TEXAS SIZE EXPERIENCE… Houston we do not have a problem!

Click here to purchase your tickets to the City-Wide dance festival!

I read that the “Houston’s Downtown Theater District isn’t merely a neighborhood, it’s a destination!” I would like to also add that it’s a TEXAS SIZE EXPERIENCE…

 

Not long ago I was sitting with good friends enjoying some great conversation about everything and nothing all at the same time… when we came to the topic of how many Houstonians today are not native to this great city.  The overwhelming message that we all shared about Houston was that those of us that were not native to the city had no choice but to fall in love with the culture, diversity, and the passion of arts and dance. 

I would have to say “HOUSTON WE DO NOT HAVE A PROBLEM…”

click here to get purchase your tickets to the DH City-wide Dance festival!

In Houston I have not seen a hitching post, rarely do I see cows and horses roaming the streets; well, with the exception of our “TEXAS SIZE RODEO” trail-ride (which I have to admit, makes me feel like I’m ten years old all over again).  On occasion I see hair that is way too high, a little helmet-like and sometimes a little too big for my taste.  However, I like to call that hair a little piece of Texas character, in Houston it is just the nature of the beast from time to time, after all in a city with its own youth serum, also known as humidity, big hair is bound to happen to all us; yes ladies, men also get the frizz, which leads me to say a little hairspray never hurts and it’s practical as it keeps the hair from getting bigger. Well enough of the hair and the lack of hitching post…

 

Since the theme of today’s reading is TEXAS SIZE, I am compelled to begin a dialogue around the arts community specifically the dance community in Houston… I’ve only been with Dance Houston a short time, but working with this team of professionals has elevated my expectations of performance art to a totally different level. My first outing with DANCE HOUSTON was the “MICHAEL JACKSON TRIBUTE PARTY” at DISCOVERY GREEN (which has since become one of my favorite places to go to…) followed by an event at a local spot called Pinot and Picasso (where everyone is a “PICASO”), happy hour at Boheme supported by Space Taker (amazing mojitos and empanadas that would give anyone’s family recipe a run for their money), summer camps for youth ages 8 – 18 and now the anticipated DANCE HOUSTON CITY WIDE FESTIVAL!  So far I can honestly say, the experience has been incredibly rewarding and if today they had a curtain call I would give them a standing ovation… BRAVO!

I have the great privilege of chatting with Andrea Cody, Founder and Executive Director of Dance Houston on a daily basis and listening to and hearing her words as dance movements, I am never disappointed to find myself dancing throughout my day after a quick chat with her. What I am impressed with most of the Dance Community in Houston and DANCE HOUSTON is how culture, diversity, and their conscience effort to impact a community to pursue bigger dreams is part of what makes them so brilliant. 

click here to purchase your tickets to attend the City-Wide Dance Festival!

Recently Andrea said “To me culture is about community; it’s about the responsibility we all have to appreciate shared family, friends, networks, activities, and aesthetics of all groups of people.  We are all naturally and dynamically different from each other, we have different languages, humor, fashion, beliefs, incomes, and customs…  When we think about cultural diversity, it is important for us look beyond cultural backgrounds.  It would be a social crime not to be able to look to living, breathing communities.  There a person and group a city a country can find and appreciate the value of individual communities which make up the overall culture of this city and the world… then is when we start to see contributions and impact on all of us…” . Well, needless to say I was blown away… I left thinking of the level of responsibility Andrea had taken on and how her voice like she said was unique and powerful and I could see it actively making a difference through the work of DANCE HOUSTON.

 

I am confident that Andrea and the team of accomplished performers which will perform at the DANCE HOUSTON Annual City-Wide Festival will certainly have you dancing out of your seats and into world of music.  The City-wide dance festival will be featuring hundreds of Houston dancers at the Wortham Center, Saturday, August 29, 2009 at 8:00 PM. Performances will feature some of Houston’s accomplished leading dance  companies and will include traditional and innovative performances in hip hop, ballroom, contemporary and cultural styles.  Dance Houston’s City-wide festival is unlike any other festival, this kind of performance presentation will highlight diverse styles of dance at the Wortham Center a highly respected and state-of-the-art theater with the best of the best performance artist who will certainly mesmerize their audience into a standing ovation. The mission of Dance Houston mission is to increase dance appreciation. The heart and core of this mission is presenting dance festivals that are for and by the people of Houston. With seat admissions starting at $15 and premium seats $47.50, this festival is designed with everyone’s budget in mind.  “For less than one person would spend at a local movie theatre, a person can invest in attending a live performance featuring the best of the best talents which will bring everyone to their feet!” says Andrea Cody.

I asked Andrea “WHY” and she looked me in the eye and said,

“The goal of our City-Wide festival is to bring the best talent to one stage at affordable price levels where a community can build a deeper relationship of appreciation and love of the arts, we want people to see that their unique backgrounds make a significant contribution to the today’s culture. We want them to find the rhythm in their hearts and see that even in today’s social and economic challenges we can dance together.”

Need I say more…? I leave you with “HOUSTON, WE DO NOT HAVE A PROBLEM…” See you at the Wortham on Saturday, August 29th at 8PM… I’ll be the one near the hitching post dancing in the isle!

Revolve Dance Company takes the stage…

 “I started dancing when I was seven, the music inspired a tap in my heart…”

Dawn Dippel, Revolve Dance Company, CO-FOUNDER

 Revolve Dance Company is one of 13 Dance Companies participating in Dance Houston’s Annual City-Wide Dance Festaval being held at Houston’s Wortham Center on Saturday, August 29^th.  The line of company’s will include the following companies; 8^th Edition, Barbara King Dance Company, Compania Folklorica Alegria Mexicana, Dance of Asian America, Dominic Walsh Dance Theater, Houston Ballet II, Luna Tango Productions, NobleMotion Dance, Revolve Dance Company, Sreepadam School of Arts, Uptown Dance Company, Urban Souls Dance Company and Wyld Styl.

When we sat down with Dawn Dippel, Co-founder of Revolve Dance Company to chat about their performance at the Dance Houston City-Wide Festival, we asked her to share the impact her dance training had on her academic and life training… we anticipated that her response would be something along the theme of seeing lines and movement in everything she engaged in and that words, stories and experiences in her life would somehow have a tune that accompanied the day to day excitement of being a committed dancer; Dawn’s  responses were eloquent and inspiring in a whole different manner.  Dawn now a 23 year veteran in dance at the young age of 30 shared with us that when attending the High school for Performing and Visual Arts in Houston, TX it provided her a foundation of structure and discipline she would later learn would drive her craft. Academics such as literature, and science provided her with reference points to draw from as it related story telling and the body’s physiology. Dawn’s focus when she first began to train was strictly around Jazz and Tap, in her teen years she was drawn to ballet, then is when she says her craft began to evolve into a deep love of ballet and a career.

 

“I was mesmerized with the structure and discipline ballet dancers possessed.  The lines, shapes and movement ballet dancers were able to achieve and create were magical.”

Dawn Dippel, Revolve Dance Company, CO-FOUNDER

 As a direct result of opening a dance studio in 1994 along side Amy Cain, the two inspired and accomplished dancers would add a layer to their dedication to Dance.  Dawn and Amy co-founded Revolve in 2004 where their focus and vision would lead them to create a professional company comprised of well-rounded dancers whose talents span a wide range of fields in the art of dance: from ballet to jazz, lyrical to tap and hip-hop, modern to yoga and Pilates, as well as teaching talents, choreographic talents, music editing/arrangement, and costume design. Dawn shared with us that everyone associated with Revolve is continuously seeking to deepen their knowledge and widen their expertise around dance; she strongly believes that dance is a process and is something that requires examination, flexibility and the acceptance to use a lens based on a critical eye.

 “Dance is liberating, it offers richness to my life where cultures and languages have no boundaries; where anything is possible… all I have to do is accept a challenge and with work and dedication any goal is within reach.”    

Dawn Dippel, Revolve Dance Company, CO-FOUNDER

Revolve dance company is currently working on perfecting a Jazz Contemporary piece for the City Wide Dance festival which she says is up-beat, honest and pedestrian like.  The piece was choreographed by acclaim Choreographer Wes Veldink who is known for creating art that focuses on bringing attention to the dancers’ immediate space-their bodies, and awareness to their feelings, their state of mind and their state of spirituality. Veldink focuses on a dancer’s ability to share themselves with an audience. Veldink pieces are seen and experienced through the lens of modern contemporary jazz, hip-hop and street with awareness to lyrical content. Veldink’s arrangement will certainly have a wide spread versatility and is guaranteed to speak to the masses…

click on image to visit revolve dance company

Revolve’s Contemporary piece will be executed by 12 dancers ages ranging in from 18 to 30 the training behind dancers is varied which adds yet a sensational dimension to the piece.

 “It is so exciting to see, hear and experience the practices leading up to the City-wide festival,  I see  that our focus is on track, a comfort that comes from trust of a fluid process and a dedication that allows our dancers to speak through inspired lines of movement.”

Dawn Dippel, Revolve Dance Company, CO-FOUNDER

 The inspiration dancers are able to portray to an audience through lines, movement is truly a magical event… We can’t wait to see Revolve and our other Company’s perform at the City-Wide Dance Festival as their music and dance inspires a tap in a community’s heart!

i think i saw a shooting star…

“We expected 40 maybe 50 people to attend the “Shooting Stars” final performance, to our delight there were more than 100 family members and friends of our dance camp stars in the audience that night”

 Andrea Cody, Founder and Executive Director of Dance Houston.

On Friday, July 31^st Dance Houston – Summer Dance Camp Youth ages 8 – 11 executed a flawless 45 minute performance at the Barnevelder Movement Arts Complex.  Youth attending the Dance Houston Summer Camp known as “Shooting Stars”, arrived at camp on day one and were told that they would debut a series of performance on the last day of camp. The young eyes followed the seasoned professionals explaining what the next two weeks would offer with excitement and raw inspiration… It was exactly like watching a scene from the original TV series FAME, except that Debbie Allen was played in real life by our much sweeter Allison “Allie” T and the students in our reality were much shorter, but possessed equal if not more talent of those actors from FAME…

“I’ve always known, my entire life I have loved music, music moves me to just dance…”

“Shooting Star” 8 year old camper

Dance Houston “Shooting Stars” Summer Dance camp is designed around two weeks of intensive dance training, where workshops are taught by seasoned professional artists specializing in a range of disciplines that include modern, jazz, hip hop, social, and cultural dance.  Additional workshops include learning through video, dance games and yoga.  Shooting Stars is about programs that promote educational achievement and positive creative productive lives which will enable young people to nurture a curious relationship with creativity, innovation, and exploration utilizing performance as the tool and/or platform. 

The rapport the teachers had with the Shooting Stars was developed immediately and was one of family, friendship and respect. Traditionally summer camps are designed to keep young people occupied during the summer months while parents are at work.  Although many summer camps are well equipped with staff, young people often find summer camps draining and uninspired.  I can remember my summer days as a young wiper snapper looking at summers with my very own plan; where books were not the priority and my bike was on the top of the list! My parents had a very different plan in mind for my sister and me and those plans included endless chores, sports and sitter camps (the camps usually turned out to be fun – making candles, riding horses, swimming and camp fires).   In a recent article out of Science Daily I read that 60% of today’s young people spend an average of 40 hours a week at what I like to refer to as “TV CAMP”, otherwise known as the build a zombie camp where their hardest chore is wondering where they left the remote control. This brings me back to Dance Houston and the programs it has deliberately designed to keep young people moving and inspiring curiosity with the ultimate unspoken goal of building relationships with people, culture, and informed diversity.  At the end of the day Dance Houston can proudly say it helps to grows courage in people (of all ages) to build their own stage featuring their uniquely inspired life dance.

“The performances were magical; the stars transformed the stage into a conversation of culture and diversity through dance.” 

In the 21^st Century we are often so concerned with measuring success and showing numbers that prove our contrived findings I look to organizations like Dance Houston and see the success on a stage where young people become global thinkers and learn how to speak a variety of languages through the movement of dance.  As I research the impact arts has on a young person’s academic achievement as measured by grade-point averages and standardized tests like the SAT or ACT I have learned that young people who are exposed early on to the arts but specifically to music and dance are more likely to score higher on standardized test and excel in language arts, math and science.  The question that surfaces in my heart and mind is; if the statistics continue to prove that the arts have a positive impact on our young leaders how is it that programs like that of Dance Houston’s Shooting Stars are so rare.

“The young stars were exposed and taught dance techniques and history around other cultures and how dance continues to be a universal form of communication.  The stars spent 7 hours a day 5 days a week for two week seeking and gaining knowledge and perfecting their skills around the lost language of cultural dance…” 

Andrea Cody, Founder and Executive Director of Dance Houston.

Our young people will one-day find themselves competing with their counterparts from Europe, China, and India for the brain-based jobs that are an ever-increasing percentage of the global economy; It is inspiring to see that Dance Houston is developing programs that nurture youth’s understanding, acceptance and love of the arts and the diversity that lives within the movement and music.

The Houston Summer heat has been unforgiving… but on Friday, July 31^st the Dance Houston – Shooting Stars campers took their audience around the world through their exquisite and flawless performances…

I leave you with my favorite quote…

“I’ve always known, my entire life I have loved music, music moves me to just dance…”

“Shooting Star” 8 year old camper