Frame X Frame Film Fest To Play On At Houston Ballet’s New Drive-In Theater

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE  

MEDIA CONTACTS: 

Jacalyn Lawton, Houston Ballet Public Relations Manager: JLawton@houstonballet.org

Lydia Hance, Frame Dance Founder and Artistic Director: lydia.hance@framedance.org 832.781.0808

FRAME X FRAME FILM FEST TO PLAY ON AT HOUSTON BALLET’S NEW DRIVE-IN THEATER

HOUSTON, TEXAS [October 20, 2020] — The third annual Frame x Frame Film Fest takes on a new format at Houston Ballet’s Drive-In. The parking lot of Houston Ballet’s Center for Dance will host the festival’s lineup of films, showing Thursdays-Saturdays from November 5- December 5. 

“We are thrilled to open the Houston Ballet Drive-In and to further grow our partnership with Frame x Frame Dance Film Festival,” says Jim Nelson, Houston Ballet Executive Director. “The new drive-in, located at the Houston Ballet Center for Dance, allows us to experience great dance together as a community in a safe and creative way during the pandemic.”

Frame x Frame Film Fest 2020, presented by Frame Dance Productions, brings international dance to the big screen in Houston. The festival offers three categories of films: You are Here, current films being made in the genre of dance for screen, Looking In, films that take us behind the scenes, and Looking Back, classic movies with iconic dance scenes. Approximately 50 films will be available during the festival, including “Singin’ in the Rain,” “Trash Dance” and a short film by Trey McIntyre featuring Houston Ballet company dancers titled “The Call.”

“Recently, dance makers have turned to their screens during this time of social distancing, as have the audiences,” says Lydia Hance, Frame Dance Founder and Artistic Director. “This year at Frame x Frame, we are looking at how dance has been made for the screen for decades. From classic dance scenes made for the silver screen to dance made for the iPhone screen, I am embracing the romance of the Houston Ballet drive-in venue with the FM radio broadcasts to find the unique opportunities the camera and editing give to us.”  

The public can begin reserving select shows now. Tickets are $10 per vehicle and may be reserved on Houston Ballet’s website. 

Houston Ballet intends to extend its Drive-In opportunities beyond the Frame x Frame Film Fest. Already in the works, Houston Cinema Arts Festival plans to present its closing evening of “Night of the Kings” on Sunday, Nov 22 at 7:30 p.m. at the Houston Ballet Drive-In. The nonprofit and its partner organizations look forward to engaging with the community in this new format. 

Frame x Frame Film Fest 2020 is generously supported by Taste of Texas, Daniels & Tredennick PLLC, Houston Custom Remodeling and Womble Bond Dickinson (US) LLP, and Houston Ballet is generously supported by Houston Methodist Hospital.

About Frame Dance Productions

In 2010, Lydia Hance founded Frame Dance Productions to bring radically inclusive and deeply personal contemporary dance to Houston. To date, Frame Dance has created over 40 unique site-specific performances and eleven dances for the screen. Frame Dance’s productions were described by Arts + Culture Texas Editor-in-Chief Nancy Wozny as “some of the most compelling and entertaining work in Houston.”

Committed to community and collaboration, Frame Dance has partnered with or been presented by Houston Ballet, METRO, Houston Museum of Natural Sciences, Houston Parks Board, Plant It Forward Farms, CORE Dance, Rice University,14 Pews, Aurora Picture Show and the Contemporary Arts Museum. Frame Dance has become a place to cultivate new work by artists across disciplines. Frame Dance curates, choreographs and presents three popular annual programs: METROdances, Frame x Frame Film Fest and a Composer Competition. These programs allow Frame Dance to introduce Houstonians to promising artists in our city and around the world.

Frame Dance brings the practice of dance to Houstonians with a pedagogy that is equal parts keen and kind. Originating with the all-ages, all-abilities MultiGenerational Ensemble in 2014, Frame Dance offers studio classes for students across the lifespan and arts education to private and public preschool and elementary students around Houston. 

Curators of Frame x Frame Film Fest 2020 included Lydia Hance, Rosie Trump, Rebecca Salzer and Joshua L. Peugh. Learn more about Frame Dance at framedance.org.

ABOUT HOUSTON BALLET

With more than 50 years of rich history, Houston Ballet has evolved into a 61-dancer Company with a budget of $33.9 million and an endowment of $79.2 million (as of June 2019), making it the country’s fifth largest ballet company. Its Center for Dance is a $46.6 million state-of-the-art performance space that opened in April 2011 and remains the largest professional dance facility in America. Houston Ballet’s reach is global, touring in renowned theaters in Dubai, London, Paris, Moscow, Spain, Montréal, Ottawa, Melbourne, New York City, Washington, D.C., Los Angeles and more.

Houston Ballet attracts prestigious leaders in dance. Australian choreographer Stanton Welch AM has served as Artistic Director of Houston Ballet since 2003, raising the level of the Company’s classical technique and commissioning works from dance legends such as Julia Adam, George Balanchine, Aszure Barton, Christopher Bruce, Alexander Ekman, William Forsythe, Jiří Kylián, Edwaard Liang, Trey McIntyre and Justin Peck. Executive Director James Nelson serves as the administrative leader of the organization, a position he assumed in February 2012 after serving as the Company’s General Manager for more than a decade.

Beyond its stage presence, Houston Ballet maintains a strong foothold in continuing to foster a love for dance in future generations. Its Education and Community Engagement program reaches more than 70,000 individuals in the Houston area annually. Houston Ballet Academy trains more than 1,000 students every year, producing more than 50 percent of the elite athletes that comprise Houston Ballet’s current Company.

For more information on Houston Ballet, visit houstonballet.org.

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