Mission

To empower and transform communities through innovative dance, theater, and visual art.

History

The Pilot Dance Project was incorporated as a non-profit organization in 2003 as FrenetiCore. The organization and its professional dance company were created by two local performing artists with the goal of creating narrative-based multimedia dance theater productions unique to the Houston arts community.  Under its previous direction, the company participated in numerous festivals, including the Wallpaper Dance Festival in Trieste, Italy, Big Range Dance Festival at Barnevelder Movement Complex, Texas Weekend of Contemporary Dance at the Miller Outdoor Theater, East End Cultural Arts Festival, Twelve Minutes Max at DiverseWorks, Houston Fringe Festival, New Orleans Fringe Festival, Bayou City Arts Festival, the Pilot Dance Festival in Fort Worth, Texas.  

In 2006 the company’s original directors acquired a 17,000-square-foot machine shop in Houston’s historic East End. The organization renovated the warehouse and built a new handicapped-accessible theater complete with a 1,300-square-foot stage, theater seating for 100, an eighty-foot long exhibit hall for immersive film and visual arts, and an outdoor pavilion. With the grand opening of the space in 2009, the organization was able to expand its programming to include an Artist Board, Artist-in-Residence program, community outreach programs, and offer a home for the annual Houston Fringe Festival. Frenetic Theater, later renamed the Pilot on Navigation, offered the Houston arts community with affordable rehearsal and performance space for almost a decade before its closure. 

The Director

In October 2015, company dancer Adam Castaneda was hired as Executive Director after serving as Development/Marketing Associate and Venue Manager. After the organization's last remaining founder left the organization in 2016, he assumed the role of Artistic Director. Mr. Castaneda re-branded the company into the Pilot Dance Project, with a focus on producing evening-length work by independent choreographers. In curatorial practice, he produces works by artists who are interested in exploring themes of community, identity, and the interpersonal relationships that create the foundation of the human experience. His programming has been funded by the City of Houston through the Houston Arts Alliance, Houston Endowment, Texas Commission on the Arts, and the Morales Foundation. As a company member of the Pilot Dance Project, he has performed in evening-length work by Ashley Horn, jhon r. stronks, Jennifer Mabus, Jaime Frugé-Walne, and Heather VonReichbauer. When not dancing with his own company, he often appears onstage with Suchu Dance/Jennifer Wood.

2018 Board of Directors

Adam Walker, President

Guy Harrison

Lauren Hurstell

Merrick Mainster

Stephen Patlan

Douglas Skopp