#Houseeit
Do You Have Tunn
el Vision?
Find out every Monday and Wednesday at Noon
in the Downtown Tunnels of Houston
beginning October 5th
Bill T. Jones: A Good Man screening tonight!
Free Events Thursday Performances/Screenings
Framers, come join us for the Houston Cinema Art Society’s Artist’s Choice Film Series! #artistchoice
8:30pm Monday, September 21st, there will be a screening of Bill T. Jones: A Good Man, which was chosen by our very own Lydia Hance. The film will be shown at Cafe Brasil (2604 Dunlavy St).
Following the screening, there will be a discussion with Lydia Hance and the Houston Cinema Arts Festival. And…it’s FREE!
Are you ready to start a creative practice? (it’s not as scary as it sounds)
EducationDoes your mind feel jumbled? Are you having a hard time identifying your emotions? Do you feel on edge or like your body has unspent energy? Do you desire internal organization? Do you have something to say but not sure what it is? I know exactly how that feels– not great. We created a workshop that can help you find your realignment and leave you with tools for your own creative and physical practice. Through dance, writing, and movement techniques, we want to help you find your voice, your stillness, and your power.
When I started the MultiGen Framers class, it was fairly new territory for me. The very essence of this class is that it welcomes beginners to advanced dancers of any age. So that’s pretty open! Teaching the class this Spring was an incredibly exciting balancing act of allowing adult beginner bodies to venture into new territory, keep the energy and flow high enough for children to stay engaged in modern dance technique that is true to the form, minus the extraneous physicality to keep the students working safely. I am compelled to engage the brain as much as the body, and with different developmental capacities, there was a new challenge to find out how to do this. Teaching MultiGen Framers was like a dream– challenging in all of the best ways, and rewarding in all of the best ways.
Something that did come up as I was teaching, was that due to the need to keep things moving along at a certain pace to keep the children connected to the work, I found myself wanting to spend more time than I could with the adults to help them journey into their bodies in a new way. So… the Sunday Adult Workshops were born. As someone who has always had an alternative somatic practice alongside my dance training, and desire to grow my spiritual self and investigate mindfulness, I wanted to offer this as a complete artistic experience for adults. I believe in cultivating a creative practice alongside your dance classes because dance is more than exercise. It is a means of connection between body, mind, and soul. We must develop all three to be the artists that we are.
So these four workshops (take one, two, three or all four) involve a gentle, deep, and slow pace to experience two different somatic practices, modern dance technique, creative writing that will connect mind with body, and a beginning choreography class. I hope you’ll join us! This is also a great entry point into joining the MultiGen Framers in the Fall.
Register Here. Sunday Adult Workshops are funded in part by the Houston Arts Alliance, capacity building initiatives.
Where’s the Easy Button?
MFA Mondays
Shortly after the big event in November 2013, I began telling inquirers that I would be taking a personal time out to rejuvenate personally and creatively. Much to my surprise, this idea did not go over well with others. I was met with resistance and warnings. New phrases began racing toward me such as ‘you can’t stop now,’ ‘don’t lose momentum,’ and my favorite ‘it will be so much harder to start again.’
Knowing that my pattern of plowing through from one project or idea to the next was no longer an option, I had to begin again. Most importantly, I had to become okay with the idea that what came before was not WRONG and what comes next may not be RIGHT. The duh! stick had knocked me all the way back to my graduate school AHA moments. However, this time the focus was not on a composition class or a movement study, but rather on me as a person and an artist.
Lets take a moment to review my graduate school AHA moments.
- What is your intention? How do you make that as clear as possible?
- There are no right or wrong answers; only clearer choices.
In retrospect, I can clearly see a subconscious three-step process that began with re-flecting. When all the lights, costumes, and applause get stripped away and the audience goes home, what is the artist left with? Often times after an event would close, I was left with a great sense of dissatisfaction. (That is a whole other blog) This particular performance left me questioning what it was all for in the first place.
Why do I enjoy creating thought provoking, emotionally stirring works by sharing my life experiences with a bunch of strangers? The short answer… we are all connected to a much larger community and I want to make that connection clear and relevant. However, I was constantly ‘sharing’ yet not really taking the time to understand if it was valid or effective. Was I really making the connection I desired? And the biggest question of all, does the audience even want what I am offering?
Step two… re-evaluate! After understanding the Why, I began to ask the How. How do I make it clear that I want a connection between myself, the art, and the audience? I do not feel this understanding comes from the work itself, but rather the relationships that we create with our audience. This happens before the concert, during the concert, after the concert and through additional programs that engage and invite our audience into the process itself.
I must let you in on a little secret. I am making this sound so easy by giving you a synopsis of the process. Steps One and Two have taken a total of eighteen months and to be honest, I am still re-flecting and re-evaluating as I move forward into step Three… re-launch.
Was there a time in your life that you had to stop and take inventory? What was your journey to re-launch like?
Amy Elizabeth, named one of Houston’s 100 Creatives and Top 10 Choreographer in 2013, is currently an adjunct dance professor and artistic director for Aimed Dance since receiving her M.F.A from Sam Houston State University. Her work has been presented at DanceHouston, Dance Gallery Festival Texas, Houston Fringe Fest and venues throughout Texas, Louisiana, and Arizona. Additionally, she has had the privilege of setting works at Lone Star College, Rice University, Lamar High School and will be working with San Jacinto College Dance Ensemble this fall. Stay in touch at www.amyelizabethdance.com.
Frame Dance Audition
Links We Like
Frame Dance Audition, men and women
hiring for company and apprentice positions
July 12 2-4pm, 2808 Caroline St.
Frame Dance calls for smart, musical dancers with an open mind, a sense of adventure and professionalism, a willing spirit and an embracing strength from both men and women to partner and support their fellow Framers. Dancers must have a desire to work in non-traditional spaces, experiment with new ideas, and a willingness to be involved in the creative process and in the community.
Please bring a CV, and RSVP to Lydia.Hance@framedance.org.
Frame Dance ranges from athletic, to suspended, to subtle.
Frame Dance works with adults and children
Frame Dance performs in alternative spaces
Frame Dance works with emerging composers and live music
Framed in Five– way to go Little Framers and MultiGen Framers!
Performances/Screenings
The Framed in Five shows on Friday and Saturday were fantastic! All the hard work from the dancers really payed off, it was clear to anyone who saw the shows. It showcased work from the company as well as those participating in the Multi-Gen classes, new music, choreography and costume design. Sign up for our summer workshops to get ready for next year! And in the fall we will have two Little Framers age groups and the Multi-Gen Classes.
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Did you know the Bayou Greenways 2020 project from @Houston Parks Board – Parks by You will create a continuous parks system along Houston’s major waterways? Come celebrate the progress and our city at #BayouGreenwayDay April 4! www.BayouGreenwayDay.org
The free, family-friendly event will take place on Brays Bayou in the East End and will feature fun activities like biking, kayaking, a fun run, Zumba, music and more! www.BayouGreenwayDay.org
The Framers are performing at noon, embarking from Mason Park. Meet us there!
Frame Dance Performance!
Performances/Screenings
About Frame Dance’s next performance: Bayou Greenway Day on April 4
We hope you will join us at an exciting new community event from the Houston Parks Board: Bayou Greenway Day 2015 presented by Noble Energy! This free, day-long event will offer families the chance to walk, bike, run, stroll, play and paddle between park sites along Brays Bayou Greenway in the East End.
Event “hubs” in Mason Park, Spurlock Park, Gragg Park and Fonde Park – and the Brays Bayou Greenway trail in-between – will host fun activities for all ages. You will be able to start at any of these locations, enjoying activities and exploring the trails that connect the parks.
Activities will include 5K fun run/walk; bike rides, rentals and decorating; Zumba classes and dance performances; an interactive campsite; kayaking (for a small fee); giveaways and more!
Frame Dance will perform a work that travels along the bayou with elaborate time-lapse costumes by Ashley Horn.
Come experience the transformation happening along Houston’s bayous as part of Bayou Greenways 2020! Visit www.bayougreenwayday.org for additional information and an event map. Most activities free; April 4, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. The Framers perform at noon starting at Mason Park.
Bayou Greenway Day 2015 is a project of the Houston Parks Board in collaboration with the Mayor’s Office of Special Events, the Houston Parks and Recreation Department, and the office of Council Member Robert Gallegos.
Frame Composers: What are they up to now?
ComposersCharles Halka, Winner of the Frame Dance Music Composition Competition 2012
“After the birth of my beautiful daughter at the end of the summer, I started a new job teaching composition and music theory at Stephen F. Austin State University. Around that same time I was chosen as Musiqa‘s first “Composer+Intern”, a kind of composer-in-residence position through which I was commissioned to write three new works for their current season (the next one is at the CAMH on February 26!). It was a joy to finally be able to bring to life Imaginary Spaces, which debuted as METRODances, with Frame Dance Productions. The project had been in the works for quite some time, so it was really great to have it come alive and to get support from the Aaron Copland Fund for Music. Most recently, my orchestra work Impact got its U.S. premiere by the Shepherd School Symphony Orchestra, and my opera collaboration with composer-librettist (and Houston native!) Impact got its world premiere by the Mexican National Symphony in the Palacio de Bellas Artes in Mexico City in May 2014. John Grimmett and I were selected by Fort Worth Opera for its prestigious Frontiers program and showcase. Our opera, And Jill Came Tumbling After, will be workshopped and performed in Fort Worth in May.”