DISCOVER DANCE June 19, 2009

Greetings Dancers!

Dance Houston is hosting an event, Discover Dance, this Saturday June 20 at Discover Dance from 3-5pm. The gathering will provide free Swing, Salsa, Creative Movement, Folk Dance, and Freestyle programs for all ages!

We would love to have the support of our fellow dancers! The chance for dancers and community members to gather for a celebration of music and dance is both exciting and rewarding. We would like our dancers to help encourage our participants to dance with us tomorrow! Support Dance Houston by arriving at 2pm to recieve more details about the activities for the day! We hope to see you there!

Sincerely,

Dance Houston

Summer Fun June 3, 2009

We’re gearing up for our busiest summer ever!  Here’s what we’ve got on our plate:

• June 3 – 6 – Dance/USA Conference in Houston
• June 20 – Festival at Discovery Green
• July 20 – 31 – Shooting Stars Summer Camp (ages 8-11)
• August 3 – 21 – Young and Intense Summer Camp (ages 12-17)
• August 29 – City-Wide Dance Festival at the Wortham

Whoa! It’ll be a busy one, but full of fun and excitement! =)

Coming up fast is the Dance USA Conference. We’re so excited to be attending this year! Yesterday we went through the schedule for the 3 1/2 day conference and put everything in our phones. Let me tell you, it definitely doesn’t feel like 3 1/2 days!! They really packed a lot into a short time. There will be so much to do and learn, it’s going to take us months to really get a grasp on everything taught to us! Should be an awesome experience to meet local artists and learn from the ones who traveled here to be with us. It all starts tonight! Andrea and I have a lot to do here at the office before then!

So we finalized the artists coming to Discovery Green on June 20th and Andrea made some really cool fliers! It’s going to be so fun to have everyone in the park dancing in a show somewhat mimicking Austin City Limits. The idea of there being many stages with performances going on all at the same time where the audience members can pick which performances they would like to attend is so cool!! I think everyone is going to love it!

After Discovery Green, we have one month to tie all of the loose ends for Shooting Stars camp before it starts on July 20th! I’ve been working my hardest to get everything ready for the little ones and I’m really hoping they’re going to love it! What’s going to be a challenge is going straight from 2 weeks of little kids camp right into 3 weeks at the Wortham with the older camp, Young & Intense! Five straight weeks of campers!!! WOW!!  It’s going to be an awesome summer!!

The week following camp…guess what? Our next show! This performance will be our City-Wide Dance Festival at the Wortham. Just when we thought we couldn’t be any busier, BAM! Show time! Dance Houston is busy, busy, busy this summer! We’re expecting the City-Wide Festival to be stellar this year. We’ve already received some fabulous submissions already and it’s going to be a tough choice. Dance Houston is so lucky to have the opportunity to work with such wonderful artists and we’re really looking forward to the show!

Summer here we come!!

A Week at Dance Houston April 17, 2009

We just posted a bunch of new videos from The Edge hip hop dance festival.  They are up at www.youtube.com/dancehouston.  While you’re there, check out some of our “Favorites”.  Pretty amazing stuff.

We made progress with the casting agent from America’s Got Talent.  We’re making it worth their while to change their audition venue from Austin to Houston.  They are looking for hip hop dancers here, which is a big part of why we focused our efforts in posting those clips from The Edge.

We’re also making progress on getting The Edge DVDs shipped out.  We got the master back from our videographer (which is what we used for the youtube clips).  Now we’re making a few final edits and adding titles and an interactive menu.

Final Report for a grant from Houston Arts Alliance.  Check!

Maxine Silberstein from the JCC was kind enough to meet with us to give her thoughtful feedback from The Edge. She’s written reviews for each of the companies which will be very helpful for them.

Andrea is working on coordinating plans and performances for a national dance conference coming to Houston in June.  She went to a local host committee meeting this week at U of H.  More info here:  http://www.danceusa.org/EventDetails?EventID=21

We’re gearing up for our next festival: Vida del Baile Latin dance festival on May 5, 2009.  We’ve been talking to the artists about their pieces.  We started selling tickets, too.  A group from Canada will be coming!

Summer camp might seem a long way away, but it’s already a major focus for us.  We’ve been emailing parents and working on class schedules.  Allie took a tour of the Wortham’s rehearsal rooms and they are fantastic!  We are really excited to be moving camp to the Wortham this summer for the first time.  It will be magical.

We’re launching a new workshop series called Horizons. It’s for advanced dancers who want to try new styles of dance.  As dancers, we love exploring other types of movements, but it’s not always good to take a beginner class because they aren’t very challenging.  So these classes we’re creating are beginner classes for advanced dancers.  It’s a great way for dancers of varying specialties to share their work with one another.

Pat Garrett from Ghost Crew stopped by to catch up.  He’s so much fun.  He danced at a sweet sixteen party last weekend and brought the house down.  We got another call for somebody’s 40th birthday party.  They’re wanting a Pussycat Dolls theme.  We can probably do that but we’ve got to find the right dancers.

Vida del Baile is in three weeks, so it’s photo shoot weekend.  Over the next few days, dancers are invited to our home studio for a fun photo session.  Watch out for the cover shot!

Allie and Ernest are meeting tomorrow at BB’s Cajun Cafe in Montrose to talk about fundraising for our educational programs.

Sunday night we’re going to see Shawn Welling’s new movie.  It’s called The Messenger and it’s going to be amazing.  Shawn started this project over a year ago by filming a group of real life characters in Bolivar.  With the time leading up to and the aftermath of Hurricane Ike as its backstory, the film explores the lives and relationships of a small group of people that Shawn happened to meet at a bar one day.  We think it’s going to be really profound.  www.themessengerthemovie.com

Speaking of Shawn, we’ll be having a party at Planet Funk next month on the 9th.  Dance Source Houston and Dance Houston are co-hosting the event.  It’ll be a funsie with drinks and snacks and lots of dancing!

This was Genevieve’s last week at Dance Houston.  She was so awesome for us and we’re really going to miss her.

Now Allie is rocking out to Lady Gaga’s “The Fame”.  It’s catchy.  It’s Friday afternoon.

The Edge Hip Hop Festival Slideshow. March 23, 2009

Yeah, it’s hot, we know but if you missed the show, no worries, we have DVDs available to purchase on our website! 

Featuring: Soreal Cru, Wyld Styl, Planet Funk, HIStory, Ghost Crew, Ill-Ovation, The 8th Edition, Fyasko and Inertia.

 

Click the link below, you know you want to.

SLIDESHOW AWESOMENESS!

The Biggest Hip Hop Festival in H-town! February 10, 2009

Dance Houston is excited to present Houston’s biggest hip-hop festival, February 28th at the Wortham Center.  Featuring some of Houston’s most talented dancers and hometown favorites, Wyld Styl, Ghost Crew, and Planet Funk.  Joining the ranks are up-and-comers HIStory, The 8^th Edition, ILL-Ovation and Fyasko.  Championship high school team Inertia Dance Company round out the festival with impressive skill and artistry.  Headliner So Real returns to Houston for this special one-night engagement.  After winning 2^nd place on America’s Best Dance Crew last summer, the crew has been touring the nation with nonstop performances. 

Check out the video and visit our website to purchase tickets. You won’t want to miss this!!!

Dance Photography Workshop February 5, 2009

 James Wiseman offers a four part seminar on dance photography on February 28th at the Wortham Theater. Topics include equipment, stage lighting, composition, camera technique, and camera settings. The workshop is a unique opportunity to access and photograph technical rehearsal and the Wortham Center. It is on February 28th from 3-5pm while dancers are rehearsing for our concert, The Edge. Professional and aspiring photographers are encouraged to attend. Registration is $50 and limited to 10 participants. More information at www.dancehouston.org/photo.pdf.

Register now at www.dancehouston.org/photo.htm.

Review of Triple Focus February 5, 2009

On January 24th we saw “Triple Focus”, a show featuring Revolve Dance Company, Urgeworks, and Uptown Dance Company.  It was a nicely balanced show, as each company was given a chance to show its own uniqueness and individual strength.  The objective of the show was to present an evening of current contemporary dance by commissioning a new work from each company as well as presenting a work from the groups’ repertoire.  There were some experimental choices made by the choreographers but none that went so far as to alienate the enthusiastic crowd.  As a whole, the experimentation yielded positive results, giving the audience a nice, fresh program that esacped dance cliché.

Revolve is always a stand out and tonight was no exception.  The dancers with stunning technique were all flawless, each one displaying a personal understanding of the material and a sensitivity to the movement.  The choreography was inspired and fit each of the dancers very nicely.  Matt Dippel really brought both of Revolve’s pieces to life, effortlessly sailing through Amy Cain and Dawn Dippel’s inventive choreography.  Revolve had an informal air to their pieces that was very refreshing.  There was a particularly strong audience reaction to Urgeworks.  What a group!  This is not your typical hip hop company.  In addition to the spins, popping, locking and the “how did they do that” tricks, both pieces remained focused on the music and stuck to successful choreographic ideas, never losing the sense of artistry.  And these guys each stole the show in their own way, with strong performances across the board.

Also of interest, Ray Dones premiered a piece for Uptown with brooding electronic music and undulating, almost serpentine movement that was off-kilter and a little subversive.  It was a nice contrast to the lighter themes in other the other pieces on the program.  The sometimes tortured movement communicated a sense of uneasiness and uncertainty.  The dancers seemed to repel each other like opposing magnets, drifting from one section to the next.  And Dones was able to use the lack of movement for maximum effect in this piece as well, escalating the amount of emotional tension. 

All around the program was enjoyable and relaxed, with some unexpected surprises and lots of audience satisfaction to offer.  There was a very pure sense of the natural love of movement in all three companies which made the evening seem more like a celebration of dance for the audience and dancers alike.

by Nick Nesmith

Houston’s Own to Appear on MTV January 21, 2009

Chucke’s Choreography, located right here in Houston, will be showcasing their amazing salsa moves on MTVTR3, Mondays at 9pm for a latin version of the popular My Sweet 16 called Quiero Mis Quinces. Chucke’s specializes in providing dance instruction for Quinceaneras and has worked closely with us in several shows. Check em out!

New Year, New Look January 7, 2009

It’s that time of year again, a brand new start, a brand new focus. We, at Dance Houston, hope all of you had a safe and happy holiday season and are as excited as we are about all the amazing, wonderful dance opportunities coming up in 2009.

To better serve you, we have revamped our website by creating an entirely new look and have added many new resources like an improved archive so you can stay in touch with all the awesome events we’ve had in the past, user-friendly search options to locate dance studios and events in the Houston area and tons and tons of beautiful photos of all our amazing dancers and companies!

In other news, we’ve added some beautiful folders to our myspace and facebook sites showcasing some of the wonderful events and dancers we experienced in 2008.

Stay in touch for more updates about our upcoming hip-hop show in February, The Edge!

Where are the strings? January 7, 2009

Andrea recently introduced me to something I’d never seen before: Chinese Acrobat Ballet. Incredibly flexible, lithe, dancers promenade en pointe ON TOP of their partners heads. No strings, cgi or faking. Honestly. It’s unbelievable. But don’t take my word for it.

Check it out yourself!