Free Events Thursday

Free Events Thursday

Free Day of Music at Jones Hall

Saturday, July 19, 2014 from noon – 10 pm

The Houston Symphony’s Free Day of Music returns. The full day features 25 musical performances on six stages + kid-friendly fun, Instrument Petting Zoo, free salsa lessons, Harmonica clinics, food trucks and more.

Price: FREE!!!

 

Art Houston 2014

Celebrate Houston’s finest art galleries at ArtHouston2014 Friday and Saturday. The annual event includes more than 30 local galleries hosting events throughout the city in and around Montrose. There is a concentration of 11 galleries on Colquitt near Kirby.

Price: FREE!!!

 

Bayou City Outdoors Kayak Polo & Rolling Practice

Friday, July 18, 2014 from 8-10 PM

CLCCA Kermet H. Applewhite Sports and Recreation Center

16511 Diana Lane, Houston, TX 77062

Want to practice your kayak roll? Don’t know what a kayak roll is and want to learn how? There are lots of kayakers who are always looking for guinea pigs (whoops, we mean students) who want a little help. They will be practicing our rolls from 8:00 to 8:30 while they get the Polo court set up. @ 8:30… It is ON – Houston Kayak Polo (aka: Water Hockey) Haven’t played before? Get ready to have an incredibly fun time. We chase the ball, try and make goals, paddle around and in general just crack up. (if you don’t know how to roll they will teach you how to wet exit) See the what the Chron has to say about Kayak Polo and BCO

Price: FREE!!!

 

Bayou City Outdoors Stand Up Paddleboard Lessons

Sunday, July 20, 2014 from 2-6 PM

288 Lakes

4800 Schurmier, Houston, TX 77042

Haven’t tried this great new sport yet? Tried it and ready to step up your SUP? Come out and join us for some time on the water! We’ll be getting wet in the cool, spring-fed waters of 288 Lakes, easy access off 288 and South Sam Houston Tollway. Plan on learning all about this awesome new sport that has everyone raving. It’s a full body workout, but so much fun you won’t even notice you are working out! This is a rare opportunity to try a board out for a very low price. Please – you MUST bring cash. $12 for entrance to 288 Lakes and $10 for board rental and instruction (unbelievable price)!They will have boards, instructors, and don’t forget the FUN!

Price: $12 for entrance and $10 for board rental and instruction 

 

Houston World Series of Dog Shows

July 16, 2014 – July 20, 2014 (Recurring daily)

One NRG Park, Houston, TX 77054

Mark your calendars for the largest tail-wagging event in Houston! Celebrating 37 years, the NRG Park World Series of Dog Shows brings together hundreds of dogs to compete in events such as conformation and obedience. The lively performance events, exhibitions and relay races make for a great family event, but don’t forget about the great shopping! The multitudes of vendors provide useful and unique doggy essentials for your four-legged family member!

Price: $15

 

 

Free Events Thursday

Free Events Thursday

Blue Box Theater Live Smooth Music Thursday’s

Starting February 20, 2014 from 6p.m. – 11p.m.

2020 Leeland, Houston, TX 77003

Every Thursday, head to Blue Box Theater for live smooth jazz band and complimentary wine tasting. Happy hour is from 6 p.m. to 7 p.m., with the first drink on the house. Located conveniently in the EaDo District near downtown Houston and just two minutes distance from the George R. Brown Convention Center.

Price: $10

Bikes, Bats and Brew

July 12, 2014 at 7:15 p.m. (depart at 7:45 p.m.)

Joe Jamail Skate Park

103 Sabine Street, Houston, TX

Bring your bikes (and helmets, too) for an evening spin around town and the Buffalo Bayou trails. Cycle the Waugh Bridge to see teh Mexican free-tail bats depart for their sunset flight, learn more about these important creatures from volunteers with the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, then head back downtown for a brew and some social time. Please note that all types of bikes are welcom (B-Cycles will be available for rent if you don’t have your own). Helmets are required (if you’re renting a B-Cycle we will bring helmets for you). Reservations are required.

Price: FREE!!!

A5: Annual Affordable Australian Aboriginal Art Show

July 12, 2014 – September 06, 2014 (Recurring daily) from 11 am – 5 pm

Booker Lowe Gallery

4623 Feagan Street, Houston, TX 77007

A5: Annual Affordable Australian Aboriginal Art Show, an exhibition of paintings and fine art prints priced from $225-$2250 by leading and emerging indigenous, opens at Booker-Lowe Gallery, Saturday, July 12, 2014 in conjunction with ArtHouston. The public is invited to the opening reception from 2-5 pm, at the gallery, 4623 Feagan Street, Houston, Texas. A5 features colorful Warlpiri paintings from Yuendumu and a variety of paintings from other Aboriginal communities. Artists include Josiah Omeenyo, Mary Napangardi Butcher and Nellie Nangala Wayne, and will be on display through Saturday, September 6th. Gallery owner Nana Booker said “A5 is our 7th Annual Affordable Australian Aboriginal Art Show and we are pleased to have the opening reception during NAIDOC Week (July 6-13), the Australia-wide celebration of indigenous cultures. NAIDOC originally stood for the National Aborigines and Islanders Day of Observance Committee, and was founded in the 1960s.

Price: FREE!!!

Annual Harvest Day Festival

July 12, 2014 from 9:00 am – 2:00 pm

Haak Vineyards & Winery

6310 Ave T, Santa Fe, TX 77510

Come out and help us pick our grapes! It’s a family fun event for people of all ages! To guarantee you get to pick grapes, you need to arrive early. In previous years we have harvested all the grapes in two hours. Includes a complementary light breakfast for our harvesters and DJ Frankie will provide us with music from 11:00 AM – 2:00 PM Lunch will be available for purchase from our kitchen as well.

Price: FREE!!!

Bastille Day at Etoile Cuisine et Bar

July 14, 2014 at 5:00PM

Etoile Cuisine et Bar

Celebrate French National Day with a special menu crafted by Chefs Philippe Verpiand and Philippe Schmit. Hosted at Etoile Cuisine et Bar, the four-course dinner will pay homage to Jean Michel Diot of Tapenade San Diego who trained both chefs. The menu will be offered for $78 with the choice of two wine pairings, one at $32 and the other at $48. Menu- First Course Tarte de Chèvre Frais: “Coach Farm” goat cheese tart filled with Ratatouille and tapenade coulis Second Course Fletan Aux Artichauts: Alaskan halibut, artichokes “en barigoule”, basil and asparagus Third Course Magret de Canard Aux Cerises: Roasted duck breast with cherries, mini squash stuffed with polenta, fresh fava beans Dessert Mille-Feuille Aux Framboises Et Pistache: Raspberry and pistachio napoleon, raspberry gel, rhubarb ice cream

Price: FREE!!!

Bayou City Outdoors – A Walk in the Woods

July 12, 2014 from 8:15 am – 12:00 pm

Memorial Park Rugby Parking lot

N Picnic Ln, Houston, TX 77007

Memorial Park, known as the Central Park of H-town, is an amazing 1466 acre park (one of the largest in the county) right inside the loop! Trails are a mix of hard packed dirt, sand, trees and tree roots. Even with the loss of trees from the drought, it is still green and wooded. Join this group for an hour and a half quick-paced hike through some of the lesser-known (and a little more adventuresome) trails the park has to offer. Wear tennis shoes or hiking boots, it’s easy to bang a toe on a tree root. And, there’s some “elevation” in the park that you wouldn’t expect from just driving by. Remember to bring water; there are no water fountains along the trails. After the hike, a group is going to the Black Walnut Café @ 5512 Memorial Drive, for breakfast and coffee.

Price: FREE!!!

Big Tex BBQ Fest

July 10, 2014 – July 12, 2014 (Recurring daily) from 8 am- 1am

Pasadena Convention Center and Municipal Fairgrounds

7902 Fairmont Parkway, Pasadena, TX 77507

The Big Tex BBQ Fest is a 3 Day Family Cook Off held on July 10,11,12 2014. The event will feature the top BBQ Cooking Teams in the state of Texas, live music, carnival, and special events for vets.

Price: $5;  Free to Vets and Active Duty Service

BESO Latin Saturdays at Synn Ultra Lounge

April 05, 2014 – July 12, 2014 (Every Saturday) from 10:00pm – 2:00am

Synn Ultra Lounge

3302 Mercer St., Houston, TX 77027

Join us this Saturday Night at Synn Ultra lounge for BESO. Houston’s upscale latin party. With its welcoming ambiance, Moving Music, & Plenty of Eye candy BESO Saturdays at Synn Ultra Lounge display elegance, class, and style amongst all the rest.

Price: FREE!!!

Classical Concert

July 10, 2014 at 8pm

Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion

Join us for a classical concert featuring the Houston Symphony and the 2014 Ima Hogg Concerto Competition winner. Named to honor the memory of Miss Ima Hogg, a co-founder of the Houston Symphony, this prestigious competition is open to young musicians who play standard orchestral instruments or piano. Pre-concert activities begin at 7 p.m.

Price: FREE!!! ( $15 orchestra seating)

Grand Opening Zum Barrel Tavern

July 12, 2014 from 7:00pm-9:00pm

13101B, Houston, TX 77090

Grand opening of Zum Barrel Tavern. 10,000 sq of Beer Wine Spirits & Food. Enjoy German Delights and over 32 beers on tap. Tv’s at every angle to watch the game, and yes a patio to smoke. Join us for a night of samples from our favorite vendors of food beer wine and spirits NO COVER!

Price: FREE!!!

Market Square Park: The Princess Bride

July 11, 2014 at  8:00 pm

301 Milam, Houston, TX 77002

Forget about trekking to the ‘burbs for your Alamo fix. Join us for a film under the stars as the Rolling Roadshow presents, The Princess Bride, a classic fairy tale about a beautiful princess who escapes the custody of an evil prince and reunites with her one true love.

Price: FREE!!! (Anybody want a peanut? Yes, I went there)

 

 

Free Events Thursday: 4th of July Edition!

Free Events Thursday

Hey Everyone! I hope all of you have exciting plans to celebrate America’s Independence Day! Don’t have any? Don’t worry, check out some of the amazing events that are going on this weekend here in Houston. Go see what events are happening in your neck of the woods this 4th of July and keep coming back for the latest news and events of the Framers!

A Star Spangled Salute

July 04, 2014  at 8:30pm

Miller Outdoor Theatre

6000 Hermann Park Drive, Houston, TX 77030

Enjoy an evening with Principal Pops Conductor Michael Krajewski and the Houston Symphony listening to patriotic, toe-tapping American music. Make sure to stay until the end for the 1812 Overture-complete with booming cannons! This celebration concludes with a magnificent display of fireworks provided by Miller Theatre Advisory Board.  As always, open seating on the hill.

Price: FREE!!!

17th Annual Red, Hot & Blue Festival

July 04, 2014 from 6pm-10pm

The Woodlands Town Center

31 Waterway Square Place, Woodlands, TX 77380

This all evening event celebrating the American Dream, will have two locations along the Waterway. Enjoy your Independence Day at both Town Green Park and Waterway Square, each featuring a main stage and activities for all ages.

In addition to live bands, the festivities will also include face painting, games, vendor booths and concessions. But we can’t forget American food staples for the Fourth of July, hot dogs and watermelon! There will be an eating contest for each of these, which are sponsored by HEB.

End the night at the Waterway Square, which will have the best view for the 23-minute fireworks extravaganza.

Price: The Festival is FREE and open to the public!!!

Cocktails & Covers feat Skyrocket! – 4th of July Kick Off

July 04, 2014 at  8 pm

House of Blues

1204 Caroline Street, Houston, TX 77002

Join the House of Blues in their 4th of July celebration featuring the party band Skyrocket.

Price: $17.33

A Thin Wall of Air: Charles James

May 31, 2014 – September 07, 2014 (Recurring daily)

The Menil Collection

1515 Sul Ross, Houston, TX 77006

Artistic, difficult, and imaginative, Charles James was well suited to the eclectic spirit of his most unique patrons and clients, John and Dominique de Menil. As a couturier, Charles James was known for his virtuosic design and construction. His clothes fuse Victorian design approaches with forms derived from nature and are defined by dramatic curves and metamorphic extensions from the body, accentuated by unusual color choices and combinations.

Price: FREE!!!

Francesca DiMattio: Housewares

June 01, 2014 – August 30, 2014

Blaffer Art Museum

120 Fine Arts Building, Houston, TX 77204

For her first solo museum exhibition, Francesca DiMattio will create a new series of painting and ceramics that cut across art-historical genres, historical eras and cultural currents. Her work has been included in exhibitions at the Zabludowicz Collection and Pippy Houlsworth Gallery, London, Conduits Gallery, Milan, Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston, The National Arts Club, New York, LAXART, Los Angeles, The Saatchi Gallery, London, and Locust Projects, Miami. She is represented by Salon 94 in New York.

DiMattio creates intricately layered paintings where objects and figures collide in continually shifting planes. Space and subject are carved out by juxtaposing different swatches of color, pattern, and form into a fragmented but choreographed whole. Likewise, her multi-faceted ceramic sculptures fluctuate between illusionism and abstraction, high art and craft, exploring shifting ideas of beauty, femininity, and art. The exhibition is organized by Claudia Schmuckli.

Price: FREE!!!

U-Pick Blueberries, Strawberries and Thornless Blackberries

June 14, 2014 – July 05, 2014 (Recurring daily) from 8am – 1pm

Blessington Farms

510 Chisolm Trail, Simonton, TX 77485

Gather the family and head to Blessington Farms for a fun time picking fresh, delicious blueberries, strawberries and thornless blackberries. It does not get any fresher than this. The fun does not have to end after picking berries. Also enjoy other farm fun festivities like giant slides, hay maze, pedal cars, chickens, barrel train ride, hay rides, sand mountain and much more. No admission fee for berry picking – just pay for berries picked. Farm Funland is $5 to $8 per person depending on the day. Closed Sundays.

Price: $5-$8

MARVAILLOSSO! A Contemporary Circus

 July 03, 2014- July 04, 2014 at 7 pm

Discovery Green

1500 McKinney

Don’t miss the Texas premiere of “ile O” by Barolosolo Cirkus Company, from Carcasonne, France, featuring a mash-up of modern physical theater. Houston’s own Cirque La Vie and FrenetiCore Dance Company also will perform. 

Price: FREE!!!

 

 

Tuesday Tunes: 2000’s

Tuesday Tunes

Tuesday Tunes

 

 

 

We are wrapping up our Dancing Through the Decades series this week with a look back at the turn of the century. If you weren’t dancing in parking lots, plazas and everywhere else to the crazy moves of the Cha- Cha Slide, Souljia Boy and the Cupid Shuffle, then you were probably trying to master the hottest dance moves of the Pop Stars. Brittany Spears, NSYNC, the Backstreet Boys, Jennifer Lopez and Beyonce are just a few that revolutionized the art of choreography during the first decade of the new millennium.

 

 

The Cha-Cha Slide

 

Early 2000’s Choreography  (N*SYNC and Bye Bye Bye) 

 

 And to top it all off…the Evolution of Dance!

 

MFA Monday: Megan Yankee

MFA Mondays

MFA rightHi Framers, happy Monday!

I think my favorite part of the Frame Dance blog is MFA Monday– for several reasons.  One is that is it a great reminder that we are not alone in the pursuit of dance as an advanced degree, a career, an art form, or as a tool for building communities.  It can be very isolating, especially when I don’t know all of you who read this. I wish I did!  Of course I can read the stats of viewers on the blog, but when it’s just numbers, I don’t always know if this resource is helpful.  But then there are those days that I get an email from someone who has been reading these columns, and has valued the wisdom that our fellow writers have shared and wants to participate in the conversation.  That is a VERY happy day for me.  It reminds me that although our career can at times be isolating, dancers are people who are generous with their knowledge and hungry for more.  I admire you.

Today we welcome Megan Yankee to the Frame Dance blog.  She opens a series today, and as the weeks unfold, you’ll hear from several of her colleagues about their MFA stories.  I am so very excited (and I’ve only had one sip of my coffee).  Here we go!

 

After the Master: Introduction

Many of the wonderful, previous MFA Monday contributors have provided guidance for facing the challenges leading into and during their graduate studies. Accordingly, my goal with this series is to provide a snapshot of the world after you’ve finished. My blog arch will be comprised largely of anecdotes from the subgroup of dance artists who entered graduate school during the Great Recession. Many of us are 35 years old or younger, came into graduate school with less than 5 years of making or teaching dance outside of school, and are now faced with an over-crowded and daunting job market.

If you’re anything like me, you fled that crumbling economy into graduate school for several reasons. Namely, my job prospects with a BA in dance were limited and graduate studies provided me with hope of inspiration and financial stability as a dancer. Teaching dance in public school was possible but limited and required additional schooling or certifications. Teaching in studios was financially precarious. Jobs that didn’t involve dance could pay the bills, but were largely uninteresting and could unwittingly cause creative atrophy if I wasn’t extremely disciplined with my personal practice and pursuit of non-academic performance opportunities. Graduate school offered me a way to further explore my craft alongside inspiring, intelligent peers AND the possibility of landing a position at a university that seemed financially stable and endlessly fascinating.

I have been fortunate enAmy Querin, Dance Artistwww.amyquerin.comough to find performance opportunities as well as teach for a semester at a wonderful private liberal arts university for a semester since my graduation a year ago. Based on advice given to me, I have applied for a few other university jobs that I felt truly fit my goals, talents and experience. I have been met with the all-too-common “thanks, but no thanks” that I hear many of my peers receiving. I have, after much toil, come to terms with this, although I still shoot out applications here and there. In place of sending out applications weekly or daily, I have turned to my local arts council and other funders for financial support and performance opportunities. This has also been met with marginal success. More on this in future articles.

If graduate school is near the top of your list of difficult life experiences, wait until you try to continue making or teaching dance after you graduate without the aid of academia. (Throw in a cross-country move after graduation and you may end up in break-down mode like I did, something I would never wish that upon anyone). What I didn’t read enough about in graduate school was the struggle outside of the studio that the choreographers we studied went through. Did Steve Paxton eat ramen noodles daily to save money? Did Martha Graham perform on the streets for tips? Did Trisha Brown have two office jobs to pay the rent? Maybe I was reading the wrong stuff; it’s certainly possible! But perhaps if I had sought out this kind of information, I might have felt a little more capable of making great dance without academia. Is it out of those struggles that great dance making emerges?

In the year since I earned my master’s degree, I’ve nursed dreams of starting a non-profit or my own dance company, building a tiny house on a friend’s patch of land atop a mountain in Colorado and everything in between. I’ve performed five times, attempted to learn aikido and tai chi and I haven’t finished a one of the many books that I’ve started. The forthcoming series of articles I have assembled is not meant to be a guide, dear dancer-reader, but a series of accounts of what life can be like after graduation if you don’t land a coveted tenure-track position. Admittedly, I am less interested in the artistic process for this series. I want to know what the life of MFAs is like outside of the studio because that outside life has a direct effect on the work being made or NOT made.

Coming soon will be two more articles written by yours truly on the topics I have introduced above as well as one article or interview written by each of my colleagues Erin Law, Gabrielle Aufiero and Amanda McCorckle. These fantastic women have taken separate paths after graduate school. Again, my goal here is not to guide you through life after graduate school, but to show the diversity of options (and any challenges associated with them) that we are faced with once we graduate. Stay tuned.

I welcome any reader’s desire to continue this dialogue through questions or comments. Please feel free to shoot me an email at meganyankeedance@gmail.com.

 

Megan is an indie dance artist that seeks opportunities to make and present dances in alternative spaces in order to expand the reach of concert dance. She is committed to presenting work and curating concerts in houses, busy street corners, warehouses, dance for film, online and in visual art galleries. She has performed and presented work nationally and internationally at the Nomad Express Multi Arts Festival in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso produced by Olivier, the Sonic Arts Research Center in Belfast, Northern Ireland, American Dance Festival, American College Dance Festival, Texas Dance Improvisation Festival, Movement Intensive in Composition and Improvisation in Lancaster, PA, Emerge and Exchange Dance Festivals in Tulsa, OK, {254} Festival in Waco, Texas, Out of Loop Festival in Addison, TX, and the Rogue Festival in Fresno, CA. She has had the honor of performing in works by Christie Nelson, Amie LeGendre, Larry Keigwin, Michael Foley, Jordan Fuchs, Sandy Mathern-Smith and Sarah Gamblin.

Megan holds (and runs with) an MFA in Dance from Texas Woman’s University and currently lives in Columbus, OH with her partner, John Osburn and their two dogs, Weecho and Lucy.

Links We Like

Links We Like

In Honor of the 70th Anniversary of D-Day

 

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Veterans and visitors flock to Normandy

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Here is Eisenhower’s secret report on D-Day invasion, sent to DC a few hours after it started, 70 years ago:

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70 years later, D-Day vet Jim ‘Pee Wee’ Martin jumps again

 

 

Free Events Thursday

Free Events Thursday

Sizzling Summer Dance

Jun 6, 2014 at 8:30 p.m.

Miller Outdoor Theatre

Kick off your summer with MET Dance at the annual Sizzling Summer Dance Concert! Get a sneak peek of a World Premiere by New York based choreographer Joe Celej and 2014 Emerging choreographer Steven Vaughn. The evening will also include some of the Met’s most celebrated works. A diverse and versatile program bursting with dance, music and spirit, catch MET in their final performance of the season in a show perfect for all ages.

Price: FREE!!! As always, open seating on the hill. This is a ticketed event for the covered seating area.

 

25th Annual Accordion Kings & Queens

Jun 7, 2014 at 6 p.m.

Miller Outdoor Theatre

Come out for an evening of dancing and roots music and help Texas Folklife celebrate the Accordion Kings & Queens Festival 25th anniversary! It will be a star-studded affair, featuring Mark Halata & Texavia and C.J. Chenier & the Red Hot Louisiana Band. Plus, there will be a tribute to Conjunto and Tejano music pioneers with Avizo and many more.

Price: FREE!!! This is a ticketed event for the covered seating area. As always, open seating on the hill.

 

Favorites and Firsts – Hear and Now!

June 07, 2014

The Church of St. John the Divine

2450 River Oaks Boulevard, Houston, TX 77019

We all have our favorites, but we also enjoy the excitement of something new. Well, in this case there is no need to choose. Both favorites and firsts will be found in this Special Bonus Concert as Houston Chamber sings audience requests and the world premiere of a brilliant new work by McKnight award-winning composer Jocelyn Hagen that the Chamber Choir commissioned just for this occasion. Past commissions by David Ashley White, Christopher Theofanidis, and Dominick DiOrio add to the mix of this spectacular concert.

Price: $25; Student tickets available for $10 with valid student ID.

 

Following General Sam Houston, 1793-1863 by Bernhardt Wall

June 06, 2014 from  10 a.m.-4 p.m.

1100 Bagby Street, Houston, TX 77002

Artist and historian, Bernhardt Wall was a producer of fine press books who treated a vast array of subjects, including Texas and the Southwest. Today, Wall’s books are highly collectible and may be found in private collections, libraries and universities around the world. The etchings for this pictorial biography of Sam Houston were made while Wall was in La Porte, Texas in 1935, close to the battlefield of San Jacinto. At the time, Wall had the assistance of Houston’s one surviving son, Andrew Jackson Houston. One of the over seventy etchings in the book features Sam entering the 1850 Nichols-Rice-Cherry House, now located at The Heritage Society in Sam Houston Park. The exhibit will also feature some personal objects from the Houston family from the Permanent Collection of The Heritage Society. The etchings in this exhibition are on loan from The Printing Museum.

Price:  FREE!!!

 

First Saturday Arts Market

(Recurring monthly on the 1st Saturday)  from 6:00 am -10:00 pm June, July, August

548 W. 19th Street, Houston, TX 77008

First Saturday Arts Market is a monthly outdoor fine arts event featuring the works of dozens of visual artists. Located in the Historic Houston Heights by Gen’s Antiques at 548 W. 19th St. at Lawrence St., the market showcases paintings, sculpture, photography, jewelry and handcrafted items. Bring the entire family and come enjoy the great outdoors, live music and delicious fare from some of the area’s best gourmet food trucks.

 Price: FREE!!!

 

First Saturday Art Crawl

(Recurring monthly on the 1st Saturday)

Houston Socialites Club from 4:00 pm – 7:00 pm

On the first Saturday each month, join HSC for a fun, social art crawl around Houston, followed by dinner/drinks. Each month will feature a different art cluster/neighborhood, and includes these old favorites: Gallery Row, Montrose, Rice, Upper Kirby, Heights, to name a few.

This event is free. Houston Socialites Club (HSC) is a members-based social and events club for singles and couples over 30. Members enjoy a variety of social events each month, from art events to group dinners, recreational sports to game night potlucks, wine tasting to unique events, all designed to bring people together for friendship, fun while discovering Houston.

Price: FREE!!!

 

Garden Architecture Exhibition

Recurring daily

Architecture Center Houston (ArCH)

315 Capitol St., Houston, TX 77002

Garden Architecture will feature images and stories about many of Houston’s historic gardens, a juried presentation of recent significant garden design in both the public and private realm and a showcase of “vignette gardens” installed inside Architecture Center Houston. The exhibit is created for both architecture and landscape architecture design professionals, gardening enthusiasts, and will appeal to anyone interested in the history and growth of Houston as seen through the lens of our local gardens.

Price: FREE!!!

 

Posters of Gorbachev Era: The Sunset of Soviet Power

Recurring daily

Monday-Friday: 8:30 a.m. – 6:00 p.m. Saturday 10:00 a.m. – 3:00 p.m.

Russian Cultural Center “Our Texas”

Every Soviet poster no matter the date of creation bears a stamp of expressiveness and graphical quality. The attention to details is awesome. The scope of techniques is endless. And what’s important, every Soviet poster has a historical reference essential for understanding the layers of meanings it carries through time. We present the collection of the posters that have been published in 1987-1990 years. It was very dramatic period in Russian history: Perestroika and the sunset of Soviet power took place then, leading to the new Russian Federation.

Price: FREE!!!

Tuesday Tunes: The Awesome 1980’s

Tuesday Tunes

Tuesday Tunes

 

 

 

The 1980’s saw great social, economic, and general change as wealth and production migrated to newly industrializing economies. The 1980’s saw the development of the modern Internet, cable television and music devices such as the cassette and the CD. Movies and wild music videos on MTV inspired popular dances like the Moonwalk, the Electric Slide, the Thriller dance, the Robot and many others. Check out these awesome dance moves that revolutionized modern dancing.

 

The Electric Slide

 

The Moonwalk

 

Footloose (Nuff Said)

 

 

MFA Monday: Little and Big Things

MFA Mondays

MFA right

 

 

Happy Monday Framers! Today we kick off a new MFA Monday arc written by the lovely and immensely talented Amanda Jackson!

 

MFA: Little and Big Things

Part 1 – Penguins, Collaborators, and Community… Oh My!

We’ve all seen him awkwardly permeating the web, penguining around in various social situations. He goes by Socially Awkward Penguin. While in grad school, my colleagues and I turned to the Internet abyss of memes and YouTube a little too often to escape stressful realities and enter other worlds of shock, awe, and wit. These moments of escaping together created bonds between us, albeit strange ones, that filtered into movement and theory classes, rehearsals and feedback sessions, and potlucks that doubled as times for mind-mapping. I would be withholding information if I didn’t tell you that some Internet gems even made appearances in our choreography.

Back to the penguin meme: The poor penguin offers an “Oh God No” reaction to a teacher that states, “Ok class, find a partner.” Although this is quite funny to me now as a teacher, the penguin’s offerings were slightly less relatable during grad school. Our cohort’s unique bonding experiences paired with TWU’s strong focus on Contact Improvisation made finding a partner more exciting than dancing solo.

We learned more about each other, through what I’ll call spontaneous movement puzzles, in extremely rigorous and generous class environments facilitated by our professors. We also learned through witnessing our partners’ thought processes and reactions as well as how they prefer to move and be moved, even beyond a physical sense. This is what drew many of us to the MFA program and to each other.

Back in 2010 a group of ten dancers from TWU, all in various stages of our MFA cycles, came together to form Big Rig Dance Collective – a Denton-based group that is now co-directed by myself, Whitney Boomer, Crysta Caulkins-Clouse, and Lily Sloan. The impetus for our collective was to create more outlets beyond the academic setting to develop a deeper collaborative process. Big Rig was also experimenting with new methods of inviting communities into our process through performances and workshops. We ultimately wanted more of everything and were eager to share with everyone! (As if our graduate work didn’t keep us busy enough.)

I share this with you because I think there is something intriguing about our grad school environment that encouraged our desire to connect communities through dance. Also sprouting from this environment were Muscle Memory, CholoRock, and Simple Sparrow. I am reminded of the energy that we all brought into this environment – It felt electric and contagious, an infinite cycle. In my mind, we fueled the environment just as much as it fueled us.

So in the spirit of community, I’ll leave you with some insights from my friend/colleague/co-director/fellow kitchen improviser:

“After I graduated and began working as an adjunct professor in the community, I was still as driven as ever to work in Big Rig, but I felt the harsh reality of being removed from the community from which Big Rig was born. All of my friends were still in grad school, and I was out. I missed out on the inside jokes, the basement banter, and simply the wonderful treat of moving and dancing with friends on a daily basis. It was very, very hard.

Throughout the continual journey of figuring out what we want Big Rig to be in our lives, I have realized that community is first. This sense of community might mean remembering to see each other as friends first. It means developing a rich and rigorous dance practice with each other, in the midst of our crazy schedules and busy lives. I feel best when I stop and remember the first reason that we ever started collaborating: we liked each other. We liked each other’s ideas, energy, spirit, and creativity. Out of that likeable attraction comes some of our best work.” – Lily Sloan

So as you are researching MFA programs, I think it is equally important to research the MFA students. Are they doing work that interests you? Are they welcoming and supportive of what you can bring to the cohort? Are they people with whom you can spend long nights in the basement watching ridiculous YouTube videos? These MFA students can become some of your strongest supporters and collaborators throughout your time in grad school and beyond.

 

A Jackson - Photo by Jesse ScrogginsAmanda Jackson holds an MFA in Dance from Texas Woman’s University. She is a performer, choreographer, educator, stylist, and avid cooking improviser. Her work has been presented across Texas, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Louisiana with a notable experience at Harvard University with collaborator, Matthew Cumbie. Amanda is Co-Director of Big Rig Dance Collective in Denton, TX and Adjunct Professor of Dance at Tarrant County College Northwest. www.ajdance.org