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Local dance troupes krump it up with a program of hip-hop performances

In the dance smorgasbord Winter Formal, the local presentation group Dance Houston celebrates urban dance (also known as hip-hop), a genre that’s old enough to have a proud legacy but new enough to be wildly innovative. More than 150 local artists, many of them quite young, will display the genre’s range through break dancing, slow R&B moves, krumping, stepping and, surely, a number of styles that haven’t even found a name. In a mash-up of the old and the new, FLY KiDS will set their urban moves to classical music, and Revolve Dance Company, known for its more classical training, will set its contemporary dance to hip-hop. Marvelous Motion, Planet Funk and Ghost Crew round out the program, which may leave even the audience winded as it tests the frontiers of dance. 8 p.m. Wortham Theater Center, 501 Texas. For information, call 713–526–1049 or visit www.dancehouston.org. $15 to $30.
Sat., Jan. 26, 8 p.m., 2008

by Julie Ramey, published January 24, 2008 in the Houston Press.
 

Take your cues from two of Houston’s hottest hip-hop choreographers at the “Young and Intense Summer Dance Camp, a two-week intensive workshop led by Phillip Chbeeb (he’s worked with Fat Joe and Paul Wall) and Jason Anderson, among others. The workshops (modern, jazz, hip-hop, swing, flamenco and ballroom) are divided into beginner and advanced tracks; boys and girls ages 12 to 16 can participate. “The beginning track is really good to help become [a] comfortable and confident dancer in the real world for social events ranging from school dances to weddings,” says director Andrea Cody of the traditional lessons. We think the kids will be more hyped about the hip-hop and funk classes, but hey, that’s just us.

 

Full of duende — the spirit that drives the deeply emotive art of flamenco dancing — San Francisco’s Melissa Cruz is bringing her program “Flamenco en Vivo” to Houston, but not even she knows what exactly will be in the show.

“I don’t know what verse the singer will sing,” says Cruz, a former law student who turned her love of dance into a 16-year career. “Flamenco dancing is highly improvisational. What ties it all together is that we all have a knowledge of an overall structure to the music and to the dance.”

In flamenco, the guitarist and dancer work around the singer. The music and dance correspond to the letras — self-contained poems which tell stories. The show has no running theme, instead bringing together a variety of pieces. While some dances will feature aggressive, upbeat rhythms, others will have slower, classical tones. Some pieces explore topics you might not expect from a flamenco show — Cruz plans to perform a piece about the hardships of miners.

Date/Time: Fri., March 30, 7:30pm, Sat., March 31, 7:30pm

by Ishanee Parikh, published March 28, 2007 in the Houston Press.

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Dance Dance Dance

At this weekend's Dance Houston festival, a wide variety of local troupes, from block-rocking, socket-popping B-boys to lotus blossom0gentle purveyors of Chinese ballet, share the same stage.  Today, you'll witness the Urban Souls Dance Company's streetwise break dancing with a spiritual twist, the Houston Metropolitan Dance Company's melding of traditional and modern ballet and Shawn Welling's Planet Funk's athlete-level bumping and grinding- not to mention 12 others.  Which is the best?  Dance Houston is allowing the audience to decide.  Attendees can drop their ticket stubs into individual boxes and cast a ballot for the Audience Pick Award.  The floor starts shaking at 7:30pm.  Hobby Center for the Performing Arts, 800 Bagby.  Dance Houston continues Saturday and Sunday.  For information, call 73.526.1049 or visit www.dancehouston.org.  $15 to $40.

by Nick Keppler, published August 23, 2006 in the Houston Press.

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The Front Row

Interview on "The Front Row" with Alison Young featuring company directors who are presenting work in Dance Houston 2006.  Listen to these guys describe their work: Shawn Welling from Planet Funk, Barbara King of Barbara King's Dance Company, and Randall Flinn from Ad Deum Dance Company.

Wednesday, August 23, 2006, 3:00 - 4:00pm

Click Here to listen to the show

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A Festival Grows in Houston: Andrea Cody on Dance Houston
By Nancy Wozny

How do groups get on the bill? Can anyone be on the bill?
AC: the groups apply by sending in basic info on their company, ideas for a piece in the show, and a video of their work.  The applications are reviewed by  Dance Houston’s artistic advisory board which selects the best representatives from the various genres of dance.
 
What’s exciting for you to have so much dance at one event?
AC: Dance festivals are a great way of celebrating dance as a highly expressive, versatile, and progressive form of art.  Every dance company is proud of their signature style, and a showcase format emphasizes their uniqueness and pushes them to represent it to the best of their ability.  The range of diverse cultures that come together to produce and watch this event is what i derive the deepest sense of accomplishment from. 
 
Is it wild backstage?
AC: In the wings, you could hear a pin drop.  In the dressing room, it's the craziest party I’ve ever seen - a 72-hour dance marathon starring the best dancers in the city.

Click here to read the rest of the interview.

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Houston dance festival features Memorial talent

Thanks to Andrea Cody, who grew up in Frostwood, Houstonians can celebrate all the diverse dance talent that the Bayou City has to offer, and they can do so with one ticket to one show on one night.

In its fourth year, Dance Houston will feature 17 troupes that will each perform a number representing such genres as ballroom, contemporary, hip-hop and jazz.

by Andrea Sutton, published August 24, 2006 in the Memorial Examiner.

More of this story (sorry, no longer available)

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From "Houstoned" (the Houston Press Blog)

Probably the only reason there aren't any Houston finalists in So You Think You Can Dance is because the show's producers didn't make it to Houston for auditions, Dance Houston director Andrea Cody says. But they should.

Click here to read the rest!

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Bayou City Ballet

From the first scene of "Dance Houston Does Houston," when a visitor disembarks (from Continental, of course) and steps onto our city's sweltering streets misguidedly dressed in his cowboy best, the inside jokes fly. "We're trying to give it a look that will feel familiar," says Dance Houston founder and director Andrea Maskos — hence the falling rain, traffic snarls and mosquitoes, mosquitoes everywhere. "Some of us like [Houston] and some of us don't," she says of the show's nine choreographers, who worked together to create a singularly Houstonian tale, told through dance as varied as the city itself. The show features modern and traditional ballet, waltz, polka, hip-hop — even dancers rappelling down walls — to accompaniment ranging from Tejano to spoken word to "Sweet Home Alabama." "The show is the very opposite of monochrome," Maskos says. "It's Technicolor."

by Julia Ramey, published March 15, 2006 in the Houston Press

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Take That, L.A.

Dance Houston 2005 spotlights our city's movers and shakers

Andrea Maskos thinks Houston's dance scene is as hip and risque as L.A.'s, as intelligently sophisticated as New York City's and as diverse as Chicago's.  Which is why the award=winning dancer and choreographer founded Dance Houston, an annual performance spotlighting Houston dance companies.  Fifteen groups take the stage for Dance Houston 2005, including crowd-pleasers Uptown Street Dance Company, whose "X Dancing" features urban, jazz, ballet, and hip hop moves in a Survivor-style, reality-TV-themed show.  Also watch for the Easy Credit Dance Theater, who'll perform with Two Star Symphony in a carnivalesque marionette show, replete with baton twirlers, a rock band and disgruntled puppet performers who really let loose when their stings are cut.

by Steven Devadanam, published June 23, 2005 in the Houston Press

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Diversity in Dance

Last year's Dance Houston was a wild success, and lucky for you dance fans out there, they're doing it again!  This production is the perfect example of the fierce energy, diversity, and spirit that Houston's artists are so well known for.

The Dance Houston 2005 line-up features last year's award-winning dance troupes plus amazing new talent to the Dance Houston stage.  With seventeen dance companies and over 100 dancers in the cast, the broad range of dance styles will dazzle you like no other dance show in Houston.

Each group is allowed a maximum of only seven minutes on stage, which is a great benefit to the audience.  (If something isn't quite your taste, you only have to sit through it for seven minutes.)  This year's concert includes the first ever "Audience Pick" award.  Each audience member will be given one vote, and the company with the most votes will receive $500 plus major bragging rights.

Founding Director Andrea Maskos admits to being a little nervous about what some of the companies are planning.  Apparently there is no shortage of wild ideas and unbridled creativity among these local choreographers and dancers.  No matter what madness ensues, this will be one of the most memorable programs you will see all summer.

by Eva Sheie, published June 2005 in Envy Magazine

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Support the Troupes

Director of Dance Houston Andrea Maskos pauses to look out on the Houston skyline.  A Montrose Area resident, Maskos will help bring the nonprofit organization's third annual review of the best dance troupes in Houston to the Hobby Center for Performing Arts... The performances will spotlight dancers from groups including Urban Souls, Wyld Styl and Exclamation!  By dropping ticket stubs in the troupe's ballot boxes, the audience will decide the winner of the Audience Pick Award.

published June 9, 2005 in the River Oaks Examiner

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