magazine, Dance Spirit, Dance Teacher and other publications. She is a 2011 Scholar in Residence at Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival and is the Editor for Arts+Culture Texas.
Neil Ellis Orts
Neil Ellis Orts is a writer and performer, living in Houston. Visit him online at neilellisorts.com.
Nichelle Suzanne Strzepek
Nichelle Suzanne is a content strategist, digital storyteller and dance writer. A dancer and dance educator for 25 years, she is also the founder of DanceAdvantage.net. Since 2009, Nichelle has covered dance in Houston and beyond for publications including The Dance DiSH, Arts+Culture Texas, CultureMap, Houston Ballet News and Rockettes.com.
Rosie Trump
Rosie Trump is the Dance Program Director at Rice University and the editor of the blog Reading the Dance. She holds a BA in Dance from Slippery Rock University and a MFA in Experimental Dance Choreography from the University of California, Riverside. Her choreography and dance film have been presented throughout the Northeastern United States, Los Angeles and Houston areas. www.rosietrump.org.
Roxanne Claire
Roxanne Claire is a Houston-based choreographer, teacher, and writer.
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