A Thought-Leader In Family & Children’s Dance Classes | Houston, TX
Frame Dance is a thought leader in dance education, inspiring the next generation of movers, makers, and world changers by offering dance classes for adults & children, multi-generational ensembles, professional performances, networking events, and film festivals. We are nestled between West U and the Museum District.
We believe in developing the whole dancer, teaching critical life skills such as creative thinking, leadership, collaboration, and resilience through our artful and playful dance curriculum at our studio and in partner schools.
Our adult modern dance classes are designed to offer you the joy and magic that’s possible when you create space in your life to move, to grow, and to share in the creative process with a like-hearted community.
For more than ten years, Frame Dance has brought radically inclusive and deeply personal contemporary dance to Houston. Led by Founder and Creative Director Lydia Hance, whom Dance Magazine calls “the city’s reigning guru of dance in public places,” the professional company is made up of six acclaimed co-creators committed to collaboration. Frame Dance has created over 50 unique site-specific performances and nine dances for the camera screened in festivals all over the United States and Europe. With an unrelenting drive to make dance in relationship to environment, Frame Dance has created dance works for and with METRO, Houston Museum of Natural Sciences, Houston Parks Board, Plant It Forward Farms, CORE Dance, Rice University, Houston Ballet, 14 Pews, Aurora Picture Show, and the Contemporary Arts Museum. Frame Dance’s productions were described by Arts + Culture Texas Editor-in-Chief Nancy Wozny as “some of the most compelling and entertaining work in Houston.” Creative Director Lydia Hance is a champion of living composers and is dedicated to work exclusively with new music.
Congratulations to Charles Halka, winner of the Frame Dance Productions Composition Competition. His work Por la Fuerza las Tierras has been selected to be featured in Frame’s spring show, CONTEXT.
Charles Halka’s compositions have been performed in the United States, Mexico, Russia, and Lithuania. As a 2008-09 U.S. Fulbright grantee, he spent a year in Vilnius, Lithuania researching Lithuanian music and writing an opera in collaboration with director and librettist Marija Simona Simulynaite. The opera, Julius, received its premiere in 2010 in Vilnius, and a choral excerpt from the opera was chosen recently for performance at the ISCM World Music Days 2012 in Belgium. In March of 2011, Round and Round, based on a work by the great American music patron Elizabeth Sprague Coolidge, was premiered at the Coolidge Auditorium of the Library of Congress. He is the 2011-12 Artist-in-Residence at the Foundation for Modern Music (Houston).
Charles has studied at conservatories in the United States, Russia, and Lithuania and holds degrees in both piano and composition from the Peabody Conservatory. He is now completing coursework towards a Doctor of Musical Arts at the Shepherd School of Music.
We welcome him to the Frame Dance Family and look forward to the big reveal this Spring!
The review got me thinking about the question I asked in the last post. This is clearly not a flawlessly written question. I hope that it’s generally clear what I’m asking, and I’d love to get your response. It’s a little tongue-in-cheek, but for blunt and choppy discourse, I figure it might give me a little insight. I’ll share the responses at the end of the week.
Create your free online surveys with SurveyMonkey, the world’s leading questionnaire tool.
Thank you Art Attack for coming to our show on Friday! Here is the review from the Houston Press. Ahhh, the feeling of being perplexed. Do you like it? Do you avoid it? To be honest, as the director, I am currently perplexed with the piece myself. And that’s because I’m still making the work. In fact, I’m in the very beginning stage– my favorite stage. Neil Ellis Orts, who you might remember from Framing Bodies: LOVE ME, wrote this, “I smile at the perplexed response of the writer. what perplexes her about modern dance is what excites me . . .” What excites me is being perplexed by the piece I’m making. I admit that it’s a different thing for an audience member.
As an audience member of any art work, are you searching for something to define? Something to understand and grasp? Or do you squish around in the bizarre, non-linear, and relish and unknown?
I’d love to know. Maybe I’ll set up a little survey and we can bubble our answers.
It has arrived, the very first Photobooth installation. We begin at 8pm at The Photobooth on Montrose tonight. We have four of these planned for this winter/spring, each brings us closer to our final performance. But the fun thing is that each one will be a new piece. New music, new scores, more fully developed choreography. I’ve been calling it a study on process or progress. I’ve started with the exoskeleton of the piece, and right now there are a lot of variables within that skeleton. Lots of nooks and crannies for the dancers to play in. And what happens at the Photobooth informs what choices we make for the next one. And so on; and so forth. Dancers are performance-oriented creatures, and I’ve found with my superb dancers, that sometimes it takes a performance environment to really get out honestly how our bodies react to material/choreography/directives. There’s a pressure of performance that peaks our alertness, our silent communication with each other, and our honestly and intent. This is certainly not true with all dancers. This is what makes the Framers unique. These dancers are such strong performers, artists, and are “bold reactionists” in the work I create. Its our way of collaborating in the process. I choose dancers based on their individual voice as well as their ability to give to fellow dancers in a performance. I like to create a world on the stage, and I need for it to be alive. Just ask them if they’ve ever performed the same piece the same way. Boring. To me.
I feel like I have a secret. If you’re a dancer, runner, yogi, pilates aficionado, or like good-looking sports wear, you’re always on the look for what’s attractive and what works. And here at Frame we are clothed in it. It’s American Flora.
American Flora is Frame’s sponsor for the series, Framed! at the Photobooth on Montrose. Our first performance of the series is this Friday at 8pm. If you’re in Houston, it’s at the intersection of Westheimer and Montrose. Come see us, challenge your mind, and perpetuate creativity in our world.
American Flora has clothed the dancers in their eco-friendly, super fabulous and sleek dance wear for each of the four performances at the Photobooth on Montrose.
In yesterday’s post I wrote a little bit about American Flora, but figured it would be best to get it straight from the source. That’s why we have this blog, isn’t it? Here we go, an interview with Mary Brewster of American Flora.
Hi Mary. Please tell the readers a little bit about yourself and what led you to establish American Flora.
I’ve had dance in my life since I was eight, but stopped formal training as a teenager. I always wanted to return to ballet but found it hard to find classes that suited me. I went to college for my BA and grad school for my MS in Art education, where I was involved in many movement classes. During the years that my three children were young I found a studio that was offering adult classes. At age 40 I returned to ballet, got hooked and realized all the reasons why I had loved it as a child. Soon after returning, I started teaching young children and teens. From there I segued into teaching adults and that’s really been my passion. I’ve been teaching and dancing for 17 years, wearing all kinds of dance wear. Like most dancers, I’m very particular about the fit and comfort of everything I wear. So… this coupled with the fact that I was very interested in finding a beautiful recycled material, lead me to start my own dance wear company.
Mary Brewster, owner of American Flora in Sirsasana Pose contemplating how to create the perfect yoga pants. Two years later the Iris (Cropped Yoga Pant) was introduced.
I soon realized that four leotards wouldn’t be enough to satisfy my goal, so I extended the line by five more garments that would also appeal to yogis and women doing pilates or any kind of workout. Another thing on my list of core values for American Flora was manufacturing in the USA.
What makes American Flora unique?
What Makes American Flora unique is the attention to detail of all the things that relate to my line. I took a year to research and choose Repreve fabric- the most supple, soft eco fabric that fits the body in the most complementary way. Customers tell me they feel like they’re naked when they were my pieces. I chose a cut and sew manufacturer that has been in business for 120 years in Wilkes-Barre, PA. allowing me to drive down there to discuss any bumps or additions in the production process.
I carefully chose names for my garments (all flowers) that I felt represented the garment. All flower hang tags were designed and executed by a Brooklyn artist who’s a close friend of mine.
Each card is a miniature piece of art. I package my garments with reusable material. My brass tag with American Flora stamped in it is a big part of my brand identity. I encourage customers to use it to make jewelry, put on a key chain or whatever they like.
What are you passionate about?
I’m passionate about people, art, dance, design, learning, creating, teaching, gardening/flowers…and more.
What types of people wear your line, what environments is it designed for?
The people who wear my line are dancers, yogis, pilates enthusiasts, runners, spinners, skiers, working women (Jasmine Tank under a blazer) to name a few. A large percentage of women wear American Flora leggings for fashion.
Where can our readers buy American Flora and be stylin’ like the Framers?
All American Flora garments and my Tote bags can be purchased on my website www.americanflora.com. At this time, my line is also being sold in select stores in Connnecticut, Maine and St. John, The Virgin Islands.
I named the company American Flora because everything is made in the USA . Flora because of my passion for gardening and flowers and Botticelli’s Flora, the goddess of flowers, representing beauty, perpetual growth and renewal of nature the way things were intended.
American Flora is Frame’s sponsor for the Photobooth on Montrose series that begins this Friday at 8pm. The series is called Framed! at the Photobooth on Montrose. American Flora is a unique and fabulous line of dance and yoga wear. The clothes are boutique high-performance and inspired by dance and the beauty of our natural world. Smart design and extensive use of eco-friendly Repreve® fabric ensures each piece in the collection provides the ultimate combination of luxury, comfort and performance. Another great thing? American Flora is made in the United States from 100% US sourced material.
I brought the clothes to Kristen’s first solo rehearsal and she tried hers on. Buttery soft. Sleek.
You’ll see each of the Frame women in them this Friday and at each subsequent performance. We will be wearing different combinations of the tops and bottoms. Here’s the website if you want to be clad in this line like the Framers.
Why do we love them? First the awesome clothing line. Second, they are a company with a heart and soul. A portion of all sales will benefit the Partnership for Breast Care of Hartford Hospital; they use recycled materials; the are American-made.
I’ll be posting pictures of the company in their garments, as well as my favorite new thing: the American Flora tote. Each bag is constructed from salvaged billboard vinyl and has a unique interior graphic. One of the best parts? Waterproof. For all the water-bottle lugging. Stay tuned to hear from the founder of American Flora, Mary Brewster.
Step inside the dance, watch from around the Photobooth, peek in the large windows, and follow the dancers as they move and manipulate the space.
There is no “stage.”
The Photobooth on Montrose hosts Frame Dance Productions in a performance series held at the The Photobooth on Montrose. Directed by Lydia Hance, Frame will perform unique live dance installations held on
January 20
February 24
March 30
April 27
8pm each night
Each installation will bring us closer to our Spring show in May 2012, but each will be a show itself. Fun, quirky, and fresh– see you there.The Photobooth on Montrose is Simon Gentry’s photo-studio with a twist: a photo-studio and event space in one.
Check out this article about The Photobooth on Motrose from Houston’s glossy Paper City Magazine.
Thank you so much for your votes in the Dance Advantage Dance Blog Contest. We came in on top in the Dance Organization contest (#1!), and #14 in the top 20 dance blogs (all categories). So these awards are for you:
Let’s celebrate with a performance on January 20th! 8pm at The Photobooth on Montrose. In all seriousness, we couldn’t have done it without your support. So merci beaucoup. And the beat goes on…
