Mind The Gap Celebrates 30

Dance Source Houston (DSH) will present the 30th edition of the Mind The Gap series at Midtown Arts & Theater Center Houston (MATCH) on Tuesday, September 10 at 7:30pm. Founded in 2005, DSH is entering its 20th season and is excited to celebrate the milestone program and anniversary with dance supporters. The evening’s performance roster includes local choreographers Mark Aguilar, Dillon Bell, Caitlyn Cork, Nicole McNeil, Isabel Villegas, and Lori Yuill. The hour-long program will feature a mix of solo and ensemble dance works by first-time and returning Mind The Gap dancemakers, followed by an onstage reception. 

Three dancemakers are making their Mind The Gap choreographic debut in the September performance – Dilon Bell, Caitlyn Cork, and Isabel Villegas. 

A current Sam Houston State University dance major, Dillon is introducing himself to Houston dance audiences with this vulnerable and personal work. His work, “For Now, Scarecrow” is an athletic solo set to the heart chakra tone, performed by the choreographer himself. “I created this work to be a bit of a challenge and a push creatively, mentally, and emotionally,” he shares. “As a choreographer who has made many different works with traditional sound scores, a single tone throughout the entire piece additionally increases the difficulty, and it was needed to create a work that reflects that journey on my own accord.”

Caitlyn Cork’s ensemble work, titled “Where’d All The Time Go?,” features a cast of 7 dancers and mines ideas of nostalgia, life transition, and learning to say goodbye – to people, places, and chapters of life. A recent graduate of SHSU, Caitlyn originally created this work as her senior capstone project, which reflects on that chapter closing. Cork sees presenting again in Mind The Gap as a way to continue to grow as a choreographer post-graduation, sharing that “this program will allow me to get an introduction into what it’s like to submit work to different festivals and how to work with them.”

Multidisciplinary artist Isabel Villegas’s piece, “Home With You,” is an introspective work that seeks to “demonstrate the inner strength and peace that we find in solitude as we learn to become our own caretakers.” Villega will perform the solo as a duet, dancing alongside mirror reflections of herself, sharing, “Through being my own duet partner, I can show how I can be there to support myself.” Combining the 3-dimensional and reflected versions of her choreography, Villegas wants to show the audience that comfort and strength can be found by looking within.

Mind The Gap choreographic veterans round out the rest of the program, including a solo by Mark Aguilar and a collaborative duet by Nicole McNeil and Lori Yuill. 

Mark Aguilar is making his second Mind The Gap appearance and most recently presented a work in Barnstorm Dance Fest earlier this summer. Mark’s ensemble piece “La Celebración” is a celebration of the vibrant tapestry of the BIPOC queer experience that weaves together timeless steps of Jazz with hints of social dances. Aguilar sees the work as an invitation to a realm where music and movement harmonize, offering, “I want the audience to have a chance to enjoy a piece by standing up and grooving to the music. This is a celebration after all.”

NMLY.dance, also known as the duo of Nicole McNeil and Lori Yuill, will present the experimental “The Inbetween.” In this work, McNeil and Yuill’s choreography explores the in-between spaces: between narrative and abstraction, between visual image and moving image, between nature and technology, and between different artistic disciplines. The sound will be designed by McNeil and her plant friends with vocals by jhon r. stronks, and projections will be created by Brian Buck. (Avid Mind The Gap followers will note that Yuill was one of the choreographers in the inaugural program in January 2017 and has presented choreography in multiple editions since.)

Join Dance Source Houston for the Mind The Gap 30 and the organization’s 20th year kickoff on Tuesday, September 10 at 7:30pm. Ticket sales from each Mind The Gap program are shared between the dancemakers and tickets are available on a sliding scale range at matchouston.org.