DANCE

Founded in 2003, the Big Range Dance Festival (BRDF) seeks to foster quality dance theatre that explores diverse ideas and the fusion of theatrical arts. The Festival encourages choreographers to experiment in movement invention and the creation of a uniquely personal dance language, invoking the spirit of the modern and postmodern dance pioneers. BRDF seeks to engage the audience through new works that break boundaries, with a strong emphasis on the unique individual vision of the choreographer.

BRDF is funded in part by grants from the City of Houston through the Houston Arts Alliance, Houston Endowment, Inc., and the Texas Commission on the Arts.  LAST FEW DAYS OF MAY, FIRST TWO WEEKENDS OF JUNE and Each weekend an entirely different program!

With the original Houston Big Range Dance Festival now in its seventh year, 2009 marks the second year of a simultaneous sister festival, Big Range Austin, in our state capital, organized and produced by Spank Dance Company. Visit the Big Range Austin website for more details.

2009 Big Range Dance Festival 

Three distinct weeks of performances, showcasing cutting-edge dance works never before seen in Houston, created by these choreographers based in Atlanta, Houston, Austin, Huntsville, and New York City:

PROGRAM A:
Friday-Saturday, May 29 and 30, 8pm
$14-$18
A Jeanine Durning (choreographer, NYC) solo created for and performed by Andee Scott (Austin, TX) • sneak-preview excerpts of Hope Stone Dance’s upcoming fall program Village of Waltz choreographed by Jane Weiner • a new octet from Becky Valls’ upcoming fall program Chapter Two: House, the continuation of her Memoirs of the Sistahood series • a new trio by Toni Leago Valle • a structured group improvisation directed by Leslie Scates with light score by Jeremy Choate • a new solo work by up-and-coming choreographer Kristen Frankiewicz. Free pre-show videos and dance peep shows 7:25-7:55 pm.  

THE DANCE GATHERING:
Sunday, May 31, 7pm
$10-$14
A fast-paced, widely varied, uncurated evening of 4-minute works by over 20 local choreographers, from emerging to professional, representing a multitude of dance genres and music styles.

PROGRAM B:
Saturday, June 6, 8pm
Sunday, June 7, 7pm
$14-$18
Five works by the impeccably musical and texturally creative George Staib (Atlanta, GA), whose work the Atlanta Journal Constitution describes as “magnetic, tense, euphoric”, performed by the eleven dancers of Staibdance • a sassy and athletic new work by Jennifer Wood, performed by the eight dancers of Suchu Dance • an intimate duet and an high-energy octet by Andy Noble and Dionne Sparkman Noble of NobleMotion Dance (Huntsville, TX), whose work The St. Petersburg Times says has an “emotional impact [that leaves] an enduring impression”. Free pre-show videos and dance peep shows 7:25-7:55 pm on June 6, 6:25-6:55 pm on June 7.

VENTURING OUT:  THE CONCLUSION
Wednesday, June 10, 8pm
$10-$14
Non-formulaic dance-making unfolds before your very eyes! In this culminating performance emphasizing choreographic investigation, experimentation, and collective excavation, Katelyn Halpern, Jocelyn Thomas, Jacqueline Nalett, Jonnesha Hawkins, La’Crystal 7, and jhon r. stronks draw on their own physical and personal histories, utilizing methods and discoveries from five prior Venturing Out informal showings. Guided and directed by jhon r. stronks.

PROGRAM C:
Friday-Saturday, June 12-13, 8pm
$14-$18
A sextet by Anneke Hansen (NYC) that Claudia La Rocco of the New York Times praised for its “fi nely wrought, sensual phrase-work” and described as a “world beyond...a treat to peer in”, with original, American folk song-style rounds by composer Emily Scott, sung by the performers a cappella • a trio by former Houstonian Lori Yuill (NYC) creating a playful, bizarre little world with an unusual vocabulary that is at times gestural, at times space-sweeping • a powerfully stoic quartet by Amy Ell, introducing new aerial dance elements performed by three aerial artists. Free pre-show videos and dance peep shows 7:25-7:55 pm on June 12 and 13.

BARNEVELDER FLAG DAY PARTY
an oh-so-cool-and-casual, whacked-out fundraiser benefi tting Barnevelder !
Sunday, June 14, 4pm-7pm
$21-$25
The Buffy Awards take a hiatus this year, but in its place we’ve planned a fun-fi lled Sunday afternoon, celebrating just how far the Barnevelder facility has come. Your entry ticket gets you in to: taste all the entries and cast your vote for the best in our “cool summer drink” competition • take a guided building tour of all our post-upgrade bells and whistles ... learn utterly fascinating and useless behind-the-scenes information about how our facility operates • witness and be amazed by a Barnevelder Flag Day rededication ceremony (OK, it’s an outdoor dance and fl ag routine by the talented and zany Niffer and the Cityhawk Dancers) • enjoy a smattering of 2-minute performance vignettes by long-time Barnevelder-based arts groups • bid for one-year naming rights on everything that ain’t nailed down (and even the stuff that is) • and more!

Pictured in Gallery, below: 

1.  Festival Mailer

2.  Choreographer Toni Leago Valle, Event: BRDF Program A, May 29-30, 2009, Photo credit: Louie Saletan.

3.  Hope Stone Dance, Event: BRDF Program A, May 29-30, 2009, Photo credit: Simon Gentry.

4.  Performer Andee Scott (Austin, TX), Event: BRDF Program A, May 29-30, 2009, Photo credit: Simon Gentry.

5.  Staibdance (Atlanta, GA), Event: BRDF Program B, June 6-7, 2009.

6.  Suchu Dance, Event: BRDF Program B, June 6-7, 2009, Photo credit: Louie Saletan.

7.   Dancers in a work by choreographer Amy Ell, Event: BRDF Program C, June 12-13, 2009, Photo credit: UH School of Theatre and Dance.

8.  Dancers in a work by choreographer Anneke Hansen (NYC), Event: BRDF Program C, June 12-13, 2009, Photo credit: Bryan Fox.