Performania: TexFest-ing
For me, TexFest-ing is an Olympic sport. I may have achieved my personal best crashing through Dance Salad, Fusebox and CounterCurrent in 14 days.
Performania
Performania: The Loneliness of the Arts Writer
“What are you working on?” asked Anis Shivani, a Texas poet, novelist, pundit and provocateur. “A story called ‘The loneliness of the arts writer’,” I replied. “All artists are lonely,” he shot back. “Maybe so, but arts writers are the loneliest,” I said.
Coming Home to Texas and Sometimes Leaving Again
When a writer pitched a story about an actor leaving Texas I immediately said, “No thanks, I need to focus on those staying.” Although, now I can't help wondering what would have been in that exit interview.
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!”
Performania: Houston Ballet’s Fresh Nutcracker
Houston Ballet is throwing a little holiday get-together, at least that's what it looks like from my seat at the front of the rehearsal room as the company enacts the famous party scene from the Nutcracker.
Performania: Curious Connections
During an email exchange with Jessica Lang about her collaboration with architect Steven Holl for Tesseracts of Time, I realized that I could hear the sounds of construction of Holl’s new Glassell School, part of the new MFAH campus, from my desk as I was typing.
Performania: Festival Fever
I got it bad, festival fever. And I am not alone; Texas is right there with me.
Performania: Israeli Dance in Texas
I’ve been obsessed with Israeli contemporary dance since returning from International Exposure 2015 last December, and for good reason: Some of the best contemporary dance on the planet harks from the tiny seaside city of Tel Aviv.
Performania: The Visibility of the Arts in Pop Culture
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!
Performania: Small Scaling the Arts
here's something about do-ablity that is making me a more eager watcher these days. Perhaps I suffer from a mild case of sustainability syndrome. Maybe it's my Buffalo upbringing or being raised by depression era parents that puts me in the “doing more with less” mood.
Performania: Drama with or without a Theater
I'm always looking for drama, just not necessarily in a theater. It's the burden of a performaniac.
Performania: Artists in and out of Texas
Hollering about Texas with a perfect Southern drawl. My Pillow peers claimed that I mentioned Texas once every 31 minutes (yes, they kept track). It was my only retort to the “There's art in Texas?” question.