Vintage Links We Like:

Our first “Link We Like” is a link we don’t like.  But at the same time, it’s just too great not to share.  I thought foot binding was antiquated.  Special music and tutorial on computers (mobile website doesn’t do it justice.)  The more you watch, the more nauseating it is.

This is something no one ever teaches you: how to welcome a guest artist at your school or studio.

Loving this by Dancing Branflakes: she journeys through finding joy and acceptance with her body.  An always-relevent topic with dancers.

Get up on your leg! (what the @#$% does that mean, because apparently it doesn’t mean puffing up your chest and jetting out your chin) by Dance Intercepts

Ahhh yes!!  It’s Friday Framers.  And we celebrate with our Links We Like.  But quickly, before we go there, just wanted to give you a little update.

1) Stay tuned for the 2013 Composition Winner to be announced in one week,  I have to say, that I’m so thankful for having one more week.  This decision is agonizing.  It’s a good thing: excellent music is in your audience future.

2) We are performing this weekend in Choreographers X6, info and tickets-on-the-cheap can be found here.

3) There’s a Height Limit will screen at Motion Captured Dance Film Festival the following weekend.  Deets here.

4)  We are interviewing for Development Assistants, so if you know someone or are someone, contact us.

Okay.  Thanks for hanging in there.  These are your weekly Links We Like.

Some of Houston’s gems present at TEDxHouston:

1.  Jane Weiner (and the world’s greatest boss) puts the fear of a world with no art in us.  Scary Place.  Excellent talk.  Rise up, army of artists.

2.  Rice University and Musiqa’s Anthony Brandt gives us a supremely articulate and invigorating talk on the creative process.  I deeply identify with this.

3. Carrie Schneider talks about her Houston walking tours, Hear Our Houston, she empowers Houstonians to tell and share the stories of their city.

4.  Two Star Symphony is an ensemble performing in quartet and octet configurations, they compose and perform all-original music across a wide variety of genres.  Half band, half string quartet.  Watch here.

And in case you didn’t get how completely fabulous Houston is, read it here: in the New York Times.

This nugget of integrity in the New York Times this morning got me thinking about this disease we call jealousy.  I think there’s something that happens after New Year’s, when we have all of our goals and resolutions, and we start to find that they’re harder to keep than we thought and we start to give up on them (we more than survived before we made those silly things anyway, right?)  But then we start to look around at other people, you know, Doing Things. We start to become unsettled and frustrated at ourselves, wishing we had the follow-through, talent, and (let’s just say it) luck of the people who Do Things. What an exhausting way to live.  And if you think about it, what a boring way to live.  We have your own lives, skills, identities, histories, personalities and dreams.  Why would we want to mimic those of others?  How dull it would be to forgo the excitement of a life not yet fulfilled than to play copycat to another.  I think we all could look in a little deeper.  You too can Do Things.

Never underestimate the power of jealousy and the power of envy to destroy. Never underestimate that.
Oliver Stone

And may I just say, how can we possibly wonder why there is such emotional turmoil in ballet, and that jealousy manifests itself akin to UFC?  The ballets are FULL of stories based on jealousy.  Ballet dancers are paid to fall deeply into characters obsessed with jealousy.  It’s the crux of Coppelia, Nutcracker, Giselle… comment below to grow this list…

Happy Friday Framers! Here’s a top Links We Like by Raquel Kahn, Company Rep. Thinking about her as she travels to Southeast Asia. Tribute to the wonderful Raquel! She writes:

My first three links today are a little heavy. The first two discuss the interesting and complex relationships between gender, identity, and dance:

1. This interview with Brenda Way, Founder and Artistic Director of Oberlin Dance Collective addresses the question of whether modern dance can be gender neutral?

2. The second I find inspiring! It discusses the idea that by exploring gender stereotypes through dance, we may see that they are actually fading…

3. Third is an article from GOOD magazine about empowering girls through education.

4. Now, after all that hard thinking, let your mind RELAX! and go to your quiet place. You know you deserve it, it’s been a long week….

New Year’s Eve. New Year’s Day. New Year’s Resolutions!

It is usually a good idea to have goals, and the self-awareness to want to self-improve, but why do New Year’s resolutions have to be so dang cliche? I will bet you five bucks you can name all of the top ten resolutions.

So you have one. A resolution. What now? It’s good to know you’re not alone.

If your goal is to eat healthy, come follow nutrition coach Jill Tarpey with us every Wednesday right here.

And if you’re the kind of gal or guy who just needs to be hassled, we’ve got the tool for you: HassleMe. Email and text hasslings to keep you on track!

Happy Friday Framers! Hope you all had a fantastic holiday and are looking forward to 2013!

As you prepare for the new year, check out these links!

Here are some of the most common new year’s resolutions with links to helpful websites to achieve them!

I myself have started getting into CrossFit as a way to get in shape and motivate myself, but there are tons of ways to get fit in this new year!  Start by reading Eat Well Wednesdays here on our blog!

As we look to 2013, let’s not forget all that was 2012, for better or worse  And looking forward, there is more to come, from fashion to television to culture.  Not to mention everything happening with Frame Dance!

I’m excited for the new year, I hope you all are too!

Well Framers, congratulations! It’s December 21st, 2012 and we have survived.  No Mayan apocalypse can slow us down! Good thing too because we’re just getting started at Frame Dance Productions! We’ve got our non-profit status and we’re raring to go!

If the world had ended early this morning though, at least we would have accomplished some of these awesome feats before being obliterated:  27 Science Fictions That Became Science Facts in 2012

Last night people around the world partied like it was their last night ever, from the Philippines to Cincinnati.

Now most of us have known from the beginning that it was probably all bologna (except the guy in this video…) but I can’t help asking myself, if it really was the end of the world as we know it, what would I do?  Who would I want to see and what would I say?  What would you do if today was your very last day on the planet….?

We have cause to celebrate!  Frame Dance Productions has received its tax-exempt determination, and all gifts and donations to us are tax deductible!  Yahoo!!  Here are some helpful hits for your end-of-the-year giving:

Tax Perks of Charitable Giving.

Donate to Frame Dance

The science of giving: Why Giving Feels Good!

What happens when you give to Frame?

$10 pays for one hour of rehearsal for one dancer. (easy to multiply!)

$50 pays for the supplies and making of one costume.

$75 pays for our photo copies and admin supplies for a year.

$150 will buy us a new tripod.

$3000 will get us to our goal to purchase our much needed new video camera.

Every dollar counts, and we appreciate any and all support!

Hey Framers! TGIF, am I right??

I will have you know right now, I am NOT a crafty person…at all.  But doesn’t the holiday season inspire you to make something from scratch? Well, for me it does.  We’re coming upon the time of year when you start to realize you’ve got a big ole family, and a little ole bank account.  So why not try giving some inexpensive, homemade gifts?  You used to get away with it when you were a kid, why not now?

Here’s some links for projects even I could pull off (I think…we’ll see)

I like numbers 3,5, and 6 on this slideshow

Something sweet?? And easy…(4 ingredients)

How about some handmade ornaments!

More handmade gifts.

Recycled craft projects for the kiddos 

Wow, I’m feeling so domestic already!!!

It’s that time of year.  And it’s all the time of year for some.  Here are a few links we like on managing and maintaining healthy relationships as we are in the midst of that crunchy time with family and friends.  Also, dancers like to please.  They like people to like them.  It’s how we were trained to behave– to allow teachers and others in authority write our own self-worth.  And as adults, we realize this is wrong.  But what now?

How to spot a liar.

Do you have a healthy relationship?

How can dance be an advocate for healthy relationships?  Gibney Dance is doing some powerful work.

The brain in love.

A check list to evaluate your boundaries in your relationships.

The power of art.