Houston Black Dance Collective
Mission
To support Houston-based dance organizations and individual dancers and choreographers that are a part of the African Diaspora, and to foster a space of collaboration amongst Houston’s black dance community.
What We Do
Promote dance workshops, performances, and other activities and events throughout the HBDC network and to the greater Houston community
Provide a professional performance platform for dance artists through Dance Afrikana’s Kuumba Festival
Address the overall needs of Houston’s black dance community
Membership
Eligibility
Annual Dues
Member Benefits
Interested in becoming a member of HBDC?
Click the link below and complete the membership form. In light of Juneteenth and the COVID-19 pandemic, and to show solidarity with our community members impacted by racism and police brutality, membership fees will be waived for those who join by July 19th.
HBDC Members
Here are the current members.
Sacred Twerk
Sacred Twerk is a temple for healing the divine feminine energy present within all women. We create safe spaces for Black women to cry, talk shit, and shake our asses without the colonial gaze and respectability politics associated with modern-day twerking. "We twerk to heal and to remember" is a motto that extends from our deep commitment to invoking holistic sexuality and womb wisdom within our practice, and the ancestral recall of sensual embodied dances that link us back to Africa and the power of dance to serve as ritual. We have a crew of dancers that perform in performance art spaces and explore the power of everyday bodies to communicate an inherited wisdom through dance.
Luana Da Silva
Batalá is a global Samba Reggae percussive movement that has its roots in Salvador, Bahia - Brasil. Batalá Houston is a part of this global community right here in town. Samba Reggae is an Afro-Brasilian genre of music that has many different rhythms that have evolved over the years since its creation in the 1970s. Through Batalá, Samba Reggae has traveled from Brasil to many places across continents: South and North America, the Caribbean, Africa and Europe. It is music born from expressions of Black joy, pride, community and power in Brasil. We are people that come together for the love and appreciation of the music and culture Batalá represents and the energy the rhythms bring into our communities. Being a community-based band, we welcome interested people to reach out to us about joining the band - no experience or tons of experience, all are welcome! Axé
Tina Mullone
Tina Mullone is a professional artist and educator in the field of performing arts, particularly dance. She is a member of the dance faculty at the University of Louisiana at Monroe. Her course load includes but is not limited to: Modern dance (fusion of Lester Horton, Martha Graham, Jose' Limon, William Evans and instructor's individual style); ballet (based in the Aggripina Vaganova technique), composition, improvisation, social dance, body conditioning and jazz. The lecture courses are: dance appreciation, choreography, performance, dance history, teaching methods and dance pedagogy. During her tenure, she developed two honors courses: dance & politics and modernism in the 20th century (a collaborative course with a fellow music faculty). Tina continues to seek collaborative projects outside of the dance realm. She has extensive administrative experience in the higher education and non-profit areas which includes marketing, community outreach development, desktop publishing, graphics and educational development. Tina sits on the National Dance Education Organization Arts Advocacy Committee. She served two consecutive terms on the American College Dance Association Board for the South Region. She is a dance specialists for Louisiana A Plus Schools, dance education specialist for the International Association of Blacks in Dance, a certified Pilates Mat Instructor (Balanced Body, LLC), a M'Singha Wuti Umfundalai instructor. She was a member of the 2017 DanceUSA's Institute Leadership Training Program. Specialities: Dance Artist, Educator and Advocate.
Breyonna Erakae Milton
Breyonna Milton started her dance training on her high school drill team, the J. Frank Dobie Lariaettes. She attended San Jacinto Community College where she obtained her Associates Degree in Dance. Currently, Milton is studying dance at the University of Houston where she plans to finish up her Bachelors of Arts Degree. Milton's first job was at AMA Dance Etc, where she taught jazz and hip-hop to children ages four through sixteen . She is currently volunteering as a dance coach for the Southbelt Alliance dance team. Milton finds great joy in working with the youth. After graduating, she plans to go into the field of dance education where she will be teaching dance to children K-5.
Randrea Taniece
Randrea TaNiece is a Houston-based educator, dance artist, and scholar who emphasizes Black history, culture, and aesthetic. She earned her MFA in Dance from Texas Woman’s University where her research centered on Embodiment as a Literary Teaching Tool as she used Black literature to create choreographic works that aimed to decolonize and liberate Black women’s bodies. As an educator, she now holds the position of Head Dance Director at Hightower High School as the award winning varsity Hi-Lites Dance Team coach in Missouri City, TX. Randrea TaNiece’s focus is to develop multi-faceted dancers for the contemporary dance world.
Loren Holmes
Loren Holmes is a Beaumont native, a versatile dancer with extensive training in ballet, jazz, modern, tap, contemporary, and hip hop. Her specialization lies in jazz and contemporary styles. She continued her training at Texas Southern University and Houston Community College. With notable performances at Coachella, The Milan Fashion Show and touring cities across the states. She's also the founder of Hearts in Motion Hou, providing workshops, technique training, and captivating performances. As a Residency Teaching Artist at The Ensemble Theatre since 2014, Loren mentors aspiring dancers and leads workshops. She's a graduate of the SURE Program (University of Houston) and holds affiliations with Texas Youth Action Network and Houston Black Dance Collective. She has choreographed works for Houston Community College, Sonkiss’d Dance Concepts, Barnstorm Dance Fest, Houston Fringe Festival and the Union Arts Dance Festival just to name a few. She has held residences with Dance Source Houston and is currently in one with The Anderson Center for the Arts. She’s a recipient of The Let Creativity Happen Grant, through Houston Arts Alliance and a few other awards from the city to create and showcase her work. Loren also uses her art to create experiences for youth and adults, centered around health and wellness. With this, she is currently a Pilates Apprentice working towards being Comprehensively Certified. Her purpose has been and will continue to be to use movement for personal and communal transformation
Jai Alexander
Jai Alexander is a movement experimentalist and creative based in Houston, Texas. His unique movement vocabulary draws inspiration from the fluidity of roller-coaster rides, the rhythmic patterns of waves, and movements that deeply resonates with the human body. Jai is currently furthering his studies at Lamar University, where he also serves as the Administrative Assistant and company member for Aimed Dance. Recently, his work has been presented at Mind The Gap XXIV (Houston, 2024), Latino/a/x Contemporary Dance Festival (Houston, 2024) and The Oklahoma Contemporary Dance Festival (Oklahoma City, 2024) as a resident choreographer.
Toba Atkins-Montana
“Toba” is a Houston based modern and contemporary professional dancer and dance educator with 6 plus years of professional performing work. During this time he’s worked and still works for companies such as, Urban Souls, Holding Space, Pilot Dance, and Alas dance; Toba attended Stephen F. Austin University and Houston community College where they majored in Dance. Since then, they have had the opportunity to perform and choreograph at mind the gap and other local festivals. Tobaric felt as if they’ve grown to a point that now Toba can freely express his love and passion for dance through classical, innovative, and challenging choreography.
HBDC Calendar
- This calendar highlights classes, events, and performances from members of Houston Black Dance Collective.