Glasstire Best of 2025: Toni Valle’s Testimony, inspired by Shazhia Sikander’s Witness at the Midtown Arts & Theater Center.
by Michele Brangwen, Glasstire, December 9, 2025
"Choreographer Toni Valle’s Testimony, a dance work inspired by the journey of Shazhia Sikandner’s statue Witness and created in collaboration with composer George Heathco and composer-vocalist Misha Penton, was a brilliant new work, steeped in abstraction and at the same time giving voice to issues of free speech and female autonomy with its nuance and depth of feeling. The gorgeous dancers of Valle’s 6 Degrees Dance Company brought to the stage a triumphant work that lifted the audience from despair at a time when we need it most."
https://glasstire.com/2025/12/09/glasstires-best-of-2025/
“Testimony” Responds to Shahzia Sikander’s “Witness” & Issues of Free Speech
by Michele Brangwen, Glasstire, September 15, 2025
https://glasstire.com/2025/09/15/testimony-responds-to-shahzia-sikanders-witness-issues-of-free-
My Favorite Art Things 2025
by Robert Boyd, The Great God Pan is Dead, December 20, 2025
Testimony was a collaborative music-dance work by dancers from the 6 Degrees dance company, musician Misha Penton and composer George Heathco, a response to the terrorist destruction of Witness by Shahzia Sikander at the University of Houston. Misha Penton wore a transparent hoop skirt, which was also a feature of Sikander’s beheaded sculpture. 6 Degrees specializes in aerial dance, in which the dancers hang from trapezes and loops of cloth suspended from the ceiling. The destruction of Witness remains so shocking to all of us in the Houston art community that artists have felt the need to respond in a variety of ways, ranging from somber (as in Testimony) to goofy (as in Gods Like Us by Jonathan Read, mentioned above.)
https://substack.com/home/post/p-181184782
6 Degrees was featured on the cover of OutSmart Magazine September 2023 Issue.
Full article: "Bam! Pow! Save Democracy Now! 6 Degrees Dance Fights Back with Pop Demo."
by Neil Ellis Orts September 1, 2023
https://www.outsmartmagazine.com/2023/09/bam-pow-save-democracy-now/
Press Links:
A Dancer’s Guide to Houston
by Neil Ellis Orts Dance Spirit Magazine, April 8, 2024
https://dancespirit.com/dancers-guide-houston/
Preview: “Bam! Pow! Save Democracy Now! 6 Degrees Dance fights back with Pop Demo.”
by Neil Ellis Orts Outsmart Magazine, September 1, 2023
https://www.outsmartmagazine.com/2023/09/bam-pow-save-democracy-now/
Preview: “POP DEMO: Toni Leago Valle’s Speakeasy Come to the MATCH”
by Nancy Wozny, A & C Texas Magazine July 28, 2023
http://artsandculturetx.com/pop-demo-toni-leago-valles-speakeasy-comes-to-the-match/
Press Release: POP DEMO:
https://thedancedish.org/6-degrees-premieres-pop-demo/
Preview: “Keeping SCORE: Toni Leago Valle Celebrates 20 Years”
by Nichelle Strzepek Dance Source Houston, October 17, 2022
https://thedancedish.org/keeping-score-toni-leago-valle-celebrates-20-years/
Press Release: SCORE Toni Leago Valle's 20th Anniversary:
https://thedancedish.org/6-degrees-presents-score/
Feature: “The Challenges of Dancing While Parenting While Going Through a Pandemic”
by Nancy Wozny Dance Magazine, August 13, 2020
https://www.dancemagazine.com/coronavirus-and-parenting-2646951756.html
Feature: “Flying High Above the Texas Sky: Aerial Dance Takes Off in the Lone Star State”
By Nichelle Strzepek A & C Texas, June 12, 2019
Feature: “A Little Cold and Wind Doesn't Stop the Houston Women's March for Justice and Equality”
by Doogie Roux. Houston Press, January 2019
Feature: “About 10,000 people hit streets for Houston Women March On event”
by Rose Aragon. Click 2 Houston, January 2019:
Review: “Never Again - Reminding us of history so that we need not repeat it”
by Roxanne Claire. Dance Source Houston, September 29, 2018:
https://thedancedish.org/never-again/
Preview: “High-Wire Dance Show Takes on Texas’ Anti-LGBTQ, Anti-Choice Political Circus”
by Neil Ellis Orts Outsmart Magazine, September 6, 2018:
Calendar Listing: Never Again
OutSmart, September 2, 2018:
https://www.outsmartmagazine.com/event/never-again/2018-09-21/
Preview: Toni Leago Valle Takes On Body Image, Media and Women’s Rights in “CRACKED” by Adam Castaneda. Dance Source Houston, May 2016:
http://thedancedish.org/toni-leago-valle-takes-on-body-image-media-and-womens-rights-in-cracked/
Preview: Lynn Lane, Catalina Molnari and Toni Leago Valle present “Regifting Lions.” CultureMap:
http://houston.culturemap.com/eventdetail/lynn-lane-catalina-molnari-and-toni-leago-valle-pr/
Feature: “Regifting Lions”
https://www.houstonpublicmedia.org/articles/arts-culture/2012/10/23/38936/regifting-lions/
Feature: Role Of A Lifetime: Returning To Dance As A Mom by Nichelle Suzanne, Dance Advantage, May 2010: http://www.danceadvantage.net/mother-dancer-deux/
Preview: Leaps of Faith: Two new dance companies debut by Molly Glentzer, Houston Chronicle, May 2010: http://www.chron.com/entertainment/article/Leaps-of-Faith-Two-new-dance-companies-debut-1605721.php
Preview: A marriage of two dance companies for the month of May: something old something now something drenched something blau: https://www.fresharts.org/event/2455
Toni Valle at Fringe Festival by Nancy Wozny. DanceHunter, 2009:
http://dancehunter.blogspot.com/2009/08/toni-valle-at-fringe-festival.html
“tetris” by Neil Ellis Orts. Neonuma Arts, February 2009:
http://neonumaarts.blogspot.com/2009/02/tetris-by-toni-leago-valle.html
Toni Leago Valle’s Tetris Excavates, Resonates, and Captivates by Nichelle Suzanne:
https://nichellesuzanne.com/tag/valle/
Girls Undressing! By Julia Ramsey, Houston Press, June 2006:
http://www.houstonpress.com/arts/girls-undressing-6585781
Family is inspiration for 'It's All Relative' by Molly Glentzer, Houston Chronicle, August 2002:
https://www.chron.com/entertainment/article/Family-is-inspiration-for-It-s-All-Relative-2120251.php
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