In an evening of choreography by longtime collaborator Garrett Smith, Vitacca Ballet gave audiences the drama and dynamism, the precision and uplift that we have come to expect from the unstoppable five year-old company. Smith is a Houston-trained dancer and choreographer who has been with Vitacca since its inception during the pandemic. Founder and Artistic […]
Witnessing Jaruam Xavier at the Texas Latino/a/x Contemporary Dance Festival I attended the first night, Friday, April 18, of the two-night annual Texas Latino/a/x Contemporary Dance Festival, presented by Houston’s own Pilot Dance Project, celebrating its exciting 5th anniversary of promoting dance films, companies, and performances created by Latino/a/x makers in our region, Latin America, […]
As recently as the 2023–24 season, data revealed that only about 31% of dance works presented across U.S. venues were choreographed by women. Women choreographers are woefully underrepresented in full-length programs but better represented on mixed bill programs, such as the most recent production by Houston Contemporary Dance Company (HCDC). Presented at the Hobby Center, […]
Rivkah French Choreography (RFC) presented the inaugural Limitless Festival weekend of dance November 1-3 of this year at the always inviting DeLuxe Theater on Lyons Street in Houston’s Fifth Ward. The location – and the fact that Fifth Ward residents were invited to participate in the fest for free – is characteristic of RFC’s ethos […]
According to the Sangita Raknakara, a definitive musicological text from 13th century India, when vocals, instruments, and dance come together, “music is born.” On a recent mid-fall evening at the Kaplan Theater at the ERJCC, Kalpana Subbarao and her collaborators prepared to share the virtuosic rhythmic compositions and choreography that made up the 5×5 program, […]
Performers: Ariaza Ariaza, Lindsay Cortner, Gabrielle De La Rosa, Isabella Mireles VikSound piece: Jamie Hernandez 2024 Texas Biennial, Blaffer Art Museum/Dudley Recital Hall, University of HoustonOctober 17, 2024 Just a year ago, the Dance Dish ran an artist highlight on Isabella Mireles Vik that described her work as visceral and challenging, potentially disturbing to an audience. […]
“We’re in the universe and the universe is in us.” Resonating over projected images of the cosmos, Neil deGrasse Tyson’s breathy baritone poetically summarizes our connection not only to the stars in our vast universe but to one another. Science, it turns out, posits what mystics, spiritual teachers and artists have suggested all along: We […]
Choreographing Memory: Mark Aguilar Explores His Sister’s Experiences “Metamorfosis”Choreographer – Mark AguilarPerformer – Aniya Wingate Mark Aguilar’s six-and-a-half minute dance, “Metamorfosis,” starts with a montage of home video, at least one of which is date-stamped in 2009. The focus is children. Driving kiddie racecars and bumper cars. Swinging in a backyard. A family activity taking […]
I imagine each member of the audience for The Pilot Dance Project’s evening-length work Aureate leaving The DeLuxe Theater in Houston’s Fifth Ward mentally clasping their own tendrils of meaning. Within the tapestry woven by Artistic Director Adam Castan͂eda and choreographer/designer Ashley Horn, one might focus on individual themes like the natural world, sacred iconography, […]
On June 7, 2024 at the Miller Outdoor Theatre, Silambam Houston presented a curious and intriguing theatrical thesis in mining the commonalities of South Indian and Baroque dance and music. I was eager to see Artistic Director Lavanya Rajagopalan’s vision come to life in The Baroque-Carnatic Connection, as both worlds live as disparate entities in […]
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