'Poles, Paper Swans, and George Jones'
www.dancesourcehouston.org
August 20, 2011
Full of intriguing irony, The All Hands Meeting was a filmed
dance from choreographer Rebecca French and
composer/filmmaker Robert Thoth. There’s a lovely Busby
Berkeley moment when we’re overhead looking down on the grey
floor, as if seeing through a void. The dancers push themselves
across the space as if to say, Office work is such a drudge and
so am I.
Untrust Us/Chalk/Calm is one of those titles that can not ever
be expressed properly without reams of annotation. Let me
describe Rebecca French’s piece. Three couples inhabit three
long skirts. The women wear bandeaux tops, the lone male is
bare chested. Their arms windmill or undulate...It’s elegant and
silly ... Full article here.
'War of the Worlds Is a Zany, Sci-Fi Musical Romp'
www.houstonpress.com
February 22, 2011
'Act two opens with the dance of The Red Weed--a noxious
Martian plant taking hold on earth. In skintight metallic-red body
suits, three dancers excellently interpret this role with the
quintessential acro-dance stylings of Rebecca French. With two
sizable musical numbers in the second act, we hear strong vocal
performances by both Ekanem Ebinne and Robert Thoth.' Full
article here.
'FrenetiCore's MKUltra Messes with Minds"
www.29-95.com
June 8, 2010
"The dancers, led in their choreography by the exceptional and
possibly mad Rebecca French, guided the audience through the
nightmare of their initial exposure, through their development
into human weapon, into the horror of becoming living machines,
a dissident’s sudden execution, and finally leaving us as
exhausted as they when the chemical rollercoaster came to an
end.
Whether we were supposed to be watching an experiment in
progress or a documentary about the experiments is up in the
air. The dancers, led in their choreography by the exceptional
and possibly mad Rebecca French, guided the audience through
the nightmare of their initial exposure, through their development
into human weapon, into the horror of becoming living machines,
a dissident’s sudden execution, and finally leaving us as
exhausted as they when the chemical rollercoaster came to an
end." Full article here.
'FrenetiCore's MK Ultra Declassified'
www.nichelledances.com
"Choreographer and company director, Rebecca French’s amebic
partnering and meditative gesture are effectively hypnotic
alongside the electronic score. This dark and mysterious vignette,
it’s bookend closer, and a sly and disturbingly humorous
rendering of Nine Inch Nail’s Head Like A Hole, are choreographic
highlights for the evening.
Making appearances onstage, French demonstrates that she is a
strong performer. She pairs well with Chadwick Peters in an
understated, but certainly coital entanglement, which is
interrupted by incoming military aviators. Performers, French and
Peters, along with Linda Gomez, Veronica Honstein, Mallory Horn,
Stacey Ramsower, and Yahudi Castaneda turn in committed and
generally charming performances throughout.
As a production and artistic team Robert Thoth and French are
on the same page, and there seems no shortage of ideas
between them." Full article here.
From 'Hippest Houston'
August 31, 2009
"And the show stealer was the highly anticipated "Tetsujin" an
amazing piece showcasing amazing dance choreography, film
editing, and musical composition.
Tetsujin stunned me almost as much as the half naked man in
fishnets i met on my way in.
I didnt give my Hometown the credit for its wells of creativity,
craftsmanship, and artistic talent to run so deep. Never did the
creative drum beat of the city seem to be so alive as it did
when Tetsujin was shown.
I originally heard of Tetsujin through a segment on Nation Public
Radio on my way to work. someone from the Fringe theatre was
politely inviting Houstonians to come check it out, and
immediately i was enticed after hearing it was inspired by
Tetsuo, a character from the story of AKIRA who in the end turns
into a machine.
I thought of myself. The everyday i get up to go to work. The
mechanical process I go through to get out of bed, brush my
teeth, make my pop-tart breakfast and head towards my next
nine hours at my little office desk typing reports. And i thought
about all the people in the city and cities like mine who must
be doing the same mechanical things. "Are we all becoming
machines?" I thought, "When do i get my turn to be human?
When do any of us?"
And in a city where it is sometimes easy to lose sight of our
Human self, and get lost in our day's monotony of machine like
motions, Tetsujin came as a exciting awakening, a refreshing
wave of water to the mind body and spirit, reminding me that
true human expression and experience can and does live even
in the most gear grinding industrial cities.
So thank you to all who made the 2nd Annual Houston Fringe
Festival possible. Thank you for such a fun weekend. And thank
you for giving the city of Houston such Life."
"What Have You Forgotten?"
www.houstondance.org, June 12, 2006
"Perhaps the most engaging character though was Bernie, a man
suffering from delusions of grandeur depicted by Danny Magner.
His sense of humor/denial of his institutionalization (depending
on how you look at it) recalls many “sane” folk I have known
who walk the streets freely. Magner’s persona reminds us that
the border between freedom and institutionalization is relative,
often self-induced, and sometimes comforting.
…choreographer Rebecca French makes creative use of pointe
shoes and partner work to create the dingy world of bedlam.
Film techniques used by Mr. Thoth contributed to the darkness of
the content, including intermittent twitching of movements,
rewinding, and the bubbling of the picture, like a rock striking a
smooth pool of water.
Bedlam succeeds in constructing a believable darkness that
draws the audience in to the possibilities of one’s mind. The
narrative further encourages the audience to reflect on the
parameters set by both the mind and society. Enter FrenetiCore’
s world of bedlam and be prepared to reconsider yours." -J. Ray
"Seeking Asylum"
The Houston Press, June 12, 2006
"If you tell FrenetiCore that dance is supposed to be pretty,
odds are they’ll take your opinion, fling it to the ground and
stomp on it with spike heels. For FrenetiCore, dance is the
opposite of gauzy pink tutus and a graceful leap into a lover’s
arms: It’s a mean to a dark vision- one that’s ultimately much
more real than Giselle or Swan Lake." -Julia Ramey
"Big Brother Ballet"
Houston Press, March 24, 2005
“As a nation we essentially rationalize our wars and our actions
based on a mixture of fear and bad information,” says Thoth.
The ten-member local troupe will interpret Orwell’s bleak
“negative utopia” through dance, video, spoken work, and “80’s
electro-pop.” French’s choreography has the Thought Police
working it like “break-dancing Nazis” in gas masks and “storm
trooper apparel” while the forbidden lovers Winston and Julia
engage in more traditional ballet and ballroom
movement." -Julia Ramey
"Like a Prayer"
Houston Press, August 26, 2004
"Yes, this is a modern dance performance with Christian
overtones, but no, it's nothing like Footloose. Rebekah French's
choreography and Robert Thoth's score keep the story moving
along gloriously, tacitly teaching the lesson that true symbolism
is only conflated by words. If you really want to make a point,
all you have to do is dance." - Keith Plocek
www.dancesourcehouston.org
August 20, 2011
Full of intriguing irony, The All Hands Meeting was a filmed
dance from choreographer Rebecca French and
composer/filmmaker Robert Thoth. There’s a lovely Busby
Berkeley moment when we’re overhead looking down on the grey
floor, as if seeing through a void. The dancers push themselves
across the space as if to say, Office work is such a drudge and
so am I.
Untrust Us/Chalk/Calm is one of those titles that can not ever
be expressed properly without reams of annotation. Let me
describe Rebecca French’s piece. Three couples inhabit three
long skirts. The women wear bandeaux tops, the lone male is
bare chested. Their arms windmill or undulate...It’s elegant and
silly ... Full article here.
'War of the Worlds Is a Zany, Sci-Fi Musical Romp'
www.houstonpress.com
February 22, 2011
'Act two opens with the dance of The Red Weed--a noxious
Martian plant taking hold on earth. In skintight metallic-red body
suits, three dancers excellently interpret this role with the
quintessential acro-dance stylings of Rebecca French. With two
sizable musical numbers in the second act, we hear strong vocal
performances by both Ekanem Ebinne and Robert Thoth.' Full
article here.
'FrenetiCore's MKUltra Messes with Minds"
www.29-95.com
June 8, 2010
"The dancers, led in their choreography by the exceptional and
possibly mad Rebecca French, guided the audience through the
nightmare of their initial exposure, through their development
into human weapon, into the horror of becoming living machines,
a dissident’s sudden execution, and finally leaving us as
exhausted as they when the chemical rollercoaster came to an
end.
Whether we were supposed to be watching an experiment in
progress or a documentary about the experiments is up in the
air. The dancers, led in their choreography by the exceptional
and possibly mad Rebecca French, guided the audience through
the nightmare of their initial exposure, through their development
into human weapon, into the horror of becoming living machines,
a dissident’s sudden execution, and finally leaving us as
exhausted as they when the chemical rollercoaster came to an
end." Full article here.
'FrenetiCore's MK Ultra Declassified'
www.nichelledances.com
"Choreographer and company director, Rebecca French’s amebic
partnering and meditative gesture are effectively hypnotic
alongside the electronic score. This dark and mysterious vignette,
it’s bookend closer, and a sly and disturbingly humorous
rendering of Nine Inch Nail’s Head Like A Hole, are choreographic
highlights for the evening.
Making appearances onstage, French demonstrates that she is a
strong performer. She pairs well with Chadwick Peters in an
understated, but certainly coital entanglement, which is
interrupted by incoming military aviators. Performers, French and
Peters, along with Linda Gomez, Veronica Honstein, Mallory Horn,
Stacey Ramsower, and Yahudi Castaneda turn in committed and
generally charming performances throughout.
As a production and artistic team Robert Thoth and French are
on the same page, and there seems no shortage of ideas
between them." Full article here.
From 'Hippest Houston'
August 31, 2009
"And the show stealer was the highly anticipated "Tetsujin" an
amazing piece showcasing amazing dance choreography, film
editing, and musical composition.
Tetsujin stunned me almost as much as the half naked man in
fishnets i met on my way in.
I didnt give my Hometown the credit for its wells of creativity,
craftsmanship, and artistic talent to run so deep. Never did the
creative drum beat of the city seem to be so alive as it did
when Tetsujin was shown.
I originally heard of Tetsujin through a segment on Nation Public
Radio on my way to work. someone from the Fringe theatre was
politely inviting Houstonians to come check it out, and
immediately i was enticed after hearing it was inspired by
Tetsuo, a character from the story of AKIRA who in the end turns
into a machine.
I thought of myself. The everyday i get up to go to work. The
mechanical process I go through to get out of bed, brush my
teeth, make my pop-tart breakfast and head towards my next
nine hours at my little office desk typing reports. And i thought
about all the people in the city and cities like mine who must
be doing the same mechanical things. "Are we all becoming
machines?" I thought, "When do i get my turn to be human?
When do any of us?"
And in a city where it is sometimes easy to lose sight of our
Human self, and get lost in our day's monotony of machine like
motions, Tetsujin came as a exciting awakening, a refreshing
wave of water to the mind body and spirit, reminding me that
true human expression and experience can and does live even
in the most gear grinding industrial cities.
So thank you to all who made the 2nd Annual Houston Fringe
Festival possible. Thank you for such a fun weekend. And thank
you for giving the city of Houston such Life."
"What Have You Forgotten?"
www.houstondance.org, June 12, 2006
"Perhaps the most engaging character though was Bernie, a man
suffering from delusions of grandeur depicted by Danny Magner.
His sense of humor/denial of his institutionalization (depending
on how you look at it) recalls many “sane” folk I have known
who walk the streets freely. Magner’s persona reminds us that
the border between freedom and institutionalization is relative,
often self-induced, and sometimes comforting.
…choreographer Rebecca French makes creative use of pointe
shoes and partner work to create the dingy world of bedlam.
Film techniques used by Mr. Thoth contributed to the darkness of
the content, including intermittent twitching of movements,
rewinding, and the bubbling of the picture, like a rock striking a
smooth pool of water.
Bedlam succeeds in constructing a believable darkness that
draws the audience in to the possibilities of one’s mind. The
narrative further encourages the audience to reflect on the
parameters set by both the mind and society. Enter FrenetiCore’
s world of bedlam and be prepared to reconsider yours." -J. Ray
"Seeking Asylum"
The Houston Press, June 12, 2006
"If you tell FrenetiCore that dance is supposed to be pretty,
odds are they’ll take your opinion, fling it to the ground and
stomp on it with spike heels. For FrenetiCore, dance is the
opposite of gauzy pink tutus and a graceful leap into a lover’s
arms: It’s a mean to a dark vision- one that’s ultimately much
more real than Giselle or Swan Lake." -Julia Ramey
"Big Brother Ballet"
Houston Press, March 24, 2005
“As a nation we essentially rationalize our wars and our actions
based on a mixture of fear and bad information,” says Thoth.
The ten-member local troupe will interpret Orwell’s bleak
“negative utopia” through dance, video, spoken work, and “80’s
electro-pop.” French’s choreography has the Thought Police
working it like “break-dancing Nazis” in gas masks and “storm
trooper apparel” while the forbidden lovers Winston and Julia
engage in more traditional ballet and ballroom
movement." -Julia Ramey
"Like a Prayer"
Houston Press, August 26, 2004
"Yes, this is a modern dance performance with Christian
overtones, but no, it's nothing like Footloose. Rebekah French's
choreography and Robert Thoth's score keep the story moving
along gloriously, tacitly teaching the lesson that true symbolism
is only conflated by words. If you really want to make a point,
all you have to do is dance." - Keith Plocek
Click an image to see a video.
For photos of FrenetiCore's past performances, visit
our Flickr page.
For photos of FrenetiCore's past performances, visit
our Flickr page.
 | |  | |  | |  | |  | |  | |  | |  |
 | |  | |  | |  | |  |
Work Samples and Press
5102 Navigation Blvd
Houston, TX 77011
832.426.4624
Houston, TX 77011
832.426.4624
