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.
