Lydia Hance

Lydia Polhemus Hance founded Frame Dance Productions in May 2010 out of her desire to connect dance with the vast, media-rich Internet culture, and to facilitate collaboration among diverse artists.  Hance has performed the works of Steve Rooks, former principal of the Martha Graham Dance Company, Randall Flinn of Ad Deum Dance Company, Hope Boykin and Freddie Moore of Alvin Ailey Dance Company, Caleb Mitchell of Houston Ballet, among others.  She has worked with several of these choreographers as a dancer with Ad Deum Dance Company.  Lydia is currently a member of Jennifer Wood’s Suchu Dance and Dancepatheatre, directed by Sara Draper.

Her choreography has been performed in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia and throughout the United States, including Times Square, San Francisco and Virginia, where Hance is a guest choreographer for Lexington’s Halestone Dance and Roanoke Ballet Theater. Hance is the Facilitator for Fieldwork Houston, a unique forum where artists of all genres gather to receive feedback on developing works.  Her latest work for the stage, Dancing Diana, came from a partnership that was formed in Fieldwork.  Dancing Diana, which showcases Hance’s collaboration with writer Diana Weeks, was performed at the Houston Fringe Festival and Danceplorations.  Her dance-for-camera work “Crease” will be presented at the Weekend of Texas Contemporary Dance on September 25-26, 2010.

Lydia enjoys teaching students of all ages in institutions all over the United States and in Malaysia, including the Houston Metropolitan Dance Company, Houston Ballet, Marin Ballet, and Hope Stone, Inc.  Lydia teaches in the Dynamic X-Change Program as part of Several Dancers Core’s initiative for healing for populations at risk.

Originally from San Francisco, California, Hance graduated Magna Cum Laude from Southern Methodist University with a B.F.A. in Dance Performance and B.A. in English Literature. She was named a recipient of the Meadows School of the Arts Artistic Merit Award.  Lydia trained at the Taylor School, the Limon Institute, the Graham School, and at NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts.