ABOUT
Suchu Inc, a 501(c)3 tax exempt nonprofit organization and the parent company to Suchu Dance.
Suchu Dance consists of Suchu Dance (the interdisciplinary art space), Suchu Dance (the postmodern dance/theater performing group) and Suchu2, a Suchu Dance Youth Company (ages 11-18).
OUR MISSION
Suchu, Inc.'s mission is to promote the general publics appreciation and awareness of contemporary performing arts by: (i) giving public performances of dance and other performing arts; (ii) sponsoring special events involving such performances; (iii) providing instruction in modern dance; and (iv) directly engaging in, and sharing resources towards, the promotion of the arts.
We fulfill our mission through our dance company, Suchu Dance, and it's use of new spaces in presenting cross disciplinary, non-proscenium, experiential, immersive performances/exhibitions that confound the conventions and expectations of performance., increasing the diversity of artistic possibilities in Houston, making Houston a far more exciting, artistic place to be.
We also fulfill our mission through our Youth Artist Opportunities Initiative--the first of it's kind in Houston to offer alternative dance training to children, providing them with positive and healthy forms of creative expression and movement.
And finally we fulfill our mission through our Artist in Residence Incubator Initiative, which provides practical, hands-on, "real world" production experience to emerging local artists and children.
JENNIFER WOOD-FOUNDER & CHOREOGRAPHER
Jennifer Wood is a choreographer, performer, teacher, and costume designer based in Houston Texas. She began dancing professionally in 1986 and began her choreographic career in 1993.
Jennifer is the founder and director of Suchu Dance, which serves as the vehicle for Jennifer's choreography and artistic vision. Since 1993, Choreographer Jennifer Wood has choreographed 77 original length works, with 31 being evening length created for Suchu Dance. 2013 marked 20 years of her remarkable journey. works for Suchu Dance.
Jennifer's works have been presented in many venues in Houston including Diverse Works, the Wortham Theater, Miller Outdoor Theater, the Jewish Community Center, Main Street Theater Chelsea, Atomic Cafe, University of Houston Cullen Theater, the Heinen Theater, the Barnevelder Theater, as well as in other parts of Texas, including Sam Houston State University, University of Texas, Texas A&M.; Outside of Texas, her work has been presented at the historic Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival Inside/Out Series in Becket, MA, and in performances in Atlanta, San Diego and most recently, Las Vegas.
Jennifer is the co-founder of two performing spaces in Houston: The Duplex, an alternative salon-style performance venue for contemporary dance which showcased her and other choreographers' works between 1993 and 1999, and Barnevelder, a 7,000 square foot performance and rehearsal facility specifically designed for dance which opened in 2001.
Jennifer is the recipient of a 2008 Buffy Award for Best Evening Length Choreographic Work. In 2001 Jennifer was named a U.S. semi-finalist in the 2002 Rencontres Choreographiques international choreography competition and she is the recipient of a 2002, 2006 and 2010 Individual Artist Fellowship in choreography from the Houston Arts Alliance. Jennifer was awarded performance residencies at Diverse Works in 2000 and 2002.
Jennifer has also collaborated with theater companies as a choreographer. In 2005 she was invited to collaborate with Infernal Bridegroom Productions in their new version of Medea. More recently, in 2012, Jennifer choreographed for Mildred's Umbrella Theater Company's production of Dead Man's Cell Phone and in 2013 for their production of Carnival Round the Central Figure.
In recent years Jennifer's interests have grown to include site specific and non-traditional performance spaces. One of her most current works, Afternono, premiered in June 2012 and was conceived and choreographed for 16 dancers in an empty, re-claimed 50,000 square foot J.C Penny. This work was the inaugural presentation in this former department store which is being re-purposed as an arts facility called the West Oaks Art House.
Jennifer has been dancing, teaching and working with dancers to experience movement for over 20 years. Through this time, Jennifer has enjoyed teaching Suchu Dance professional level company class, and has taught master classes at the Big Range Dance Festival, Houston Dance Festival, Sam Houston State University, and and also worked with with college and high school students during residencies at Emory University, University of Houston, Rice University, and the High School for the Performing and Visual Arts in Houston.
ABOUT SUCHU DANCE
Suchu Dance, a postmodern dance/theater performing group, has been producing strange, artsy, combustible, humorous work since 1998. Rooted in Houston’s arts scene, Suchu Dance founded three distinct performing venues in the city: the Duplex Center for the Arts in Montrose (1993-1999), Barnevelder Movement Arts Center in Downtown, (2001-2013) and its new home, Suchu Dance, opened February 2014 in Garden Oaks.
Suchu Dance experiments frequently in cross-disciplinary, non-proscenium, experiential, immersive performances/exhibitions, all with the goal of confounding the conventions and expectations of performance. Suchu Dance also offers movement and production classes.
A CONVENIENT LOCATION
IN THE GOOF
This new interdisciplinary project space is located in Garden Oaks/Oak Forest (affectionately known as "The Goof" by its inhabitants) in a commercial strip center dating from the 1970's, at 3480 Ella Blvd., near the intersection of Ella and 34th Street.
AMENITIES
The facility features a triple sprung floor in the dance space and a gallery space in the entry. With this new home, Suchu Dance expands its scope of services to the community by offering classes, artist opportunities and performances.
NEAR RESTAURANTS
The new facility is in walking distance to several restaurants including La Casa de Frida Mexican Kitchen, El Rey Taqueria, and Shipley Donuts (in what must be one of their original locations judging by the architecture of the building, and in great detriment to one's dancer thighs.) Around the corner are the bars Petrol Station and Wakefield Crowbar. A few blocks in the other direction is the Hare Krishna Temple-Guaranga Hall, and Waltrip High School is across the street.
REBIRTH AND EVOLVE
Suchu Dance is excited to announce the opening of its self titled new home. Suchu Dance turned over its former space to another dance organization and opened an new location in Winter 2014. Four years in the planning, circumstances, willpower and determination combined to make change happen.
As artists we need to shake things up every few years. We were at our former location for 12 years. Those years saw a lot of wonderful performances events and creation and will always be remembered as a fruitful time for Suchu Dance.
However, a space and an environment can exert a tremendous influence on the art that is produced; these things can come to define the scope, scale and perception of the art by setting parameters with which to work and for your audience's experience.
What was once liberating becomes a prison. That is why, as artists, we must be willing to throw away what is safe and comfortable and take risks. The new Suchu Dance isn't a dance 'studio' or a 'dance company'. The new Suchu Dance is an movement and interdisciplinary arts incubator. A movement lab of sorts. Time for a change and a rebirth. Evolve.
HONORING HOUSTON'S DANCE HISTORY
Above: Patsy Swayze instructing a class circa 1970s. Right, Suchu Dance in the refurbished former studio during Nothing, February 2014.
The new Suchu Dance space formerly housed the Swayze School of Dance and the Houston Jazz Ballet Company, both founded and directed by Patsy Swayze. Suchu Dance has restored the original 60s & 70s era dance space to be a multi-purpose home for creativity and interdisciplinary arts. Learn more about it's past...
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