Open Dance Project, Musiqa revive pandemic collaboration with live promenade dance, music performance at Houston Botanic Garden
Open Dance Project, Houston Botanic Garden, and Musiqa co-present "Still We Tend" Sept. 25 and 26 with two performances daily at 4:30 p.m. and 5:30 p.m. "Still We Tend" was born out of the loneliness and longing of pandemic isolation.
Conceived by Musiqa Artistic Director Anthony Brandt with Open Dance Project Artistic Director Annie Arnoult and filmmaker James Templeton via Zoom meetings and digital correspondence, the piece leans into a collective desire to keep making new artistic work, or tending to our creative gardens, during the shutdown.
Originally commissioned by Musiqa and conceived as a site-specific dance film that premiered in February 2021, this partnership between two respected arts organizations and a growing Houston tourist attraction exemplifies the resurgence of the art and cultural scene in Houston.
ODP, Musiqa, and Houston Botanic Garden return to the collaboration as a live promenade dance and music performance to take place at Houston Botanic Garden Sept. 25-26, 2021.
The live performances will replicate the film's journey through five different locations throughout the Gardens and will include the original score by Malian musician Hawa Kassé Mady Diabaté, whose 2018 collaboration with Kronos Quartet resulted in "Tegere Tulon."
Timed with the one-year anniversary of the Garden's opening and serving as ODP's first in-person performance in 18 months, "Still We Tend" marks ODP and Musiqa's joyful return to live collaborative public programming.
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