PROGRAM A

Aimed Dance / Amy Elizabeth

Aimed Dance, originally founded as Rednerrus Feil Dance Company in 2006 by artistic director Amy Elizabeth, seeks to foster an awareness of and value for dance as a fine art throughout Southeast Texas. In 2016, Aimed Dance shifted education & educational resources to top priority by providing internships, scholarships, & additional resources & training opportunities.

Amy Elizabeth as a dance creative, arts administrator, & educator holds a MFA from SHSU & a MBA from LU. Amy’s work has been produced by the ACDA, Brazos Contemporary Dance Festival, Houston Fringe Festival, Dance Gallery, Barnstorm Dance Fest, Mind the Gap, Austin Dance Festival and commissioned by Kingwood Youth Ballet, Lamar High School, Tarrant County College, San Jacinto College, SFASU, Rice University, & DSH Artist in Residence. Amy has been on faculty with Lone Star College & HCC and instructor at SHSU, Rice University, & Rowland School of Ballet. Amy currently sits on faculty with Lamar University.

ECHO was created as a study in movement innovation and choreographic design tools with the students at Lamar University. Collaborating with lighting designer Destiny Smith, the work has expanded to mean so much more for our movement community.

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Ayan Felix

Ayan Felix (they/them) is a 3rd-Coast-bred movement artist, emotional laborer, and auntie-in-training residing in NC, USA. They research how Black American cultures develop understandings of gender through dance and family. Ayan performs collaboratively with improvisational styles based in modern/post-modern dance, physical theater, and jazz styles. Although much of their time as a dancer is spent in staged works, their most urgent work is site-responsive using dreaming as a source of performance and change. They were among the first to earn an MFA in Dance through Duke Dance Program. Their goal in 2022 is to grow their own lettuce and evening-length show/happening.

“questions” is a 2-person dance about not making assumptions. The movement is developed alongside live and recorded sounds including poems dealing with consent and queer night life.

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Company XV Dance / Jakari Sherman

Jakari Sherman is a passionate choreographer, ethnochoreologist, and performer whose experience extends over 25 years. Rooted in the African American tradition of stepping, his work has sought to push the boundaries of percussive dance as a communicative medium by challenging conventional paradigms and exploring the use of technology, storytelling, and diverse musical scores. As an ethnochoreologist, he seeks to blend performance, research, and community engagement through performative ethnography and applied ethnochoreology. Jakari is currently developing works for Company XV (‘fifteen’), an eXperiment in Virtual dance, founded on the premise of operating 90% by virtual channels and fully exploring creative productions delivered through digital/virtual channels.

Portrait of Peace is a collection of works addressing the notion of peace as interpreted by five unique artists in five cities across the world. Inspired by these episodes, this work is a reflection on and response to the creative dialogue generated by this cohort of artists, and aims to explore how we might bring practical feasibility to abstract ideas.

Renuka Rajagopalan

Renuka Rajagopalan is a Bharatanatyam and Indian Contemporary dancer, Artist Facilitator, Dance Curator and Founder of non-profit Garage Arts Project. Her dance is an organic amalgamation of these styles, using traditional templates to tell personal and reflective work. As a dancer, she aspires to create work that is honest, relevant and in step with the current times. She looks at tradition with a modern mind, to explore the past to create a new, imaginative future. She is passionate about creating awareness of global art forms and connect arts to an appreciative multi-cultural audience. She works ceaselessly  to provide an immersive platform for artists and audience to promote community development through arts. 

Renuka will be presenting a solo work exploring the duality concept of separation and union using the contemporary movements inspired by the vocabulary of traditional classical dance form Bharatanatyam.

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Two To Tango / Mauro Marcone and Jennifer Mabus

Two To Tango, Mauro Marcone’s dance academy in Houston, was established in 2014 to educate the community about tango, create opportunities for dancing Argentine tango, and to promote Argentinian culture. The Houston Heights studio hosts group and private lessons, milongas (social events) and performances. Two To Tango focuses on “Tango Salon” and the elegance and variety of figures of this style allow it to be danced on the stage or in milongas. Mauro Marcone’s goal is to pass on his knowledge of tango dancing, as well as the culture behind this passionate dance.

“Year of Solitude”, danced to the groundbreaking work by Astor Piazzoll of the same title, speaks to the unique isolation and passion of returning to dancing that many tango dancers experienced during the pandemic. It is also an exploration of where tango and contemporary dance meet.

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Tyler Orcutt

Tyler Orcutt, a dance artist based near Houston, is currently an MFA candidate with a Graduate Teaching Assistantship position at Sam Houston State University. Former dancer with Repertory Dance Theatre (RDT) from 2012-2020, Tyler has toured the west coast performing in lead roles choreographed by Modern Dance pioneers Humphrey, Limón, Shawn, McKayle, Itō, and Cunningham. With RDT, he also worked with current choreographers Bebe Miller, Lar Lubovitch, Danielle Agami, Tiffany Rae-Fisher, Noa Zuk, Ohad Fishof, and Zvi Gotheiner, among many others. He has performed with Ririe-Woodbury Dance Company during a 2016 collaboration with RDT and the Eccles Theater, as well as guested with St. Petersburg Opera and Moving Current Dance Collective. He most recently joined NobleMotion Dance in the summer of 2020. Tyler holds a BFA in dance from The University of South Florida, during which he performed in works by Bill T. Jones and Doug Varone.

Why is a Pig Not a Door? is a lighthearted duet that pokes fun at the precarious nature of definitions by having its own “meaning” exist only insofar as the viewer is willing to interpret.

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PROGRAM B

Evelyn Toh

Evelyn Toh is a dance artist, teacher, and choreographer, based in Houston, TX. She is currently a company member of NobleMotion Dance, Visiting Assistant Professor at Sam Houston State University, and Assistant Team Director at Texas Academy of Dance. She obtained her MFA in Dance from Sam Houston State University and graduated magna cum laude with a BFA in Dance from The Boston Conservatory under Singapore’s prestigious National Arts Council Overseas Scholarship. As a dance artist, Evelyn has performed with John Mead Dance Company, Ballet Rox, Nimbus Dance Works, Transitory Sound and Movement Collective, Joshua Manculich’s Whirlwind, MOMIX, and THE Dance Company (Singapore). In addition, Evelyn’s choreographic work has been presented at numerous venues such as Barnstorm Dance Festival, THE Dance Company’s New Vision (Singapore), ACDA South Central Gala, International Online Dance Competition, Boston Contemporary Dance Festival, and Dance Gallery Festival (TX and NY).

In A Game of Parley, two friends find themselves on opposing sides, resolving their dispute in the most civil way, a game of rock paper scissors. We watch as each individual’s inner dialogue drives their intriguing discourse forward.

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Justin Curry

Born in Jacksonville, Florida, Justin Curry is an emerging dancer, choreographer, and educator currently based out of Houston, Texas. Justin’s performance career includes: WhirlWind Dance Company, Houston Fringe Festival, Sam Houston State University Department of Dance, Santa Clara Vanguard Drum & Bugle Corps, CGT (Color Guard Theater) Dallas, CGT Denton, Black Gold Winterguard, and Somnium Independent. Justin has had the opportunity to choreograph and teach for numerous dance organizations in Texas specializing in teaching Modern, Contemporary, Jazz, Floorwork, Improvisation, Choreographic Tools, and Beginner Ballet. In the studio, Justin emphasizes creative individualism and autonomy. He has presented choreography at Big Muddy Dance Company Screen Dance Festival, Jacksonville Dance Film Festival, and Sam Houston State University. Justin is currently pursuing his BFA degree in Dance with a focus in choreography and performance from Sam Houston State University.

In Plain Sight is a stage dance work that explores how movement is affected, perceived, and manipulated by the absence and/or presence of “light.” Each dancer is responsible for their own handheld LED prop that guides them through the open pitch-dark space. Holding onto personal lights, dancers enhance the ability to create captivating images, influence movement patterns, and aid in establishing an illuminating bond between the audience and the performers.

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Kristin Grbic

Kirstin Grbic is a multidisciplinary artist and alumnus of UT Austin. Her collaborative work has been presented by the Cohen New Works Festival and ACDFA and its Gala event. She is a former member of Tapestry Dance Company where she performed internationally on tour presenting “The Souls of Our Feet”. Locally, she has performed at the CAM of Houston in honor of the Stonewall Riots, co-produced tap dance/live jazz shows, and danced with Boomtown Brass Band. Kirstin is also the Founder/Director of H-Town Tap, an emerging community organization in residence at the HMDC.

S.O.U.L.A.S.P.H.E.R.E is a Nigerian Soulful Recording/Performing Artist, Singer, Songwriter, Visual creator, and Ukulele player from Houston, Texas. She is currently working on her first studio album, scheduled to release in 2022. Her upcoming album will be a mixture of real life stories, spoken word, and film ignited by her life’s journey throughout her musical career thus far.

Kirstin Grbic and S.O.U.L.A.S.P.H.E.R.E. collaborate to present a live musical performance featuring tap dance percussion. Through troubled times, there’s always beauty and light shining through the darkness.

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Sadhana and Bhavana Gollapudi

Sadhana Gollapudi is a Kuchipudi dancer training under Dr. Rathna Kumar in Houston. She has been training and performing Indian classical for 19 years. She has performed with many organizations including Tandavam Events, Virtual Arts for Humanity, Music of Madras, Houston Yuva Kala Utsav, etc. She has performed for the Houston Fringe Festival. She has also been a part of dance ballets like Dashavatar and Sri Krishna Parijatham. Most recently, she has choreographed and starred in a music album. Bhavana Gollapudi is a Bharatanatyam dancer training under Dr. Rathna Kumar in Houston. She has been training for 14 years and performed at various local events in Houston and Dubai and also taken part in dance ballets such as Dashavataram and Ramayanam. She was also the captain of the Raas dance team at the University of Houston and competed on various stages across the country. Recently, she choreographed and starred in a devotional music album, and starred in music videos by local artists.

Sadhana and Bhavana will be performing a duet in two different dance forms, Kuchipudi and Bharatnatyam. They will perform Nagendra haraya, a powerful mantra composed by Guru Adi Shankaracharya, praising and praying to the deity, Lord Shiva, and Maandh Thillana, a fast-paced dance that focuses on footwork, or Nritta.

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Shaun Keylock Company

Shaun Keylock Company is a contemporary dance company established in 2018 and based in Portland, Oregon. The company is known for its distinctive visual style and unique approach to contemporary performance that is at once both technically sound and radically subversive. Previous credits include: On the Boards (Seattle); Austin Dance Festival; Dance Source Houston; PUSHFest (San Francisco); Ten Tiny Dances and New Expressive Works (Portland). Most recently, the company was featured in the U.S. debut of the chamber opera “When the Sun Comes Out,” presented by Portland Opera.

SKC presents a solo from choreographer Gregg Bielemeier’s critically acclaimed work “Odd Duck Lake,” which originally premiered in Portland, Oregon in 1998. The company will share an excerpt of this historic reconstruction with Houston audiences for the first time, performed by founder and artistic director, Shaun Keylock, and featuring music by Roma folk band, 3 Leg Torso.

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Timothy Amirault

Timothy Amirault is a Dallas-based dancer and choreographer. They began their training at Booker T. Washington HSPVA, followed by Sam Houston State University where they received their BFA in Dance. While in college Amirault performed professionally with NobleMotion Dance and Hope Stone Dance in Houston. They also appeared in John RIdley’s season two of American Crime. After returning from college, Timothy became a founding member of Bridget Moore’s Dallas-based company, B. Moore Dance. Amirault has now decided to pursue their own creativity, and is focused on choreographing and presenting work of their own.

SUBSEXT explores personal relationships with sexuality and the experiences that shape it. What are the drives or motives behind practicing being a sexual being?

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PROGRAM C

Clara A. Mohagen

Los Angeles based choreographer and dance artist, Clara Auguste Mohagen, creates work that are reflective of an ongoing conversation between the cosmic and the corporeal, between the present and intimate worlds of today, whether it be physical, emotional, or spiritual; and lands distant in terms of both space and memory. Born in Haiti and raised in Miami, Florida, she is a choreographer and dance artist. She holds a Master of Fine Arts in Choreographic Inquiry from UCLA and a Bachelor of Arts in Dance from City University of New York, Hunter College. In 2016, Clara found Aeternus Dance Company and has since shared works with audiences in both New York City and Los Angeles. Most recently her MFA Capstone work “Seremoni a: Holy Trees”; was selected for the inaugural Black Lives Rising Dance Film Festival which premiered both online and in-person in New York City. She is currently part of Danza Organica’s 2022 We Create Cohort.

“Where Do the Thoughts Go?” uses both improvised and choreographed movement and original text and sound to bring the immaterial into the corporeal as it follows the ever-changing nature of thought patterns, especially those that succeed unplanned and unexpected events in the physical world. The work serves to bring forth themes of healing, connection, and a sense of common humanity.

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JuJu Shop Productions/Felicia Johnson

JuJu Shop Productions is the performance entity of the JuJu Shop, a tiny oasis in Third Ward Houston that is known for healing, magic and rituals. We produce short films, photography series and books, along with lectures and workshops surrounding traditional African religions. Formed in 2019, JuJu Shop Productions is excited to move forward with its first dance performance project.

JuJu Strolling Through is a conceptual photo series that depict different groups of women, dressed in church hats and dresses, strolling through various places in Houston, dropping bits of magic along the way and leaving those places forever changed. JST: Dance Edition is the next chapter of this transformative series, bringing the power of song, dance and ancestral celebration together in a visceral timestamp of history.

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Kemi OG

Kemi OG is a dance artist, choreographer, and creative director. She is the Afrodance Instructor at the Institute of Contemporary Dance and the founder of three organizations: Afrobeats with Kemi OG, an Afrodance program teaching technique and fusion choreography, AFROBEAT at JHU, a Zumba-inspired Afrodance fitness program based on Afro -Caribbean rhythms, and OG Creatives, a creative studio using art to explore BIPOC narratives. As a dancer, she has performed for artists such as Tiwa Savage, Oritse Femi, Toofan, Yemi Alade, Eddy Kenzo, Afro B, Mr. Eazi, and Kizz Daniel. As an artist, Kemi is known for creating abstract, culturally infused pieces that experiment with Afrodance and incorporate other artistic mediums to reflect people’s interactions, emotions, and perspectives. She is the grant recipient of the Houston Art Alliance’s 2020 Individual Artist Grant, Houston in Action’s 2020 #Htownvotes initiative, and Dance Source Houston’s 2021 Spark Dance Grant for Choreographers.

Internal Dialogues explores the internal world of a black woman, and how she relates to herself in different scenarios. The choreography uses Afrofusion, a combination of contemporary African dance styles, to portray the emotions and thought processes of a someone trying to get through life.

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Matty Owens

Matty Owens is a rhythmic chameleon. They are a professional tap dancer and have been a member of two tap dance companies in Texas: Rhythmic Souls in Dallas and Tapestry Dance Company in Austin. They have performed in full-length shows and dance festivals nationally and internationally. Matty graduated from Texas Woman’s University with a BA in dance and has studied multiple dance genres including modern, jazz, and ballet. They also play piano and bassoon and sing and act. Matty enjoys incorporating all their different skills into creating choreography that showcases tap as a musical instrument and intertwines auditory and visual components to create a stimulation of multiple senses at once. Their goal is for the audience to see the melodies they are hearing, and to have the audience question preconceived notions of the relationship between dance and music. Matty lives in Austin, Texas with a wonderful pup named Tonks.

This piece honors two extraordinary jazz pianists; Thelonius Monk and Art Tatum. Through transcribing their work note for note and emphasizing the playful and effortless nature of both pianists, two very different musicians are seen and heard through taps melodically matching their deep swing and rapid flurries with visual punctuations highlighting the personalities and souls of the legendary artists.

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Morgan Sandlin

Currently based out of Austin, Texas Morgan Sandlin is a dancer, choreographer and teacher who obtained her BFA in dance from Sam Houston State University. As a choreographer, Sandlin has presented her stage and film works at Sam Houston State University, Houston Fringe Festival, Dance Works Chicago’s DanceChance, and at First Street Studios 5×7 Dance Fest. As a performer, Sandlin was one of the original members of Joshua Manculich “Whirlwind Dance Company”, alongside working with Andrew and Dionne Noble, Adele Nickel, and Donald Shorter Jr. during her time at SHSU. She has been a featured performer in Tori Nunns Dance Film “104.9 degrees fahrenheit” which has been presented nationwide, as well as in Anna Bauers stage works “this is also vanity” and “[author’s note]” which were respectively performed at “Texas Improvisation Festival”, and “Barnstorm Dance Festival”. She is currently working as a dance teacher for Cedar Park Dance Company, and as a certified Flexologist at Stretchlab.

Taking a light-hearted spin on this familiar sport, spare me, by Morgan Sandlin is a piece inspired by bowling. From pins to balls, and all the bowlers in between, spare me was made to abstractly inspire the audience to remember how fun it is to get up, grab someone, and go bowling!

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The Pilot Dance Project/Adam Castaneda

ADAM CASTANEDA is a dancer, choreographer, and arts administrator living in Houston, Texas. He is the Executive and Artistic Director of the Pilot Dance Project. In 2018, he was a graduate of the second class of Houston’s Artist Inc. program, and was one of 15 dance presenters selected from a national pool of applicants to participate in the Jacob’s Pillow National Dance Presenters Forum. He was chosen as one of Dance Source Houston’s 2018-2019 Artists-in-Residence, has recently led The Pilot Dance Project through EmceArts’ New Pathways program, served on the National Endowment for the Arts dance panel, and was awarded a 2020 Support for Artists and Creative Individuals from the City of Houston through the Houston Arts Alliance. Outside of dance, Adam holds an MA in British and American literature from the University of Houston, and is a full-time faculty member of Houston Community College’s English department. 

“Weaving Northside” originally premiered as a site-specific work in November 2020 at the Baker Ripley Leonel Castillo Community Center. Created in conjunction with sculpture work by visual artists Tami Moschioni and Nicola Parente, “Weaving Northside” uses shape, color, and place-making to illuminate the rich history of Houston’s Near Northside.

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Social Movement Contemporary Dance 

Social Movement Contemporary Dance was founded under the Artistic Directorship of Elijah Alhadji Gibson. SMCD performs original works that address the cultural boundaries, limitations, and expectations of the human experience. Gibson has a passion for generating thought-provoking work that reflects his belief that dance mirrors how people embrace and/or resist the cultural boundaries, limitations, and expectations laid upon them by social constructs.

Using hip-hop vocabulary, Movement is a piece that challenges the idea of what concert dance and storytelling through movement has been and what it could become.

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DANCE FILMS

Blake Daniels

Blake Daniels is a videographer/photographer out of Houston Texas. He has a passion for creating art that is inspiring and thought provoking. Blake is married to his beautiful wife, Amberly who dances for Social Movement Dance Company. She inspired him to explore his creative side and has supported him through his videography and photography journey. Blake currently works a 9-5 corporate job but aspires to make art and films full time.

Bridge is a film about the frustrations of the constructs society creates for people to fit into. The actors frustration with society builds throughout the films and he attempts to break free from his construct through dance.

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ChrisMastersDance // Ex-Fiancée

Chris Masters’s dance work has been presented in NYC at Judson Memorial Church, Salvatore Capezio Theatre, La MaMa Experimental Theatre Club, Danspace Project, 100 Grand, Triskelion Arts, Irondale Center, and Dixon Place, as well as Detroit Opera House, Music Hall Performance Space (Detroit), Boll Theatre (Detroit), The Iron Factory (Philadelphia), and Fengchao Theatre (Beijing).

Sven Britt has played, produced, and toured with Stranger Cat (Joyful Noise Recordings (Son Lux, Kishi Bashi, of Montreal)), a duo with Cat Martino (The Shins, Sufjan Stevens, Sharon van Etten), opening tours for Son Lux, Patrick Watson, Sebadoh, Night Beds, Indians, and playing at Bonnaroo. He has presented music for immersive theatre/dance at La MaMa Moves! (NYC), Danspace Project (NYC), Fengchao Theatre (Beijing), Triskelion Arts (NYC), and others. He has an upcoming solo album under the moniker Ex-Fiancée, directed by Chris Masters, with a video suite which has been selected for multiple film festivals.

Four characters inhabit cycles within cycles of contentment, discontentment, inertia, movement, desire, and betrayal. A story emerges—told through the marriage of music (Ex-Fiancée) and dance (ChrisMastersDance)—functioning as a seven-layer dip, inviting you to dive as deeply as you wish.

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Donna Crump

Donna Crump is an award-winning choreographer, actress, and performing artist from New Orleans, Louisiana who has been dancing for over 30 years. She holds a BFA in Dance from Tulane University and has studied and created dance internationally with Brazil’s premier dance company Grupo Corpo. As artistic Director of her contemporary dance company, Good Dance Since 1984, Good Dance has performed nationally, receiving several arts awards for Best Choreography and Outstanding New Work. Collaborator, Kayla Collymore, a New Jersey native, is an alumna of The School at Jacob’s Pillow and was voted 2017’s Top 25 to Watch by Dance Magazine. She is an award-winning filmmaker, performer, dance and yoga instructor, and movement designer. Together they most recently appeared on the front cover of Southwest Contemporary Magazine- Inhale/Exhale Volume 3, the 2021 Fall preview of Dance Magazine, and Arts & Culture Texas Magazine.

To possess your true Divine feminine energy is to embrace and have a balance of both masculine and feminine energies. Gend[H]er examines the reversal of gender roles and how they are portrayed through society’s stereotypes; how gender has played a role in the workforce, and in the home amidst the pandemic.

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Illia Borodine 

Ilia is a passionate young director and cinematographer from Vancouver, Canada. Utilizing abstract visuals and non-linear narratives, Ilia pushes the boundaries of filmmaking into something that’s emotionally provoking.

I Can See You is a contemporary dance film that investigates the notion of unwanted memories and their haunting mental and emotional effects. See how our nameless protagonist handles being met with a physical manifestation of her memories through a version of her younger self as the two engage in a dance laced with despair, grief, and sorrow.

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Kayla Collymore

KAYLA COLLYMORE, a New Jersey native, graduated (Summa Cum Laude) from Mason Gross School of the Arts at Rutgers University with a BFA in Dance. Kayla has performed with dance companies around the world including METdance Company(Texas, USA), Hou Ying Dance Theater (Beijing, China), and Brian Brooks Moving Company (New York, USA). Her professional experience ranges in screen dance, artist residencies, and hosting master classes. She is an alumna of The School at Jacob’s Pillow and was voted 2017’s “Top 25 to Watch” by Dance Magazine. Kayla toured internationally with Matthew Bourne’s Swan Lake and is currently on tour with their production of “Nutcracker!” followed by “The Car Man” at the Royal Albert Hall in the summer of 2022. When she isn’t on tour she is based in Houston, Texas as a freelance performer, dance educator, yoga instructor, movement designer and film director.

The intricate web of Houston’s Interstate 10 connects the coexisting tales of nine individuals who are much more than the stereotypes they appear to fall under. Finding the hidden gems in a sometimes grim reality, this film celebrates the proximity of joy, tragedy, and success in modern-day Texas.

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Mark Freeman

Mark Freeman is a professor emeritus of Television, Film and New Media at San Diego State University. He has produced and directed, written and edited programs for broadcast on public television. Freeman’s films have won numerous awards. They have screened at museums including the Museo do Oriente (Lisbon), Weltmuseum (Vienna), Hong-Gah Museum (Taipei), Smithsonian Institute’s National Museum of Natural History, the American Museum of Natural History and the Museum of Modern Art (NY).

Rising stars in Ghana’s contemporary dance community, Julius Yaw Quansah and Sena Atsugah are enmeshed in the challenges of daily life. Casting a wide net they remake their world.

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Marta Arjona – Maite Blasco – Raquel Rodríguez

We are Maite and Marta, mother and daughter and coworkers. Together we run DansPXL, an audiovisual and photographic production company specialized in dance and performing arts and we have created this project in collaboration with la Imperfecta Dansa with a work directed by Raquel Rodríguez.

“Memory of the forgotten” is a dance short film that pays tribute to the women that died in the Oblates prison-convent in Tarragona due to the hard prison condicions and to the only woman shot in the city during Franco’s repression. This work wants to keep alive and document the memory of all this women through the witness of their lives and their stance in prison before being buried in a common grave in Tarragona’s cemetery.

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SETSVN

SETSVN. The seventh & largest in the set. The theory of the seventh largest wave is the backbone of our work. Patience and determination. Our mission, telling your story one film at a time. Houston born & raised by the world. Adventurers. Film makers. We are intrigued by the mystery of the earth and what lies beneath. We are willing to dive deep into our passions, and yours. Not to create a narrative, but to encapsulate the moments that deliver an experience of wonder, and curiosity.

Many blacks approach the white space ambivalently. For the white space is where many social rewards originate, including cultural capital – education, employment, privilege, prestige, money, and the promise of acceptance. To obtain these rewards, blacks must venture into the white space and explore its possibilities. This film is the beginning exploration of space and movement in relationship to this commonly shared idea.

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YungChris

Chris Thomas has toured the world visiting 24 countries as a teacher, dj, choreographer and performer. 2010 YungChris relocated to Bangkok, Thailand to explore dance abroad. There he trained local pop stars while hosting and performing at events throughout Southeast Asia. YungChris moved back home to Houston a year later and started his dance company, Sonkiss’d Dance Theater. With Sonkiss’d Chris mentored dancers. He also provided opportunities for them to expand their talents to become more valuable in the competitive market of entertainment.YungChris has been awarded numerous awards and grants for his unique artistry and productions. Chris. also helps emerging creatives as a mentor/facilitator with Artist INC., a program curated by Fresh Arts. During the 2020 Covid-19 shut down YungChris received his first commissioned project from the Society for the Performing Arts for his short film “TipToe Thomas.” TipToe Thomas is now making it’s through film festivals across the world.

The mayor shut down the city and all art came to a grinding halt. Life as we knew it slowly faded to Black. Through movement, TipToe Thomas tells his emotional story about being lonely, missing the stage and his dance partner.

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CURATORS

Alexa Capareda began studying ballet in her native Philippines, eventually trained in Austin and Montreal, and danced professionally with Balet Bratislava in Slovakia. Alexa has worked in Austin since 2013 with Performa/Dance, Frank Wo/Men Collective, ARCOS, Magdalena Jarkowiec, Jennifer Sherburn, BLiPSWiTCH, Transitory Sound and Movement Collective, Austin Camerata, and LOLA Austin. She has collaborated with sound artists Steve Parker, Brent Baldwin, and Henna Chou, and visual artists Tom Suhler and Susan Scafati. She is Rehearsal Director for Ballet Austin II and the Butler Fellows and has restaged and choreographed multiple works for BAII and the fellowship program. She has presented work at Fusebox Festival, Austin Dance Festival, and Barnstorm Dance Festival. She was a prizewinner at the 2013 Festival of Choreographic Miniatures in Serbia and recipient of the 2017 Austin Critics Table Award for Excellence as Dancer.  She has a BA English, minor in Theater and Dance from UT-Austin.

Ashley DeHoyos, Curator, organizes a full range of visual, performing, and public arts programming at DiverseWorks. Her focus is on intersectional artists and speculative futures as they relate to history and the environment. Recent projects include; Overlapping Territories, Virginia Grise: Rasgos Asiaticos, online projects Visionary Futures, Sarah Dittrich: The Tender Interval, the performance Jefferson Pinder: Fire & Movement; the 2019 Bayou City Be All LGBTQ+ performance festival; and group exhibition Collective Presence. DeHoyos also manages the Diverse Discourse Lecture & Studio Visit Series and The Idea Fund, a regranting program funded by the Warhol Foundation. She received a BFA from Sam Houston State University (2013) and MFA in Curatorial Practice from Maryland Institute College of Art (2016).

Lindsay Gary, MPA, MA, MFA is a professor-scholar, multidisciplinary artivist, Afrocentric entrepreneur, and PhD candidate whose mission is to educate, connect, and empower the African Diaspora. Gary is the Mother (founder) of several businesses. She is the Executive Director of The Re-Education Project, the Artistic and Executive Director of Dance Afrikana LLC, and the CEO of Isegun Enterprises LLC, home to Afrikanah Book Club, Sawari Tours, Maarifa Courses & Curriculum, and Black Charm. As an Afrocentric entrepreneur, she believes that her businesses are much more than Black-owned, but have a mission to be centered on the benefit and liberation of the African community worldwide. She was born and raised on Karankawa, Akokisa, and Atakapa-Ishak lands (Houston, Texas), and is an Afro-Louisianian of Mandinka, Fula, Balanta, Temne, Hausa, Malagasy, Tsogo, Ateke, Kota, Kongo, Fon, and Muskogee (Creek) heritage. She conducts much of her work in her neighborhood of Third Ward, in South Louisiana (her recent ancestral roots), in Philadelphia, and throughout Africa and the African Diaspora. She has traveled to 37 countries.