See a high-flying Christmas show at A Gift: The VauLt Holiday Show. Aerial artist Amy Ell, a respected member of the Houston arts scene since 1989 and founder of VauLt Houston, contributes the opening number, Miracle. Loosely based on the film Miracle on 34th Street, this Miracle also gives a nod to film/swim star Esther Williams, “with 1940s bathing suits, swim caps and all,” Ell tells us. She has plans to develop it over the next three or four years into a full-length “something-new-for-Houston” holiday show.
There are lots of holiday shows in Houston, Ell agrees, but none is quite like VauLt’s. “We use space in an unconventional and exciting way,” she says. “Who else regularly uses the air space while presenting a performing art? We do lots of work in the air.”
The VauLt Holiday Show includes a total of eight newly created works, most with holiday music. Along with Ell, almost a dozen choreographers have contributed to the show. There’s Emma Foster and Erin Garrett (mixed apparatus); Christian Scott (fabric); Adam Skidmore (lyra); and Melanie Bell (trapeze). Performers, among them several recognizable names in the Houston arts scene, include Toni Valle, Abby Flowers and Fernando Garcia.
7:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday. Spring Street Studios, 1824 Spring Street. For information, call 713-880-8161 or visit vaulthouston.com. $20.
Fri., Dec. 19, 7:30 p.m.; Sat., Dec. 20, 7:30 p.m., 2014
This article appears in Dec 18-24, 2014.