On Feb. 3 some three million folks saw something amazing on network television: contemporary dance that was not part of a reality show. And it was good! Wait, there's more: the choreographers and the dancers were Texans!
It's not every day that Texas choreographers get a shout out from Felicity Huffman on Twitter. But that's exactly what happened to NobleMotion Dance co-directors Andy Noble and Dionne Sparkman Noble after the fifth episode of the ABC drama American Crime aired on Feb. 3, which featured four uninterrupted minutes of their outstanding choreography.
Before the Live Music Capital of the World got its very own dance festival, Kate Warren’s northwest Austin studio, Café Dance, provided an informal home to showcase Austin dance makers.
Dallas native Jennifer Mabus premieres The Art of Losing, a multi-media, sound and dance collaboration with the artist Lynn Lane, on Jan, 22-23, at The Barn as part of NobleMotion’s 2016 Next Step Series. You can also catch her work as part of Open Dance Project's Stories to Tell on Feb. 19-21 at the MATCH.
In Texas, as in most other regions, funds for contemporary dance are spread thinly, even across companies considered to be the toast of the state’s dance scene.
The second Dallas DanceFest will again bring together 20 troupes and soloists for three days of performances, but this year more are coming from outside of North Texas.