Dance Dance Revolution

Awesome gravity-defying dance showcase makes Dallas debut

Red Bull Flying Bach will play the Majestic Theatre January 14-16.

Photo courtesy of Red Bull Flying Bach

After a wildly successful Texas debut last year and sold-out tours across Europe, Australia, and Japan, Red Bull Flying Bach is heading back our way. The high-flying breakdance/classical music crew is performing in Dallas, Houston, and San Antonio at the beginning of 2017, and tickets are now on sale.

But wait: breakdancing and classical music? The two actually are a perfect match under the supervision of artistic directors Vartan Bassil and Christoph Hagel, who excel at blending high society with urban culture. This particular performance, which is at the Majestic Theatre for four shows January 14-16, mashes up breakdancing with an adaptation of Johann Sebastian Bach’s Well‐Tempered Clavier.

The incredible artists who execute Bassil’s gravity-defying moves are the Flying Steps, a German troupe formed by Bassil in 1993. The four-time breakdance world champions currently have more than 35 professional dancers in their lineup, and they are joined for Red Bull Flying Bach by Swedish ballerina Anna Holmström.

Bassil teamed up with opera conductor Hagel in 2010, looking to redefine audiences’ perceptions of breakdancing. And rather than simply busting a move to a classical soundtrack, the duo wanted the dancers to fully embody the music and convey a story. The result, Red Bull Flying Bach, premiered that year in Berlin’s Neue Nationalgalerie, bringing the sold-out audience to its feet.

“I liked the idea of replacing a ballerina doing pirouettes on her toes with a breakdancer doing head spins,” Bassil explains.

The story here follows six dancers as they rehearse for their big performance, the teacher constantly pushing them and their boundaries to make it all work. Then a mysterious woman enters the rehearsal room, and everything — desire, arrogance, disappointment, delight — reaches a climactic height.

Tickets, which start at $29.50 for the Dallas stop, can be purchased here. Use the promo code FRIENDS to get 20 percent off your ticket, or if you're a group of four use the code FAMILY to get the fourth ticket free (you'll need to purchase four tickets to activate the discount).

If you’re still trying to wrap your head around the concept of Red Bull Flying Bach, let the teaser video below satisfy your curiosity.

music dance promoted

MOVING ON UP

Texas rises through the ranks of most innovative states, says new report

Photo via Getty Images

Texas has seen year-over-year improvement on an annual list that ranks states based on their innovation economies.

The Lone Star State has again taken a step up on an annual report that ranks the most and least innovative states in the country — this time cracking the top 15.

Texas ranked No. 15 in personal finance site WalletHub's 2023’s Most and Least Innovative States ranking. It's a steady improvement for the state, which ranked No. 16 in 2022 and No. 17 in 2021.

The report analyzed the 50 states and the District of Columbia and how each performed across 22 key metrics, including population of STEM professionals, venture capital investment activity, number of technology companies, patents per capita, and more. The data was pulled from the U.S. Census Bureau, Bureau of Labor Statistics, National Science Foundation, National Center for Education Statistics, United States Patent and Trademark Office, and other records.

Here's how Texas performed at a glance:

No. 18 – for share of STEM professionals
No. 16 – for projected STEM job demand by 2030
No. 25 – for eighth grade math and science performance
No. 21 – for share of science and engineering graduates aged 25 or older
No. 13 – for share of technology companies
No. 31 – for R&D spending per capita
No. 18 – venture capital funding per capita

For the 11th year, Texas won Site Selection Magazine's Governor's Cup, the governor's office announced earlier this year. The award, which Texas has won 19 times since its inception in 1978, recognizes the nation’s top-performing state for job-creating business relocations and expansions.

"Texas truly is America’s economic engine, and we stand apart as a model for the nation. When choosing where to relocate or expand their businesses, more and more innovative industry leaders find themselves at home in our state," Governor Greg Abbott says in a news release about the award.

"I congratulate the exceptional economic development teams at the local, regional, and state level who have worked so diligently to attract and retain these growing businesses and the jobs they create in diverse communities across this great state," he continues.

The most innovative states included the District of Columbia, which ranked at No. 1, followed by Massachusetts, Washington, Maryland, and California, respectively. The least innovative state was identified as Mississippi, followed by Louisiana, North Dakota, West Virginia, and Arkansas, respectively.

Source: WalletHub

Access to quality education is a significant contributor to each state's innovation economy, the experts say in the report.

"Investing in education, particularly K-12 but also at the University level, it is no accident that innovative ecosystems develop in states with strong education systems and research universities," says David L. Deeds, professor at the University of St. Thomas in Minneapolis. "These institutions build strong capable modern workforces that attract capital, and jobs and create innovations. The benefits do not happen overnight, in fact, they take years if not decades, but consider what The UC’s or the University of Texas at Austin have meant for the development of premier innovative ecosystems."

Texas WalletHub innovation