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Extraordinary Texans: Margo Martindale

Extraordinary Texans: Margo Martindale

You can take the movie star out of Texas, but you can’t take Texas out of the movie star. Actress…
Individuals that help make Texas special

Extraordinary Texans

A common thread runs among this year’s group of Extraordinary Texans: Each of them has pursued a dream, and each…
Artist Buck Winn helped define 20th-Century Texas art

In the Creative Moment

The artist, inventor, architect, and teacher Buck Winn first beheld the hills of Wimberley in the late 1930s. Enchanted by…
Poetry the Cowboy Way in Alpine

Gather 'Round

The cowboy rides in from the West,mulling stanzas, lines and words.Winter delivers a fleeting restfrom the fences, trenches and herds.…
The individuals who help make Texas special

Extraordinary Texans

Each Texan has a story to tell.  Each story comprises one thread in the special tapestry that is the Lone…
Everyday movement inspires the 42-year-old Texas native and lifelong dancer. She blends two college degrees (anthropology and choreography) in what she calls ethnographic choreography. “I want to choreograph untrained dancers to explore, as an anthropologist would, how communities function.” Orr began the quest in 2001 with 13 firefighters performing their dangerous profession’s artistry of movement. She did a project with 30 roller skaters, another with a half-dozen expectant mothers, and another with five Elvis impersonators plus three trained dancers. Solo performances featured a symphony conductor and a police officer. Orr even rallied Venetian gondoliers to perform a floating ballet, and she convinced 300 two-steppers to hoof it at the steps of the Texas Capitol. Her most famous work engaged 24 employees and 16 vehicles from Austin’s sanitation department. A documentary on the project, Trash Dance, premiered in 2012. Her next project, PowerUP, will involve 30 workers and 20 utility poles, plus bucket trucks and cranes, from Austin’s public power utility, Austin Energy. (Look for it September 21-22, 2013, at the Travis County Expo Center.) Orr also works with children, seniors, and people with disabilities. “I believe dance can break negative stereotypes by telling people’s stories in new ways,” Orr says. “Besides, I want to get everyone dancing. Dancing is natural for kids but gets harder as we age. It’s really part of who we are.” Read about More Extraordinary Texans

Extraordinary Texans: Allison Orr

Award-winning Austin choreographer Allison Orr is lifting the old Texas saying—dance with the one that brung ya—to new heights.  During…
The individuals who help make Texas special

Extraordinary Texans: Joe & Lanna Duncan

Tourism in the mountain west got a boost in 1930 with the opening of two nearly identical sister hotels designed…
The individuals who help make Texas special

Extraordinary Texans: Tom Perini

Tom Perini grew up in Abilene in the ’50s, but spent weekends on his family’s ranch 15 miles south at…
The individuals who help make Texas special

Extraordinary Texans: Lareatha H. Clay

Most families start with a love story, but not many start like Lareatha Clay’s. Two centuries ago, in Kentucky and…
The individuals who help make Texas special

Extraordinary Texans: Mary Kemp

At age 86, Mary Kemp takes the long view about bluebonnets and history. For more than 30 years she has…
The individuals who help make Texas special

Extraordinary Texans: Donna Shaver

Donna shaver first glimpsed the Gulf of Mexico in 1980, arriving at Padre Island National Seashore as a college student…
The individuals who help make Texas special

Extraordinary Texans: Joel Guzman

In Spanish, “conjunto” means “together.”  Conjunto is also a lively musical style born on the Texas-Mexico border in the early…
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