CELEBRATING ST. LOUIS’ VIBRANT DANCE COMMUNITY
St. Louis Dance HQ’s Blog is a compilation of writings and performance reviews from a variety of St. Louis based dance writers. If you’re interested in sharing your writing on our blog, please email stlouisdancehq@gmail.com.
HQ Review: Space Station Dance presents its 2026 Residency
We sit in the round on pews and chairs lined against the edges of Hope UCC’s Chapel of the Arts, illuminated by lights hung from curving beams that mix blues, pinks, yellows, and greens on the black marley. Over the speakers, pop and house beats play muffling the voices of the sold out show’s crowd. The crowd is delightfully warm– showgoers chat together or see someone across the chapel and hurry over to give a hug and say hello. On the three, long panels of marley in the center of the chapel, eight rocks of varying shapes and cream colors lay in anticipation for the show to begin. In the corner of the room, Space Station Dance Residency’s red and white logo is splashed over a chapel door by a projector.
Spotlight On: Space Station Dance Residency’s 7th Season
Space Station Dance: Who are we? Where did we come from? Why are we here? Where are we going? Space Station Dance is a choreographic incubator for St. Louis artists dedicated to experimental concert dance. We are in our 7th season and have just hired our largest ever group of participants for our upcoming summer residency, which you should add to your calendars. August 6-9 at 7 pm at Chapel of the Arts @ Hope UCC. As I reflect on our steady growth, I wish to share our mission and ideals with the St. Louis dance community, as we continue to push boundaries and raise the bar.
HQ Review: “Take two…and call me in the morning” presented by Space Station
Space Station, via its host Chapel of the Arts at Hope United Church of Christ, has for years been a hub of experimental dance in St Louis, most recently serving as the host for a new work by Erin Morris and Ellie Harrison. Take two…and call me in the morning is an evening-length show illustrating, with humor and tenderness, the intertwined journey of two longtime friends and collaborators.
Before You Go: Space Station features past collaborators in “Run It Back” fundraising show
This year's Space Station fundraising show will take place this weekend, March 27th and 28th, at the Chapel of the Arts at Hope United Church of Christ. Ticket sales from the weekend will directly support Space Station’s ongoing projects, including its annual Dance Residency—an initiative that has, since 2020, served as a vital site in St. Louis for experimental performance. Each year, choreographers and performers gather to take creative risk, incubate new ideas, and challenge both themselves and their audiences within a supportive and dynamic environment.
HQ Review: Space Station’s Winter Weekend with Miller, Halm, and Sapozhnikov
Launching Space Station’s 2026 season, Winter Weekends assembled six seasoned artists for a split-bill evening. Touring from Illinois with her collaborators, Anna Sapozhnikov presented “Good House Keep.” St. Louis-based artist Melissa Miller presented “Daphne” alongside her collaborator Laura Halm visiting from Baltimore, Maryland. Each work surfaced questions embedded in the subtle—yet pervasive—aspects of the feminine experience.
HQ Review: Chew+Spit presents WHATEVERFEST!
Since its inaugural performance in January 2025, chew & spit – a dance residency created by Marlee Doniff and sponsored by Space Station Dance Residency – has sought to actively lower the stakes of performance by creating a space that prioritizes process over product. That essence of low-stakes performance billowed through every aspect of chew & spit’s first annual fundraiser event, Whateverfest, presented on Saturday, October 18, at Webster University’s Department of Dance. A myriad of mismatched living-room lamps framed the makeshift performance space and offered a soft, homey glow that, along with the steady patter of rain on the roof, wrapped the afternoon in a sense of warmth and community.
HQ Review: Space Station Dance Residency
Space Station, an annual dance residency showcasing experimental works, featured seven choreographers and six new pieces this year, including two guest artists from out of state. The 2025 edition had a special focus on audience participation, deployed in a variety of ways by the evening’s artists. In a pre-show video, viewers were even given instructions on how to decline performer interactions—simply by shaking our heads.
Spotlight On: Q&A with Jacob Henss, Artistic Director of Space Station Dance Residency
A look back at Space Station Dance Residency’s Fundraiser Performance via a Q&A between blog contributor Calvin Windschitl and Space Station Artistic Director, Jacobs Henss.
HQ Review: Space Station Dance Residency 2024
“I’ve heard of its beauty, and in some ways… it’s bizarreness too. Um and I felt it… And I felt it.” These words, spoken by Marlee Donniff in their solo work “I Drove Through West Virginia in the Dead of Night,” capture perfectly the essence of the performance series at which they were uttered. Space Station Dance Residency, co-directed by Jacob Henss and Robbie Van Nest, truly is no stranger to the bizarre and the beautiful. Now in its 5th year, Space Station serves as an incubator for St Louis artists to probe at their most experimental ideas, a gamble that has routinely laid host to some of the most unexpected and thought-provoking works of dance theatre in the St. Louis area.
HQ Review: “Cloven III” SpaceStation Dance Residency Fundraiser
“Cloven III” is an evening-length work by Jacob Henss and Betsy Brandt. This duet, performed by both creators, is the third installment of an exploration of the rural relationship between farmer and bovine as a lens for personal reflection. The dairy cow is a site of industrialized sexuality and consumption, and the “Cloven” trilogy is an ode to this overlooked yet ubiquitous animal, symbol, and food source. This eccentric choreographic work lives at the intersections of experimental theater, contemporary dance, burlesque, and performance art. Its St. Louis debut will be followed by a series of performances throughout the Midwest this spring.