What are you most Thankful for this year?
Leave a comment below! 
Wellness Wednesdays: Thanksgiving Edition
Eat Well Wednesday Uncategorized
Check out this interesting article from the New York Times called:
The United States of Thanksgiving
Still looking for an easy and creative dish to make for tomorrow?
Here are 11 Healthy Thanksgiving Side Dishes great for the big Thanksgiving feast!
http://www.rd.com/slideshows/11-healthy-thanksgiving-side-dishes/#slideshow=slide4
Tuesday Tunes
Tuesday TunesTuesday Tunes: Music and Dance 
Hey, framers! We’re continuing our series about the relationships between music and dance
Have you ever wondered why we dance to music, and you would like to further understand why? This interesting article published by Time magazine explains some of the science behind our interests in the relationship between music and movement. The article involves findings from a study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
If you’re interested in reading more, check it out here!
Tuesday Tunes: more awareness to those people making music!
Tuesday Tunes
Continuing our Tuesday Tunes focusing on dancers and accompanists, here’s another interesting article.
This article talks about the relationship between the accompanist and a dance teacher, including the communication that is needed for the relationship to succeed. Composer and musician Christopher Hobson, who began accompanying music when he was 17 , goes into depth about what it means to accompany dance.
Read More here
MFA Monday: Stressed about your thesis?
MFA Mondays
Observations that helped me create my MFA thesis
by Amanda Diorio
It will happen.
As those of us who have worked in show business are well aware “the show must go on.” It is amazing when you think about all that needs to get done in a production like an MFA thesis concert, but miraculously it all happens. This was a helpful attitude to take when I was working on my own concert. I had no idea how all the work would get done, but I knew that somehow it would all come together. And of course it did. Remember this when you are at your wit’s end and about to freak out about not finishing your work for the show. One benefit of having a concert as a final project is that you have no choice but to get it all done. The dates have been set long in advance and cannot be changed. This is one advantage that those seeking other kinds of terminal degrees do not have. I have friends who have been working on their PhD dissertations for years. The have no specific end time so it can be drawn out. We, as performers, have the benefit of having a set date to be done by, a finish line to look towards. When you are in the thick of it and your life has consisted of this crazy schedule for years it is hard to see the light at the end of the tunnel but remember grad school is not real life. Your concert and your degree will happen. Hang in there!
The project is still a part of the learning.
While your final project is a reflection of your overall work in graduate school it is still a part of the learning process. There is this sense that Continue reading
Dancers and Accompanists
Tuesday TunesTuesday Tunes: Dance Teachers and Accompanists
While some teachers use CDs and iPods, many use live accompanists. As we know, the successful communication between accompanist and teacher is essential to the class. According to accompanist Richard Maddock, it’s the job of the musician to pay close attention while the dance teacher is marking it with their students to find the right tempo. He also says that it is important for him to pay attention to the first 8-16 bars of the exercise, so he can spend the rest of the time to get the perfect melody.
If you would like to read more about the interaction between accompanists and dancers, check out these cool articles:
Ballet accompanist equals ballet dancer in importance.
An interview with a ballet accompanist on Dance Advantage.
Also, check out our interview of our own Kirk Suddreath here!
Tuesday Tunes: Alex Soares
Tuesday TunesFrame Dancer Performer Profiles
Name : Alex Soares
First Frame Piece:
Crease
One thing you always do when preparing for a performance:
I always read my notes from rehearsal, run through the piece step-by-step in my head. Right before going on stage, I like to find a moment for silence and concentration. The goal is to clear my mind and drive mental focus to what’s about to happen.
What do you do after a performance? How do you unwind?
A nice long shower is a must, along with ointments for my poor feet. A nice glass of wine is also relaxing and celebratory.
Your favorite moment in performance:
The improv portions of Context were really interesting. I had a hard time connecting with that piece and choreography, and it really didn’t come together for me until we performed it. The evening started with a good 15-20 minutes of improv, and the energy I received from the audience along with the connection between us dancers was really powerful and interesting, and I think it led to authentic movement that was powered by emotion. It was exciting to be part of that.
photos from top to bottom: David DeHoyos, Lorie Evans, Sil Azevedo,
MFA Monday
MFA MondaysFor those of you who may be new…The “MFA Monday” series features the advice of Masters of Fine Arts. Enjoy their thoughts on the process of attaining an MFA!
by Angela Falcone
Oh grad school…
Being a current first year M.F.A. candidate/student at Texas Woman’s University, I have quickly learned the heightened expectations of a graduate student. One of my professors, Sarah Gamblin, said one afternoon, “you must do everything to the nth degree.” After she mentioned this revelation about graduate school, my life has been turned upside down. I am in my second semester of what everyone calls the “first year” and the journey has been everything I have expected…challenging, stressful, and rewarding. Not only am I tested mentally and physically every day, I am one part of a community striving to better themselves as artists and as dancers. Below are three revelations I have had about this journey…so far.
1. You can never “over do” an assignment.
I have always been an “A” student throughout my academic career, but I have never had the pressure of succeeding and/or being challenged to this degree. If you think you are doing the assignment “correctly,” better think again. I have quickly learned the expectation of an assignment is truly infinite. If it is one blog entry for .5 points of your overall grade, you better be writing that blog as if it is your proposal for your final paper. Having adapted to this type of expectation over the past semester, I am rapidly becoming a better writer, thinker, innovator, and creator. I am so thankful for this revelation!
2. It is not the “what” that is important anymore, but the “so what.”
I am one of the many students at TWU that went straight from undergrad to graduate school. In saying that, I have quickly realized within my very first class, I need to dive deeper into the topic at hand. Regurgitating information (like a banking system education) is not the expected anymore. When stating anything, I now know I need to find connections, anomalies, dichotomies, and/or possible links between any and all things, no matter the significance (because everything means something). I am still working through the kinks of this revelation in my writing.
3. Process! Process! Process!
My background mainly consists of drill team training, which is coined (in the dance community) as a genre that does not challenge process and is completely final-product based. I would like to shift this paradigm and invite improvisation and collaboration into the drill team process. Normally when I choreograph, I would have every detail planned out ahead of time, but now, I am well aware of the possibilities of improvisation and provocation (Larry Lavender’s term). This semester, I have had many revelations in my own choreographic process. I am granted four hours a week with my dancers, which is just enough time to play, experiment, create, and collaborate. The process of creating work has truly been stimulating and invigorating.
These revelations have truly shaped the artist I am becoming. I hope to one day be able to succinctly articulate how the impact of dance has had on my life, but until next time…
Angela Falcone, a Houston native, graduated from Friendswood High School in 2007. She was a member of the drill team, the Friendswood Wranglerettes, where she held the title of Grand Marshal. After graduating, she followed her dream and tried out for the Kilgore College Rangerettes. She had the honor of being chosen as the Freshmen Sergeant and Swingster her freshman year, and received the greatest honor of being chosen as Captain her sophomore year. Following graduation from Kilgore College with an Associate in Fine Arts, she was accepted to the University of Texas at Austin, where she holds a B.F.A. in Dance. Angela currently attends Texas Woman’s University in Denton, Texas where she is pursuing her M.F.A. in Dance. She is specifically interested in shifting the paradigm of high school drill team by reinvigorating the choreographic process and bringing a somatic awareness to high school dancers’ bodies.