HopeWerks Season 2013-2014 begins with You Are Here by Jamie Zahradnik

Photography by Simon Gentry

HOUSTON, TEXAS – November 21, 2013 – Hope Stone inaugurates the 2013-2014 HopeWerks season with HopeWerks grant recipient Jamie Zahradnik’s presentation You Are Here.

A brand new work by Zahradnik, You Are Here is centered on the ideas of ambition, sacrifice, and competition along the journey to finding wholeness. “Recently, as an educated, ambitious ‘twenty-something’ in this big world, I find myself feeling as though I am spinning my wheels and getting nowhere,” Zahradnik explains.

The work showcases four dancers, and expresses this all-too-common ‘twenty-something’ frustration with an assortment of moods. Zahradnik says, “There’s a great variety of textures within the work: some parts are aggressive, featuring the group of dancers attacking the space in unison, while other parts are quiet and intimate.” Zahradnik’s personal favorite features the dancers caught up in a competitive structured improvisation, in which she says, “Anything can happen! Even after seeing it several times, the dancers always manage to shock me to the point of bursting out with laughter.”

You Are Here is a candid depiction of the various human responses to the pressures of life.  Presented “in the round”, the work draws the audience in and takes them on a journey from genuine confusion to anxiety, hilarity, and — finally — peace.

Join Zahradnik and performers for a mixed bag of emotions on December 6 and 7 at 8:00 pmat Hope Stone Studio (1210 W Clay St, Suite 26, Houston, Texas, 77019). Tickets are $5 and are available at the door.  Please note the entrance to Hope Stone Studio is located on Van Buren Street, across from 1111 Van Buren.

Jamie Zahradnik holds a Master of Fine Arts degree in Dance from Sam Houston State University. She is currently in her seventh season as a performer with Rednerrus Feil Dance Company and serves as rehearsal director for the company. Jamie is also an adjunct faculty member in the Dance Department at San Jacinto College, and teaches dance to all ages at Memorial Dance Center.

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Why is the HopeWerks program important?  With the reduction of and competitiveness in artistic funding, a newcomer to the arts scene struggles with the expenses of starting a new company and/or presenting work.  Without these funds, young companies and artists are often unable to have the time and space to explore their creativity and present it to the public. HopeWerks empowers these artists and allows them to unleash their creativity in the city of Houston, and hopefully beyond. HopeWerks was formed not only to be a creative residency, but as an opportunity for artists to learn all aspects of presenting an evening of artistic work.  There are many details in presenting work – scheduling, marketing, promotion, press releases, print materials – and HopeWerks serves as a mini classroom for the artists during their three-month residency. Supporting these young artists as they tackle the three dimensionality of creating and presenting work is HopeWerks’ major goal, and aligns with Hope Stone’s mission to create art for all.

Hope Stone, Inc. is a non-profit arts organization consisting of (1) the choreographic endeavors of Artistic Director Jane Weiner; (2) Hope Stone Dance Company, a professional modern dance company; (3) Hope Stone Kids, an arts outreach program that reaches underserved children with free arts education annually in Houston and Katy, TX and New Orleans; (4) Hope Stone Studio, accommodating adult and children’s movement classes taught by the finest Houston artists and master teachers; and (5) HopeWerks, a space residency offered to emerging choreographers and performance artists to assist them in the early stages of their artistic journey.  Founded in 1997, Hope Stone strives to unlock the innate creativity of children and adults through the performing arts.