Featuring the talents of Nao Kusuzaki, Jennifer Mabus, and Evelyn Toh, Moving Mountains through the Clouds immediately engages the senses as guests enter an interdisciplinary world that blurs the lines between sound, dance, design, and space. Immersed in an interactive experience, the audience becomes surrounded by a living sonic sculpture. Built upon improvisational structures, each artist responds in the moment to one another and the unique architecture of Asia Society Texas Center, enveloping the audience into the unspoken conversation and inviting their presence to contribute to the experience.

Please note there will be no late seating for this program.

Artistic Director
Lynn Lane

Choreographer
Jennifer Mabus

Dance Artists
Nao Kusuzaki
Jennifer Mabus
Evelyn Toh

Sound Artists/Musicians
Thomas Frey — Clarinet/Percussion
Ingrid Gerling — Kaiser Box/Crystal Bowls/Percussion
Lynn Lane — Kalimba/Kaiser Boxes with Effects/Crystal Bowls/Percussion
Carson Marshall — Violin/Kaiser Box/Percussion

Transitory Sound and Movement Collective - "Breath" (Excerpts) - Rothko Chapel from Transitory Sound and Movement on Vimeo.

Press Coverage

The Mysterious Consideration of Transitory Sound and Movement Collective
10 Best Bets This Weekend in Houston

About the Featured Dancers

Nao Kusuzaki was born in Ehime, Japan and raised in Japan, Washington D.C., and Boston. She joined the Houston Ballet in 2004, performing as a soloist from 2009-2016. Nao produced Dance for Hope, a benefit concert in reaction to the 2011 Japan earthquake and tsunami. In 2015 she co-created and featured in Tsuru at the Asia Society Texas Center, directing and dancing in the revival of the piece in 2017 at Miller Outdoor Theater. Nao is the Founder of Creative Minds Collaborative, Inc., a nonprofit organization seeking to create meaning across artists, educators, and supporters of the arts.

Evelyn Toh graduated magna cum laude from The Boston Conservatory, upon graduation apprenticing with Nimbus Dance Works. She toured extensively as a company member of MOMIX, performing in countries such as Italy, Brazil, Spain, and Switzerland. In 2014, Evelyn joined T.H.E. Dance Company, a leading contemporary dance company in Singapore. She is currently a graduate assistant and MFA candidate at Sam Houston State University.

About the Transitory Sound and Movement Collective

The Transitory Sound and Movement Collective, founded by artistic director Lynn Lane, brings musicians, sound artists, dance artists, spoken word, and visual artists together to collaboratively create immersive and experiential evenings of sound, movement, and visual art through a guided improvisational process. Each performance is a unique and spontaneous composition that is created by the process of consideration and response of each artist to the overall whole and concept. It truly becomes an unspoken conversation through structured improvisation. 

Lynn Lane is the founder and artistic director of the Transitory Sound and Movement Collective. He comes from a very broad career base in the arts, most notably as a photographer in the performing arts arena. His work has been exhibited in galleries and museums internationally as well as published in many publications, such as The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Elle Décor, and others. 

Jennifer Mabus, MFA, possesses a rich background as a performing artists. Hailed as “bold” (New York Times) and “living calligraphy” (Boston Globe), she has performed internationally as a soloist with Battle Works. Additionally, Mabus has dance for the Amy Marshall Dance Company, Heidi Latsky, Takehiro Ueyama, Bruce Dance Wood, Noble Motion Dance, and Dark Circles Contemporary Dance. Mabus has presented choreography in a variety of festivals, and held multiple residencies, and has been an educator through several school programs, including currently starting a new dance program at the University of St. Thomas, Houston. 

https://tsmcollective.com/

Performing Arts programs at Asia Society Texas Center are presented by Mickey Rosenau and Ellen Gritz. Major support comes from Nancy C. Allen and Mary Lawrence Porter, as well as The Brown Foundation, Inc., Houston Endowment, and the City of Houston through Houston Arts Alliance. Generous funding also provided by AARP, Asia Chemical, The Clayton Fund, Miller Theatre Advisory Board, New England Foundation for the Arts, Schlumberger, Wortham Foundation, Inc., Texas Commission on the Arts, and National Endowment for the Arts. Additional funding is provided through contributions from the Friends of Asia Society, a dedicated group of individuals and organizations committed to bringing exceptional programming and exhibitions to Asia Society Texas Center. This program is presented in partnership with Transitory Sound and Movement Collective.

Program Sponsors