Dance Source Houston Presents Mind The Gap 40
Contact:
Mollie Haven Miller
Executive Director
Dance Source Houston
713.224.3262
mollie@dancesourcehouston.org
Dance Source Houston Presents Mind The Gap 40
HOUSTON, TX August, 2026 – Dance Source Houston (DSH) will present the 40th edition of Mind The Gap on Tuesday, September 15 at 7:30pm at Midtown Arts & Theater Center Houston (MATCH). This program will feature works by local dancemakers, including Keeley Dunnam, NMLY.dance, Persi Mey, Rachel Redding, Paty Lorena Solórzano, and jhon r. stronks.
Join Dance Source Houston after the performance for an onstage reception to connect with the choreographers and performers of Mind The Gap 40.
Tickets to the performance are available now at matchouston.org on a pay-what-you-can sliding scale for both in-person and livestream viewing, starting at $15, with all choreographers receiving a percentage of total ticket sales.
Mind The Gap was created in partnership with Midtown Arts & Theater Center Houston to support independent choreographers and small dance companies presenting their work. Launched in January 2017, Mind The Gap has provided a platform for more than 165 local dancemakers to date and assists dance artists with valuable production, audience development, and administrative support. The program helps choreographers propel their works from the studio to the stage and exposes audiences to new dance makers and styles.
Learn More About The Dancemakers & Works
Keeley Dunnam is a Houston-based dance artist, choreographer, and educator. She earned her MFA in Dance from Sam Houston State University in 2022, her BFA in Dance from the University of North Texas in 2018, and the Evans Teacher Certification in 2026. Keeley has performed with Company Fifteen, PDC Works, AMP Dance, and Impulse Dance Project, and regularly with Pilot Dance Project. Her works have been presented at Dance Source Houston, Fresh Arts, and Barnstorm Festival. Keeley’s choreography uses movement to build community and foster public connection.
Sarah Hill joined Ad Deum Dance Company at the age of 18 in 2023 and is entering her fourth season as a professional modern dancer. She has enjoyed performing works by choreographers such as Steve Rooks, Durrell Comedy, Gabriel Speiller, Shizu Yasuda, Bria Greenwood, and Randall Flinn. In the summer of 2025, she toured internationally with Ad Deum Dance Company to countries such as France, Ireland, Switzerland and Costa Rica where she both performed on diverse stages and taught classes to diverse movers and ages. Sarah’s mission as a dancer, educator, and choreographer is to discover the joy which the gift of dance brings to the community by the grace of God.
Overcoming & Becoming is a powerful community dance performance that weaves together personal stories of adversity, resilience, and transformation. Co-created by Keeley Dunnam and Sarah Hill, the audience’s voices become the heart of the work, turning individual challenges into shared strength. Through dance, spoken word, and intimate storytelling, we invite the community to reflect, connect, and see themselves in each other’s journeys. Join us, share your story, and help us build a lasting archive of hope and transformation.
Instagram @ProjectOvercoming.Becoming @the_real_keeleydunnam @sarahhill_moving
Choreographer, Lori Yuill, has been engaged in making dances for the past two decades. Her choreography has been presented in Mind the Gap and Barnstorm Dance Festival (Houston), at Dance Conversations at the Flea (NYC), and at Crear en Libertad (Paraguay). Lori holds an MFA in Dance from Sarah Lawrence College. She has been awarded grants from HAA, TCA, Midtown and Dance Source Houston and her work was named Best in Show at the 2016 Houston Fringe Festival.
Nicole McNeil has contributed to the Houston dance scene for nearly 2 decades. She received her BFA in Dance and Minor in Interdisciplinary Arts from the University of Houston. She has danced for Suchu, The Living Room Project, Pilot Dance Project. In addition to project based work, Nicole has also performed in several festivals across Texas.
If you need me, call me is a performance that experiments with our natural inclination to attach a sound to movement. NMLY.dance uses improvisational techniques to generate a farcical song and dance. This dance employs humorous tropes such as lip syncing and game show antics to explore social and performative constructs. Imagine the Muppets enter the Judson Church Theater at the birth of Post-Modern Dance and decide to try their hand at a Way Off Broadway Performance Art Vaudevillian Variety Show.
Instagram @loriyuilldance @nmlydance
Persi Mey is a choreographer, wearable art designer, and a performer with an interdisciplinary style focused on grounded, athletic movement. They grew up in the metro Detroit area, finished high school at the Brockus Conservatory in California, studied at the Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance, and got their BFA in Contemporary Dance from Indiana University. After spending some time in Kansas City they relocated to Houston where they became a resident artist at the Houston Metropolitan Dance Center. It was through this residency that they were able to found their company, Riddles Three, in 2024.
During their time in Houston, Persi Mey has imagined new worlds and characters in the creation of their works. This piece is the collision and interaction of those worlds.
Instagram @persi_mey @_riddles_three_
Rachel Redding (she/her), is a Houston native with a BFA in Dance from Sam Houston State University. Her work is rooted in an eclectic movement practice shaped by a lifetime of creative exploration in multiple artistic modalities. In college, she discovered her affinity for choreography, playing with a variety of genres such as modern, ballet, jazz, and hip-hop. Her choreography emphasizes storytelling and often pulls from lived experience. As a teaching artist, Rachel fosters safe spaces for exploration and prioritizes emotional and somatic well-being. Beyond dance, she is a freelance photographer and movement director, currently exploring the intersections of dance, film, and multimedia. She is currently working towards an MFA in Dance at Sam Houston State University and is projected to graduate in December 2027.
Bowllet is a whimsical dance score that looks at the structures and movements of bowling. The work showcases 9 dancers, 10 pins, and two bowling balls. Granny balls galore.
Website rachelreddingdance.com | Instagram @rachelredding
Paty Lorena Solórzano (she/her) is a Mexican/Costa Rican dance artist researching embodied ecology, migration and connection to place through improvisation, multidisciplinary practice and experimental choreography. Currently a Made in Houston artist-in-residence at Houston Met Dance, her choreography has been presented nationally and internationally in the USA, Mexico, Costa Rica, Spain, Italy, Portugal and the UK. Artistic credits include: Menil Drawing Institute, Texas Dance Improvisation Festival, Houston’s Nameless Sound, Sidewalk Detroit, Movement Research at the Judson Church, and Querétaro Experimental. Past residencies include: Mexican Center for Music and Sonic Arts, Atlantic Center for the Arts, Guapamácataro Arts&Ecology, and the Diverse Intelligences Summer Institute. Paty holds a BFA from Texas Christian University, and MFA from the University of Michigan.
This will be a third study for La Maleza: Weeds as Teachers, a longer work which I have been working on for the past year and a half. The full work will be presented in November 2026 at the Houston Met Dance. La Maleza is an experimental, improvisation-based dance performance exploring the wisdom of “weeds.” Featuring one dancer and live plants, this conceptual work combines choreographed sequences with improvisational actions using foraged plants, and incorporates sound and installation inviting audiences into a sensory experience to rethink the concept of “weeds.”.
Website girasoladances.com | Instagram @patygirasola
jhon r. stronks (she/they/he) jhon r. stronks is a queer identifying gender non conforming singer and dancer marking 20 years of service and creative participation in the Houston dance and performance community. Often their dancing is a mending practice in pursuit of expansion and evolution, while their singing carries through a mourning call in search of recognition, and reconciliation. Through their voice and movement emerges a genderqueer expression that remembers lost existences and imagines new trajectories toward the home and rest they are chasing after.
Relics, Remnants, and Reconsiderations: Closing Score/ Opening Set uses improvised and choreographed voice and movement to establish a channel for exploring lineage, legacy and descent.
Instagram @jhonnielove
About Dance Source Houston
Dance Source Houston is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization dedicated to empowering the diverse individuals and organizations working in the field of dance throughout the Greater Houston region by means of advocacy, inclusive community engagement and support services. Founded in 2005, Dance Source Houston is a resource for all things dance in the Greater Houston area and provides programs and services to address the evolving needs of the local dance community. Dance Source Houston is funded in part through support from The City of Houston through the Houston Arts Alliance, Cullen Trust for the Performing Arts, Heimbinder Family Foundation, Houston Endowment, National Endowment for the Arts, and Texas Commission on the Arts. www.dancesourcehouston.org
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