, set to be performed in the Near Northside of Houston.Over in the Near Northside of Houston, there’s a continuum of work being created by Adam Castan͂eda, the executive and artistic director ofSince 2020, Castan͂eda has been setting a lot of work in the Near Northside, a neighborhood just north of University of Houston-Downtown, east of The Heights and surrounded by freeways.
Inspired by Morgan to lean into his identity, and pushed further by a meeting with future visual art partner Tami Moschioni in 2018, Castan͂eda initially considered creating an art and dance tour of the neighborhood pre- and post-gentrification, with stops at locations like the local library and YMCA he frequented as a youth. Though the idea of a tour eventually fell by the wayside, his contact with the Greater Northside Management District opened the door to producing in the neighborhood.
“She had a very clear idea in scope for what she wanted to do,” says Castan͂eda. “She wanted to, through movement, explore ideas of intimacy, personal struggle, personal journey, personal forgiveness through a reconciliation of one’s imperfections, and just that whole idea, that whole ethos, I think really lent itself to setting it on two bodies.”is “more internal,” with a “ritualistic, spiritual sensibility” that Castan͂eda says audiences have really supported.
“[Horn is] fleshing out the lives of the two main characters, and I’m creating these three spirit beings that pop up on the journey every now and then and remind the main characters that they are human, they are valuable, they are loved, and even though they’ve made mistakes and they’re not perfect, they need to forgive themselves and understand that they’re just part of the continuum that is life experience,” says Castan͂eda.