Cool for ‘Schools’! CIS Wants to Transport You to a Whimsical ‘Wonderland’ at Milestone Gala
Mar. 11, 2024
WHETHER YOU PREFER Alice, the Mad Hatter or the Queen of Hearts, Communities In Schools of Houston’s A Night in Wonderland 45th Anniversary GalaA Night in Wonderland 45th Anniversary Gala is not to be missed! Join in the celebration for a whimsical good time on Thursday, April 4th, at the luxurious Post Oak Hotel.
Chaired by philanthropists Lauren and John Brollier and Cassie and John Milam, with honorary chairs Kirby and Scott McCool and Judy and Charles Tate, the magical evening supporting the valuable and impactful work of CIS of Houston begins at 6:30pm with a cocktail hour, then dinner and the program. Rounding out the event is live entertainment by the popular Houston-based band Klockwork. Guests can dance the night away, starting at 9pm.
The always diverse crowd makes for a dynamic event. Party-goers are encouraged to dress in “Wonderland Whimsy Cocktail” attire, with the goal of fun and festive. Cocktail attire is also a great option.
Don Friedell and emcee Lisa Malosky at a previous CIS Gala
Attendees at a previous CIS Gala
A full ballroom at a prior CIS Gala
CIS of Houston's Martha Montoya Sanchez with Northbrook High School seniors
CIS of Houston CEO Lisa Descant and CIS of Houston Dir. of Development Donna Watkins with CareSource Foundation
Special guest at the 45th Anniversary Gala is Rey Saldaña, President & CEO of Communities In Schools National in Arlington, VA. During the program, guests will view a powerful video about the life-changing work of CIS Houston, in addition to hearing heartwarming testimonials, bringing a personal touch to the evening.
Funds raised from A Night in Wonderland will support the CIS mission to surround students with a community of support, empowering them to stay in school and achieve in life. Currently serving 163 campuses across Greater Houston, CIS places at least one full-time CIS Student Support Manager on each partner campus to deliver comprehensive direct services including counseling, academic support and health and human services.
The chairs want to thank the event’s top-tier donors to date: Judy and Charles Tate; CenterPoint Energy; Sharon G. Dies; The Marie and James H. Galloway Foundation; Beth and Bob Gower; and Marathon Oil.
Tickets are going fast! They start at $500, and tables for 10 range from $5,000 through $50,000. Underwriting opportunities are still available.
Judy Tate (photo by Emily Jaschke)
Scott and Kirby McCool
Kit Detering, Cassie Milam, Carl Detering (photo by Jenny Antill)
Sharon G. Dies and Lauren Brollier
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IT MAY STILL be September, but Oktoberfest has already arrived. Slightly less humid weather is beckoning revelers to hit a shaded biergarten and celebrate the season of frothy beer and savory German fare. Here are six delicious ideas on where to hoist a pint!
Bayou Heights Bier Garten
Enjoy Oktoberfest flights and food specials throughout the month. Its annual Weeniefest & Oktoberfest celebration is on Oct. 12; bring your furry friends for weenie dog races beginning at noon. Games and prizes will take over with a weenie tossing contest, stein hoisting contest, and costume contests. Goodtime Muffin will perform from 3pm-6pm.
Heights Bier Garten
Heights Bier Garten (photo by Emily Vitek)
Houstonians can celebrate the spirit of Oktoberfest and a day full of music, food, and friendly competition on Oct. 5. Doors open at 11am, and The Monicas will take the stage with live music from 6pm-10pm. Before that, games and prizes include a beer chugging contest, yodeling contest and costume contest. Reservations can be made at Resy.com or here.
Karbach Brewery
On weekends through Oct. 6, the annual Karbachtober Fest will offer an oompah band on the patio, stein-hoisting competitions, and wiener dog races. Its menu includes burgers, pizza, loaded pretzels, Korean fried chicken, and even a kid’s menu.
Little Woodrow's
Live music and stein-hoisting will be on tap this Sat., Sept. 28 at the EaDo outpost of this Texas icehouse built for fun. Also, Sept. 28, the Heights location will offer a stein relay, stein hoisting and cornhole games; meanwhile, in Bellaire, there will be backyard Oktoberfest games and more beer. If in SugarLand, bring your pup for the Dachtoberfest, or come for the stein hoisting later in the evening.
Postino
Postino's Oktoberfest special
Bring the wine drinkers, cocktail fans and beer lovers for grazing delights at this wine café. Enjoy a happy-hour draft beer pitcher of Sierra Nevada Brewery’s limited-release Oktoberfest Festbier paired with Nick’s Board. The spread features warm soft pretzels, Italian sausage and Spanish pork links, dippable pimento cheese, and pickles ($27). Specials last through Oct. 31.
Saint Arnold
Houston’s original brewery promises the biggest Oktoberfest yet. The party has already started and continues through Oct. 5, so giddy up! Oct. 2 the beer garden menu will feature Schwarzbier and brat burgers. Come back for the big weekend celebration Oct. 4 and 5 and bring your appetite for chicken schnitzel sandwiches, Big Dill pizza, brat burgers, bratwurst and sausage plates or a schnitzel plate. Featured beers made with hops from Germany include Festbier, Helles, German Pils, German-style Hefewizen and more.
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At 83, Twyla Tharp Still Creates Work for No One But Herself — She Twirls Into Houston Sept. 28
Sep. 25, 2024
CHOREOGRAPHER TWYLA THARP has been celebrating 60 years as a dance-maker with a coast-to-coast tour that brings her company to Texas this month, with performances in Dallas, San Antonio, Austin and, on Saturday, Sept. 28, at the Wortham Theater Center presented by Performing Arts Houston.
Along with Isadora Duncan, Martha Graham, and Trisha Brown, Tharp belongs to the pantheon of modern-era American choreographers who transcended the limits placed on women in their respective eras and pushed the domain of dance into uncharted territory. That we are the beneficiaries of such innovation is not lost on Tharp. “When I began, you were either a ballet dancer or a modern dancer,” says Tharp. “I helped make it possible to be both.” Now 83, Tharp could certainly rest on her laurels, but she continues to create new works that are as engaging for audiences as they are physically demanding for her dancers.
Saturday’s program includes Ocean’s Motion, a work for five dancers Tharp created in 1975 and set to the music of Chuck Berry. Rock and roll in the 1950s heralded a period of wild rhythmic experimentation, and it was the music Tharp heard as a studious but inwardly rebellious teenager over loudspeakers while working in her parents’ drive-in movie theater. “It’s more the energy and commitment behind the rhythms that drives the movement,” says Tharp when asked if rock provides a unique groove for her choreography. Rock music, specifically the music of The Beach Boys, sound-tracked Tharp’s 1973 breakthrough collaboration with the Joffrey Ballet, Deuce Coupe, which ingeniously amalgamated the steps of classical ballet with the equally demanding movements of modern dance.
But Tharp has always drawn inspiration from a variety of musical genres, including ragtime, minimalism, and for the 2024 Brel, also on the program for Saturday, the gut-wrenching chanson of Belgian singer and provocateur Jacques Romain Georges Brel, better known as Jacques Brel. In Brel, the audience bears witness to a lone, heroic dancer, “no longer young,” yet infused with the fire and wisdom one can only gain with the passage of time. “He is a man who experiences things deeply,” says Tharp. The work is in five parts, each choreographed to a live recording of Brel singing some of his most beloved songs. (And yes, “Ne me quitte pas” is one of them, so bring your hankies.)
“Brel was an extraordinary performer,” says Tharp. “Nobody ever sang his songs with as much intelligence and passion. This is true of Chuck Berry as well and is one of the reasons I like to pair Ocean’s Motion with Brel.”
Rounding out Saturday’s show is The Ballet Master (2024), with contrasting music by the Dutch contemporary composer Simeon ten Holt and Baroque master Antonio Vivaldi used to great effect. The nearly 30-minute theatrical work humorously unpacks the choreographic process and features longtime Tharp dancer John Selya, 54, as a thoroughly seasoned choreographer desperately trying to create a new dance and maintain some control over the creative process. From the very beginning of her career, humor has been an essential element in Tharp’s choreography. So, is it a challenge to get her dancers to be comfortable with looking awkward or goofy onstage? “Humor comes from control,” says Tharp. “Not the opposite.”
In her autobiography, When Push Comes to Shove, Tharp describes the morning after the premiere of her very first dance, Tank Dive (1965), when she raced out to get a copy of The New York Times and was stunned and disappointed to see the work had not been reviewed. Later, she realized this was a good thing.
“There was no financial remuneration and little attention paid to me those first five years,” writes Tharp. “So I simply went on asking myself, ‘Do you want to do this, or don’t you?’” Sixty years later, it’s a question Tharp still asks herself. She’s also just fine with the idea of creating work without the expectations of an audience in mind.
“This is the only way to approach work,” says Tharp. “Meeting expectations can be accomplished through effort and having chops, but ultimately, you judge your own work.”
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