Dance Source Houston’s Artist-in-Residence program is open to Greater Houston dance artists of all genres. Artists are selected based upon their desire to push themselves and their work to new levels by taking risks and maximizing their time in the residency. The residency culminates with performances of new work created during Barnstorm Dance Fest. A maximum of three artists are selected for each AIR cohort.

We are not currently accepting applications for the Artist In Residence program. A call for applications for the 2025-26 AIR cohort will open in Spring 2025 for a September 2025 -April 2026 residency term. 

Meet the 2024-25 Artists In Residence

Ashley Clos is a multi-disciplinary artist, dance educator, and advocate living in Houston, TX. Her choreography and research have been showcased at the Ailey Citigroup Theater in New York City, the Gelsey Kirkland Arts Center in Brooklyn, the American College Dance Association South-Central Adjudicated and Informal Concerts, the Southwest Popular/American Culture Association Conference in Albuquerque, and Dance Source Houston’s “Mind The Gap.” Ashley has worked as stage manager for Barnstorm Dance Fest for five years and has written 38 published dance previews/reviews with Houston Press and the Dance DiSH. Ashley holds a BFA and an MFA in Dance from Sam Houston State University. While there, she performed in choreography by Dionne Noble, Erin Reck, Dana Nicolay, Andy Noble, guest artist Jane Weiner, and the late, great Jonathan Charles Smith. Ashley’s dance training also includes White Mountain Summer Dance Festival, Mark Morris Summer Intensive, and Dance Italia. In 2018, Ashley was awarded the Ardsley Choreographic Residency in collaboration with Dance Gallery Festival and the Catskill Art Space in Livingston Manor, NY. As Artistic Director of Woodlands Ballet Theatre from 2019-2022, Ashley choreographed her first full-length ballet adaptation of Arthur Saint-Léon’s “Coppélia.” She has created original works for San Jacinto College and Sam Houston State University. Ashley currently teaches movement and lecture courses at Lone Star College, San Jacinto College, Houston Ballet Academy, and Frame Dance. She is a proud cancer survivor who aims to deeply experience and celebrate life—striving to inject that spirit in how she moves throughout the world.

Adele Nickel trained with Oregon Ballet Theater and The San Francisco Ballet before moving to New York City to pursue a career in modern dance. There she worked with Annie-B Parson, Sarah Michelson and Patrick Corbin, among others, and as a member of the Liz Gerring Dance Company (2007-15) was featured in several evening-length productions, including the Bessie-nominated Glacier. The New York Times commended Adele’s “calm, quiet lyricism” and critic Alistair Macaulay described her work with Gerring as “full-bodied dancing that changes my breathing.” During her time in NYC, Adele also performed as a backup dancer for Grammy-winning musicians St. Vincent and David Byrne, and received her 1600-hour Alexander Technique teacher certification. Since leaving NYC, Adele has taught dance technique, somatics, composition, and anatomy & kinesiology across the U.S. and internationally. She holds a BA in Writing from the New School University and an M.F.A. from the University of Washington and is currently an Assistant Professor of Dance at Sam Houston State University. Adele also sits proudly on the advisory board of the Texas Dance Improvisation Festival and is studying to become a CranioSacral Therapist. You can learn more via her website adelenickel.com and Instagram @kingdellers.

Paty Lorena Solórzano (b. Morelia, MX), is a bi-national choreographer, dancer and teacher. She directs giraSOLa dance, a platform for her dance projects that draw inspiration from natural phenomena and Latin American culture. With a poetic imaginary rooted in the immigrant experience, her choreographies have been presented by Primate Escénico, Performática, Dance Source Houston, Texas Dance Improvisation Festival, Texas Latino/a/x Contemporary Dance Festival, Detroit Sidewalk Festival of Performing Arts, Triskelion Arts, Dance@DMAC, AUNTS and Movement Research at Judson Church, among others. Artist-in-residence at Keshet Makerspace, Atlantic Center for the Arts, Florida Dance Festival, Guapamácataro Center for Arts & Ecology, and Storyteller Fellow of the Diverse Intelligences Institute at St. Andrews University, Scotland. Paty has more than 15 years of teaching experience in festivals and schools including the University of Michigan, Riverside Community College, Arlington Heights High School, Ohio University, and as Assistant Professor of Dance/ Artistic Director of Danza UDLAP at University of the Americas Puebla from 2019 to 2023. Paty is a frequent collaborator and dancer with jill sigman | thinkdance (NYC), ChavasseDance & Performance (MI), PDCdance (TX). Co-directs Confluencia Dinámica, a teaching and performance collaboration with Cinthia Pérez Navarro (MX). A 2018 fellow of the National Association of Latino Arts and Cultures Leadership Institute (NALAC), recipient of a National Endowment for Culture and the Arts Mexico award and PECDA Puebla State grant, two-time finalist of the Maggie Allesee New Choreography Award, she received her BFA from Texas Christian University and MFA from the University of Michigan. girasoladances.com

Residency artists receive:

  • Access to professional development workshops
  • Production and marketing plan assistance
  • Grant application writing assistance
  • Guaranteed performance spot in Barnstorm Dance Fest
  • $4,000 Residency stipend (May be used for studio/ rehearsal space, artistic fees, costuming, additional professional/ creative development, etc.)

Please note that the residency program does not have a prescribed amount of studio time nor an assigned studio space. Through cohort learning we made the decision to divert more of the program resources directly to the artist to allow them more agency in crafting a space solution that works best for their individual residency goals.

Residency artists will be required to:

  • Attend monthly meetings and feedback sessions with other resident artists October 2024 – May 2025 scheduled for Sunday afternoons 3pm – 6pm at Houston Met Dance (September 8, October 6, December 1, February 16, March 16)
  • Attend professional development workshops scheduled for Monday evenings 7 – 9pm at MATCH (September 9, October 7, December 2, February 17, March 17)
  • Attend SPARK (DSH Fundraiser and honors reception) March 1st 2025 7p – 10p
  • Present at Open AIR Sunday February 23, 2025 from 3p – 6p
  • Attend a Production Lab Monday, April 7, 2025 (individual times to be scheduled)
  • Execute deadlines on production/marketing plan, press release, project budget, and other residency-related documents
  • Create 10-15 minutes of new work to present at Barnstorm Dance Fest in April 2025
  • Be available for tech/production week for culminating performances April 28 – May 3, 2025

  • Must be a dance artist currently based in the Greater Houston region, as defined by Austin, Brazoria, Chambers, Fort Bend, Galveston, Harris, Liberty, Montgomery, and Waller counties.
  • Must be 18 or older and not currently enrolled in an academic program.
  • Artists must be current Dance Source Houston members at the Danceworker level or above. If selected, membership must be upgraded to the Independent Choreographer level or applicant must be the artistic leadership of a Dance Organization member company.
  • Artist may not have previously been a DSH Artist In Residence.

Former AIRs include Shanon Adame, Joel Aguilera, Jacquelyne Jay Boe, Adam Castaneda, Roberta Paixao Cortes, Keeley Dunnam, Amy Elizabeth, Ayan Felix, Rivkah French, Lindsay Gary, Kirstin Grbic, Laura Gutierrez, Laura Harrell, Lisa Harris, Jasmine Hearn, Loren Holmes, Ashley Horn, Abijan Johnson, Autumn Knight, Ty Lewis, Jennifer Mabus, Tempest McLendon, Alisa Mittin, Tarika Nath, Kemi OG, Kate Rash, Joel Rivera, Lauren Serrano, Jakari Sherman, Kalpana Subbarao, Jadd Tank, Felicia Thomas, Heather vonReichbauer, Lori Yuill and Uwazi Zamani.