Small Plates Austin, 2025

September 5, 2025 at 8:00 p.m. and September 6, 2025 at 7:00 p.m.
Ground Floor Theatre 979 Springdale Rd Ste 122 Austin, TX 78702

Hosted by Austin Movement Artist Jennifer Williams of Haven Movement Company

Congratulations to the Artists of Small Plates Austin 2025

Friday September 5

Anthony Alterio – Anthony Alterio
Caryle Eckert
James Felton II – James Felton Dance Works
Rebeca Gamborino
Evelyn Hoelscher – Spaces of Fontana
Jennifer Mabus
Preeti Krishnamani and Kavya Mathukumalli – Silambam Houston
Ryan Michael Parent – Ryan Parent Dance
Laney Phillips and Cherami Steadman
Anandha Ray – Quimera Ritual Dance
Gabriel Speiller – Ad Deum Dance Company
AJ Stark

Saturday, September 6
Audrey Baran – Baran Dance
Teresa Chapman – Chapman Dance Houston
Elyse Kassa and Emma Little
Seyong Kim – Project SK+A
Jordan Miller – konverj/Austin
Adele Nickel
Lisa Nicks – Lisa Nicks and her Band of Wild Ponies
Lauren Settembrino
Sanchita Sharma
Morgan Teel – Dance Waterloo
Jennifer Williams
Shizu Yasuda – Ad Deum Dance Company

Friday, September 5, 2025 at 8:00 p.m.
Saturday, September 6, 2025 at 7:00 p.m

Ground Floor Theatre
979 Springdale Rd #122, Austin, TX 78702

Program

Friday, September 5

It’s Not for Me to Say

Choreographed, costumed and danced by AJ Stark 
Music: Robert Allen, Al Stillman and Johnny Mathis 

Nurse Log

Choreographed, costumed and danced by Laney Phillips & Cherami Steadman
Music: Amanda Phares & Jackson Christian

Ancestors Keeping Us Strong

Choreographed, costumed and danced by Rebeca Gamborino
Spoken Word by Emmy Perez

Dedicated to all mother figures, celebrating their love, strength, and positive impact on the world.

Unburden

Choreographer: Jennifer Mabus
Music: “Continuum: 1” by Jane Anotnia Cornish
Danced by Rai Barnard, Lauren Kravitz and KD Milligan

Harlequod

James Felton Dance Works
Choreographed, costumed and danced by James Felton II
Music: “Triptyque: III. Saltarelle” written by Henri Tomassi performed by
Wynton Marsalis & Judith Lynn Stillman,
“Concerto for 2 Trumpets in C Major” written by Antoni Vivaldi performed by English Chamber Orchestra,
Wynton Marsalis, & Raymond Leppard “Sleepwalk” written and performed by Santo & Johnny

Threaded Lines

Ryan Parent Dance
Choreographed by Ryan Michael Parent
Costumed by Ryan Parent and company
Music: “La del Ruso”. Gotan Project 
Danced by Bella Burke, Madeleine Johnson, Wonglei Lei, Ryan Parent, Rhianon Renae

INTERMISSION

Everything I Never Wore

Choreographed and costumed by Anthony Alterio
Music: “We’re Running out of Time” by Alan Silvestri, “Kissing You by Des’ree” by Sam Smith
Danced by Lainey Harbert

Steeped in ‘90s nostalgia, this solo unravels a dreamscape of domestic objects, queer memory, and soft hauntings.

With a Rosanne quilt, an ‘80s lamp, and a growing pile of clothes, the familiar turns strange.

This isn’t a dance about laundry—it’s a dance about everything that lingers in the folds.

Tales in Thillana – Myths Unfolded

Silambam Houston
Choreographed by Kavya Mathukumalli and Preeti Krishnamani
Costumed by Silambam Houston
Music Composition: Dr. M.Balamurali Krishna Vocal: Dr. U.R. Giridharan Mridangam & Kanjira: Sri.L.Baba Prasad Violin & Flute: Sri. P.D.Thomas
Danced by Preeti Krishnamani, Kavya Mathukumalli, Tejaswini Mohankumar, Reshma Shajan

Tales in Thillana – Myths Unfolded is a vibrant celebration of mythology, movement, and music.
Drawing from the rich tapestry of Indian mythology, this performance breathes life into ancient tales through the rhythmic vibrance of Thillanas.  This program aims to highlight not just the technical brilliance of the Thillana, but also its potential as a storyteller—a vehicle for conveying ancient myths with contemporary resonance. As you journey through these unfolding tales, we invite you to experience the enchantment of Thillana anew—where every footfall is a heartbeat of mythology, and every movement a whisper from the past.

Lingering Silence

Quimera Ritual Dance
Choreographed and costumed by Anandha Ray
Spoken word written and performed by Anandha Ray, with sections by Edward Lee
Danced by Reneé Davis

This dance was created for the one year anniversary of the death of our dear friend, Diane McNeal Hunt.

Masculus

Spaces of Fontana
Choreographed by Evelyn Joy Hoelscher in collaboration with dancers
Costumed by Evelyn Joy Hoelscher
Music by Clogs, Josh Garrells and poem by Lucas Jones
Danced by Matthew Sommers and Connor Timpe

A mother’s perspective.

El corazón se encuentra 

Choreographed, costumed and danced by Carlye Eckert
Music: Kevin Kaarl 

 El corazón se encuentra unfolds as a quiet storm, following the machinations of the heart—expansion, joy, tension, release, impulse, introspection, softness, and rhythm—as they spill out onto the floor.

Chasing Clouds

Ad Deum Dance Company
Choreographed by Gabriel Speiller
Costumed by Rachel Chouinard
Music: Oliver Davis, Kronos Quartet & Laurie Anderson, Dexter Britain
Danced by Dylan Allen, Rachel Chouinard, Addison Hand, Sarah Hill, Jillian Quiner

Sometimes we get lost along the way of life. Sometimes we are found by that which is greater than ourself. 

Reception

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Saturday, September 6

this and yap
Dance Waterloo
Choreographed by Morgan Teel
Music: “Ripples”, “The Wing Thing”, and “The Paperwork Explosion” by Raymond Scott
Danced by Taylor Dominique, Erin Ellis, Jessica Gray,  Eileen Klugh, Heather Meeboer, Laura Merkel, Hayley Miller, Tikiri Shapiro, Lilly Wylde

This dance delves into the ritualistic and performative nature of shopping—a cherished bonding experience with my mom since childhood. Everyday gestures are reimagined as exaggerated, abstract movements, infused with a playful yet fragmented energy. The choreography captures the chaos, repetition, and delight of consumption, blurring the line between function and fantasy to offer a whimsical reflection on the act of acquiring and desiring.

I’ll wait here until you call my name (excerpt)

Lisa Nicks and her Band of Wild Ponies
Choreographed and costumed by Lisa Nicks
Music by Caroline Shaw, Attacca Quartet
Danced by Lily Zapatero

Cut from Compliance

Choreographed and costumed by Jennifer Williams
Music by Carissa Topham Fisher
Danced by Sonja Dangler and Natasha Small

Catch

Choreographed by Sanchita Sharma
Music: “Marmol” by Murcof
Danced by Aída Hernandez-Reyes

Originally created during an artist residency at the Gati Dance Forum (New Delhi, India), this solo draws upon a play between an object and the dancing body, questioning the subject-object, tangible-intangible, and external-internal dichotomy. An external object triggers qualities of bounce, twist, roll and stretch in the dancers’ body. While interacting with the object, the dancer adapts quickly, moving towards an interplay with the imaginary object where a series of call and response and action-reaction emerges between them.

Is Something Burning?

Baran Dance
Choreographed and costumed by Audrey Baran
Music: Elvis Presley
Danced by Audrey Baran, Mackenzie England, Emily Kissam

Desire is a funny thing… until it’s not. 

Memento Mori

Chapman Dance Houston
Choreographed by Teresa Chapman
Costumed by Ashley Horn Nott
Music: George Heathco “Three Ways to a Better Life”
Danced by Roberta Paixao Cortes, Kristen Frankiewicz, and Lindsey McGill.

Intermission  

Libretto

Choreographed by Adele Nickel
Costumed by Sophie Tiede
Music by Nina Simone, Theme from “Samson & Delilah” (Live at Carnegie Hall)
Danced by Olivia Barner, Abby Jones, and Liv Sexton

This work was originally commissioned by the Whirlwind Dance Company in Columbus, OH and features dancers who are current members of WWDC. 

Dummy Suite

Konverj/Austin
Choreographed by Jordan Miller
Costumed by Jordan Miller and Navaji David Nava
Music: “Only Ever Us” by Paul Wiancko
Danced by Rachel Culver, Elaine Fields, Penelope Morejon Molina

‘Dummy Suite’ is a love letter to the quirky, independent, and exhausted femmes who move through the world with honesty and grit. At its core, this work critiques the ballet world’s enduring muse archetype—where only the ethereal, silent, and infantilized woman is deemed worthy of inspiring others. ‘Dummy Suite’ reclaims that narrative, offering space for duality, complexity and self-definition.

Flee Porneia

Choreographed and costumed by Lauren Settembrino
Music by Zamilska

Flee porneia examines the layered process of unlearning traumatic belief systems, explored through the lens of human sexuality. The solo progresses through stages of suppression, conflict, and an eventual pleasure in heresy. The question remains whether or not it is possible to fully expel old systems of belief; at the very least, one can proudly defy them.

sauce for ii

Choreographed and costumed by Elyse Kassa and Emma Little 
Music by Louis Armstrong

The Moon reflected in East Sea

Project SK+A
Choreographed and costumed by Seyong Kim
Music: “Eyes Shut”, composed by Olafur Arnalds & Alice Sara Ott
Danced by Olivia Erlandson 

‘The Moon Reflected in East Sea’ is a solo contemporary dance work honoring the Sonyeosang (Statue of Peace) in Korea. This memorial statue stands as both an acknowledgment and remembrance of the women who endured sexual slavery under the Japanese military regime until the conclusion of the Pacific War in World War II—women historically referred to as ‘Comfort Women.’ Through the intimate vocabulary of solo contemporary dance, the piece examines inter/trans-cultural perspectives and explore broader themes of healing and reconciliation, offering renewed insights into peaceful coexistence within our globalized world. The work seeks to transform historical trauma into a meditation on human dignity, resilience, and the possibility of harmony between nations with complex shared histories.

Awakening

Ad Deum Dance Company
Choreographed & Costumed by Shizu Yasuda
Music: Gregorio Allegri & Choir of St. John’s College, Mari Samuelsen, Carl Orff & Mozarteum Orchestra Salzburg Danced by Dylan Allen, Rachel Chouinard, Addison Hand, Sarah Hill, Jillian Quiner, Allison Tomsik 

CREDITS

Produced by Small Plates Choreography Festival
Founder/Director: Beth McKee Elliott
Assistant Director/Host: Jennifer Williams
Founder/Co-Artistic Director of Ground Floor Theatre: Lisa Scheps
Technical Director/Lighting Designer: Stephen Pruitt
Stage Manager: Emma Winder
Backstage Assistant: Andrea Williams
House Manager: Michele Painter/Carlye Eckert
Box Office: Zachary Williams
Ushers: Carlye Eckert and Travers King

A portion of the venue is underwritten by Ground Floor Theatre.

Artist biographies: www.smallplatesdance.com/artists

Small Plates Choreography Festival is a sponsored project of Fractured Atlas, a non-profit arts service organization.