The Show

Houston Met Too!

Dancin' Dancin' Dancin'
May 26th 2007
8:00 pm
Wortham Center/Cullen Theater

Come see our energetic youth company as they perform an evening of High energy dance ranging from jazz to modern to hip hop. The concert features work by Houston Metropolitan Dance Company Members Lauren Garson, Kiki Lucas, and HMDC Company Manager Marlana Walsh, Ashley Reichstein, Rhodessa Bell, Atlanta choreographer Wayne M. Smith, as well as international choreographer and Jazz goddess Pattie Obey.

Tickets: $10.00 - $25.00. 713/522-6375 or Houstonmetdancer@aol.com

The Houston Met Too Youth Company

The Houston Metropolitan Dance Center is proud of its Houston Met Too, Training Youth Company. This company is a product of the growth of the school and the need to produce our own dancers for the professional company The Houston Metropolitan Dance Company. The Houston Met Too training program for young dancers creates the setting needed to learn how a professional company works and what it takes to become a professional dancer. For the Houston Metropolitan Dance Company it provides a continuous flow of dancers who are well trained in our style. The program provides the faculty and dance education needed in the Southwest United States on a year-round basis to enhance the training of our young dancers. This company can be seen performing as the “Curtain Warmers” for many Society of Performing Arts Performances, at the Children’s Museum as well as their own concert at the Heinen Theater.

Michelle Smith
Executive Director

Marlana Walsh
Company Manager, Houston Metropolitan Dance Company

jhon r. stronks
Met TOO Director

Ashley Reichstein
Met TOO Assistant Director

Who Are The Toos?

Alice Bacani is 14 years old, and is a freshman at HSPVA. Alice has been in the Met Too for 3 years. In the future she would like to be a professional dancer or to teach dance. Alice would like to thank her family, the teachers at the met, and all the met toos.

Lila Blum is 15 years old, and this is her first year with Met Too. Lila is a sophomore at St. John's school, and in the future, she hopes to make a difference in the world. Lila loves to travel, hopes to visit the moon, is currently learning Chinese and Spanish, is the junior copyeditor for her school's literary magazine, and has a performing background with the SJS Belly dancing Club, Houston City Dance, Barbara King's Dancing Center, And the Conscious Souls hip-hop team. She would like to thank her parents for their support and Heather, a dance teacher living in Austin.

Ali DiNunzio is 17 years old. This is her 4th year as a Met Too. She attends H.S.P.V.A. as a Junior, in the dance department. Ali would like to thank jhon for always being willing to talk with her for hours and hours, when things seem to be a bit much. She wants to be everything when she grows up, but hopefully by then she will have decided on the one thing that will make her famous.

Risa D’Souza is 14 years old. This is her 3rd year as a Met Too. Risa attends H.S.P.V.A. as a freshman. In the future Risa hopes to continue performing in musical theater and, or concert dance. She also loves to do gymnastics, swimming, track and cross-country and loves to spend time with her friends and family. Risa would like to thank her mom for being so committed with her in dance and everyone who has supported her. Also all the Met teachers for helping her improve. Mrs. Annette for convincing her to do Met Too, Jhon for moving to be our director, and Ms. Ashley for helping out.

Kayla Gantt is 16 years old. She has been a Met Too for 2 years. Kayla attends H.S.P.V.A. as a junior. In the future she hopes to succeed as a professional dancer or an accountant. Kayla is a peanut butter loving girl who enjoys to read and bake. She attended the Point Park University summer intensive this past summer. She would like to thank everyone who has supported her.

Jasmine Hearn is 17 years old, and she has been a Met Too for 4 years. Jasmine is a senior at Episcopal High School. In the future, Jasmine hopes to become a professional dancer and a dance journalist or dance physical therapist. She loves to read books and watch Grey’s Anatomy. Jasmine is in the National Honor Society as well as an honor roll student. During her high school career, she has danced with the school’s dance ensemble for three years. She is currently an intern in the Houston Met Dance Company. Jasmine would love to thank her mother for being beautiful, compassionate, and well let’s just say amazing.

Kerry Jackson, 17, is in his 3rd year as a Met Too. He is in the 10th grade and a dance major at HSPVA. He Love to dance and make everyone laugh. Last summer Kerry attended the Point Park Summer intensive and received a scholarship to Jazz in Arizona Dance Festival. He would like to thank all the Met Too Instructors and Most importantly his Grandmother, Family, and Friends.

Ashley Frames-Knight, 13, is in her first year as a Met Too and has been dancing for eleven years. She is also in her third year as a member of Steven Boyd Dance Ensemble. She has spent the last few years in competitive dance where she won top honors and awards for her solo and group performances. Ashley has a deep love for dance and has really enjoyed growing and developing this year with Met Too. She looks forward to attending HSPVA in the fall. Ashley would like to thank her mother for always believing in her.

Allie Larsson is 13 years old and this is her first year in the met too. Allie Larsson attends Lanier Middle School as an 8th grade student. In the future she wants to keep her career options open. She is an honor roll student and loves to eat fruit, have fun, and-of course- dance! Allie would like to thank her parents for pushing her to continue dancing when she felt like giving up. She would also like to thank her friends for always supporting her.

Mackenzie Menter is 13 years old. This is her first year as a Met Too. Mackenzie attends Pearland Junior High South as an eighth grader. In the future, Mackenzie hopes to become an actress on Broadway, a professional dancer, or a doctor. She attends A Step Above Dance Studio, sings in school and church choir, and acts in drama club and her school plays. She loves to travel, sleep, be happy and perform. Mackenzie would like to thank all her teachers, relatives, her brother and sister, and of course her supportive parents.

Joycelyn Parker is a freshman at H.S.P.V.A. This is her third year as a Met Too. Her favorite past time is talking on the phone, when she should be doing her homework. Joycelyn would like to thank her family for their love and support.

Maya Petty is a 16-year-old junior who attends HSPVA. She has been a Met Too for 4 years. Maya loves anything purple and is obsessed with Grey's Anatomy. She has also studied dance at the Alvin Ailey School in New York and has received a scholarship to attend the 2007 season of West Coast Dance Explosion. In the future Maya would like to be a professional dancer/choreographer. She would like to thank her family for always supporting and believing in her.

Hanna Read is 13 years old. She has been a part of Met 2 for 2 years. Hanna attends Lanier Middle School as a 7th grader. In the future she hopes to attend HSPVA, but is keeping her options open after that. Hanna is a girl scout, loves to cook, dance, and read. She has been performing at the Met for 3 and half years. She would like to thank her parents and all of her teachers.

Emma Wilson is thirteen years old and is in eighth grade. She goes to Lanier Middle School. This is her first year to be in the Met. Too, but she has been attending classes at the Met. She enjoys having fun with her friends; Emma thanks all of her friends and family for supporting her through everything.

Daisy Wolf is 14 years old, and she has been a Met Too since last January. She attends St. John's School and is in the 9th grade. Daisy has no plans for the future, but would like to keep her options open. Daisy would like to thank her parents for driving her to The Met every day.

The Choreographers

RHODESSA BELL is a 25 year old who got her start under the direction of Koni Riley on the Rhythm Elite Performance Team at Dance Dimensions Studio in Mineola, TX. She received her Bachelors degree in Dance at Stephen F. Austin State University, where she was a member of the SFA Pom squad and the SFA Repertory Dance Company. She was awarded a scholarship with Monsters of Hip Hop while studying under the direction of Richard Hebscher and Amber Thorton. She currently works for Marching Auxiliaries where she teaches dance to children, creates contest choreography, as well as teaching a variety of genres to area schools and studios in the Houston Area. Rhodessa is thrilled by the opportunity to further her professional career under the prestigious direction of the Houston Met.

LAUREN GARSON is a second year company member, recently moving from Pittsburgh, PA. She graduated from Point Park University with a BFA in Dance. Her training includes PPU’s Pre-Professional and International Summer Dance Programs, the Limón Institute Summer Workshop, STEPS on Broadway Pre-Professional Program, Jazz Dance World Congress, and Pennsylvania Governor’s School for the Arts. Performance credits include Ft. Worth Dance Festival, Collin County Dance Fusion, Playhouse Dance Company, Junction Dance Theatre, and CLO Cabaret Theatre. She also teaches and choreographs for local dance studios and Met Too.

KIKI LUCAS is a third year company member that moved from Los Angeles, CA. She originates from Pittsburgh, PA where she graduated with her BA in dance from Point Park University. She premiered her work "Benevolence" in the Spring 2004 and recently set “Imbalanced” in the spring of 2005, which is being set on Point Park University’s Dance Connections Concert this fall. Some other credits include The Kennedy Center (ACDFA Nationals), Towson University, Point Park International Summer Dance Festival, Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, Carnival/Choreographer's Ball (Los Angeles), ESPN, Dallas Morning News Festival, Midwestern Arts Conference, Ft. Worth Dance Festival, Collin County Dance Fusion and will be showcasing new works on the Houston Met and Met Too. Kiki teaches and choreographs not only in the Houston area but also across the country.

PATTIE OBEY is a committed professional bringing her experience, creativity, passion and humor to the teaching profession. A Chicago native and the daughter of a dancer, Pattie began her professional career touring internationally with Gus Giordano’s Jazz Dance Chicago. Her performance credits both in the USA and abroad includes Broadway musicals, films, and television. Her personal style is greatly influenced by her mentor Gus Giordano, former Hubbard Street artistic director Lou Conte, jazz master Matt Mattox, and her own elegant and powerful femininity. Pattie credits her extensive classical background to her training with ex-Royal Ballet soloists Richard Ellis and Christine DuBoulay. Currently, Obey makes her home in Amsterdam, The Netherlands but devotes a minimum of six months each year to teaching and choreographing in the United States. For the past four years she has been a guest artist at the University of Performing Arts in Tilburg, The Netherlands. Pattie has been on the faculty of numerous dance festivals in Germany, Austria, Finland and Mexico. She is a master teacher for both Dance Educators of America and Dance Masters of America. Pattie has taught for colleges, universities, dance companies and eminent dance studios in 33 states and 15 countries. She has choreographed works for LaJazDanz, Ormao Dance Company, Spectrum Dance Theater, Houston Metropolitan Dance Company, Jazz Dance Theatre, and The Playhouse Dance Company at Point Park College and Pori Dance Company in Pori, Finland. In 1992 she was the first woman to teach at the Jazz Dance World Congress and has been on the roster of master teachers ever since. She is also the recipient of the “2000 Jazz Dance World Congress Award” in recognition of her considerable contribution to the world of jazz dance.

ASHLEY REICHSTEIN is a 20-year-old native Houstonian. A graduate from the High School for the Performing and Visual Arts, Ashley was a part of the Houston Met Too Youth Company for 3 years. After leaving for a year to the University of North Texas, she continues her professional dance career with a second year with the Houston Metropolitan Dance Company. Ashley has performed at venues such as Dance Houston, Pink Ribbon Project, Commissioner’s Super Bowl Party and the Ft. Worth Dance Festival. Ashley is assistant to jhon stronks, Met Too Director, and has choreographed multiple pieces within the 2005-2006 Met Too season. Ashley would like to say thank you to all who have supported her. This show will conclude her second season as Met Too assistant director. She will miss all of the Met Toos next year when she attends University of Arizona in the fall.

WAYNW M. SMITH is a well-respected, dynamic and sought after choreographer, dancer, collaborator, and multi-disciplinary artist. He has taught, choreographed and produced numerous works at several nationally recognized institutions including the Ohio State University, the University of Memphis, Emory University, Slippery Rock University, and Kent State University. Smith’s areas of expertise are improvisation, choreography, performance technique, and theatre movement. Wayne has been an active part of the contemporary/modern dance community in Atlanta, Georgia for 10 years and is founding director/producer of SmithWorx, Ink and co-founder of Current Collective Improvisation Ensemble. Smith additionally collaborates with a variety of nationally recognized Artists in various disciplines, including heading dancing and creative movement workshops for youths, adults and schoolteachers for programs such as Creating Pride, in Atlanta, Memphis Dance Works and the Center for Arts Education programs in Memphis, Tennessee. A native of Memphis, Wayne earned a BFA in Theater with a Dance concentration from the University of Memphis and an MFA in Dance/Choreography from top ranked dance department at the Ohio State University in Columbus, Ohio

MARLANA WALSH, Houston Metropolitan Dance Company Manager, going into her 6th season with the Met, is originally from Massachusetts and graduated from Point Park University in 2001 with a BA in Dance. Her choreography has been presented at ACDFA, International Summer Dance Festival, AIDS Benefit, HMDC Met Too, Industrials including Houston’s Levi Strauss/Walmart Fashion Show and Sam Houston State University. Marlana has performed at the Texas Contemporary Dance Festival, Lubbock Arts Festival, Dallas Morning News Festival, Jazz Dance World Congress, Choreographers X6, Texas Tanz, Big Range Dance Festival Cabaret Show, Pink! The Musical, Midwestern Arts Conference, Ft. Worth Dance Festival and Collin County Dance Fusion. Marlana fills her time teaching and choreographing at dance schools throughout the Houston area.

A note from the director

This event marks the completion of my first season as director of The Houston Met Too, and as a director I could not have asked for a more fulfilling Experience than what I have received.

As always, I am grateful for the opportunity to work with such wonderful and dedicated dancers, and beautifully articulate and creative choreographers. I look forward to our collective growth as the seasons come and go, and stand in awe of the company I said I’d never have.

At the completion of this season I Loose two people I have come to depend on. Jasmine Hearn a senior member of the company and Ashley Reichstein my assistant director, will both be leaving to attend college in the fall. While they both serve the company in different ways they will be equally missed. I am honored to have worked with them both.

The repertory that we have chosen to share with you this evening is a collection of dances that truly illustrates the work that we do in the studio. All of the dances in this repertory consider the dancer first, challenges them to grow in a clear direction, and provides their desires the opportunity to be clearly heard.

Included in this concert are three structured improvisations that whether highly or loosely structured require the dancers to take on a different kind of responsibility in the performance space. Dances that they design in the moment, dances that will only be seen here tonight, and then never again. Dances that are truly of theses dancers, what they have learned and how they feel.


Enjoy
jhon. r. stronks
director

all in a days work... Trust!

"The real reason i want to dance is because i want to explode."
Bill Evans







"Someone once said to me that dancers work as hard as policemen: always alert, always tense. But you see, policemen don't have to be beautiful at the same time!"
George Balanchine







Dancing is a sweet job.... when you're experiementing you may have to try so many things before you choose what you want, and you may go days getting nothing but exhaustion. It takes time to get a dance right, to create something memorable."
Fred Astaire







"All that is important is this one moment in movement. Make the moment important, vital, and worth living. Do not let it slip away unnoticed and unused."
Martha Graham







"The truest expression of a people is in its dances and its music. Bodies never lie."
Agnes De Mille











"I see the dance being used as a means of communication between soul and soul - to express what is too deep, too fine for words."
Ruth St. Denis











"If we seek the real source of the dance, If we go to nature, we find that the dance of the future is the dance of the past, the dance of eternity, and has been and will always be the same."
Isadora Duncan







"To sing well and to dance well is to be well- educated."
Plato