6. Ad Deum Dance Company 713-626-5050

Randall Flinn is the director for Ad Deum Dance Company and as the company approaches its next performance, Moving Violations Pardoned, he's happy to welcome work from a former student, Durell Ron Comedy. Now a dancer with the Jose Limon company, Comedy created Joyful Noise for the Ad Deum dancers. The company has toured the United States, Canada, Mexico, Europe and Asia, but we're happiest when it's at home and performing for Houston audiences.

5. FreneticCore Dance Theater 5102 Navigation, 832-387-7440

Among our most favorite FreneticCore productions is Zomberina! The Movie, about a group of zombie ballerinas in a dance competition. Led by Rebecca French, who founded the company with Robert Thoth in 2003 (Thoth recently left the company, leaving French as Artistic Director), FreneticCore Dance is known as a well-rounded company. Not only does the group perform, its members are active in teaching (from other professionals to neighborhood children for free in its FrenetiKids program) and expanding the base of dancemakers in Houston. There's an active Artist-in-residence program and dancers are encouraged to be more than just dancers or choreographers; French gives them the support to explore filmmaking, costuming and musical scoring.

4. Psophonia Dance Company 713-802-1181

Artistic Director Sophia L. Torres, profiled in the Houston Press100 Creatives series, and her dancers are set to perform Infinite Shapes of Creatures later this November. An active teacher, associated with the University of Houston, the Houston Community College system and Young Audiences, Torres calls her company "athletic, visual, audience-friendly, and approachable." We'd add "equal in its emphasis on the technical and artistic aspects of performing."