Open Space: Dance at Rice’s Moody Center for the Arts
“We are putting in a dance floor,” Alison Weaver told me during a hard hat tour of the Moody Center for the Arts, which opens this month on the campus of Rice University.
Nancy Wozny
The ACTX Top Ten: February 2017
Our top ten picks for arts + cuture events happening across Texas in February 2017.
Substance & Spunk: Women Triumph in Life and Love in Stanton Welch’s Cinderella
Stanton Welch prefers strong heroines. So it's no wonder that his Cinderella knows her own mind. Houston Ballet fans will find that out for themselves when the company performs Welch's beloved story ballet Cinderella, March 2-12, 2017.
DSH’s Mind the Gap Mines the Personal and the Political
When I saw that Dance Source Houston cooked up a follow-up project for their AIR residency artists I had to go, mostly because it's just such a smart move.
Fresh Start: Austin Welcomes Trey McIntyre
The word is out: renowned American choreographer Trey McIntyre calls Texas his home once again. McIntyre cut his teeth as a dancer and a choreographer at Houston Ballet.
Motion Redux: Tad Beck at FotoFest’s International Discoveries VI
When Vinod Hopson of FotoFest suggested that I check out the work of Tad Beck, I figured dance was involved. And indeed, Beck's work with renowned downtown dancemakers is compelling on several levels, from the detailed process to the end image, which involves re-photography and some actual dancing.
Full Surround Cinema: Adventures at the 2016 HCAF
Houston Cinema Arts Festival artistic director Richard Herskowitz mentioned early on in the festival that immersive cinema may be the one of the few ways to get away from our habit of constant distraction. Two days after the election, I needed all the distraction that I could get, which is perhaps why the VR Gallery became my go to refuge during the 2016 HCAF, which ran Nov. 10-17, 2016.
Performania: Texas Dance Ambassadors
I spend a lot of time outside of Texas, for work, family, but mostly to keep up with my home artform: Dance. Nothing makes me happier than running into Texas dance artists doing work outside of Texas. So when a friend came up to me during my time at Jacob’s Pillow asking me if I knew that a Houston dancer was performing with the renowned choreographer Jonah Bokaer, my response was a proud, “Why, yes I do!”
The ACTX Top Ten: December 2016
Our top ten picks for arts + culture events happening across Texas in December 2016.
Victory at Sea: Moby-Dick at The Dallas Opera
“Melville put the whole universe into Moby-Dick,” my companion said before the curtain rose on The Dallas Opera production of Moby-Dick.
Acting in Texas: Joel F. Grothe
Joel F. Grothe holds court as Thomas Cromwell in Main Street Theater's production of Hilary Mantel's Wolf Hall and Bring Up the Bodies, through Dec. 18.
Dancing Bodies Wake Up Space: Third Coast Dance Film Festival at Aurora Picture Show
I'm convinced that most spaces can be improved by the presence of a few dancing bodies.