"Out on a Limb Dance Company seized...[the] opportunity to go avante-garde." ~Margaret Putnam, Dallas Morning News 2008

Into Dust

Into Dust, a quintet, Premiere: Dance Studio Theatre, Texas Woman’s University, Denton, Texas, December, 2004.
Music by John Hartford, Jenny Allinder, and Gillian Welch
Costumes by L. Brooke Schlecte
Names of performers: Amy Davis, Brandy Niccolai, Jeanne Mam,
Sarah Pilgrim, and Faith Venegas


Inspired by the tones and complexities of Appalachian Folk music, this dance is performed by five women and contains visual, kinetic, and aural imagery revealing a hauntingly simple view of folk life. Whether the women are dancing with physical contact or in quiet solitude, they are able to bring into the foreground a daunting intimate yet deliberately alive atmosphere.

Recover and Renew

Recover and Renew, a group piece, Premiere: Margo Jones Performance Hall, Texas Woman’s University, Denton, Texas, April 2006, ABDC Dance festival, Bryan, Texas, July 2007, Waco Cultural Arts Fest, Waco, Texas, August 2007.
Music by Philip Glass
Costumes by L. Brooke Schlecte
Name of performers: Jennifer Brast, Lauren Butschek, Sarah Pilgrim,
Kristin Ray, L. Brooke Schlecte, Andra Yount
Reconstruction: Lexie Eppley, Cali Hoffman, Hayley Hoffman, Hillary Hoffman,
Katie Lane Sarah Pilgrim, and L. Brooke Schlecte


Inspired by open and closed movement explorations, a group of dancers move through the space with increasing intensity a soloist remains in stillness.  The soloist is stuck in the memories of her past and tries to break free of her habitual patterns and live a renewed life.

Recover and Renew

Dangling From the Line

Dangling From the Line, a solo both choreographed and performed by L. Brooke Schlecte, Premiere: Plano Courtyard Theatre, Plano, Texas, March, 2007, ABDC Dance Festival, Bryan, Texas, July 2007, Waco Cultural Arts Fest, Waco, Texas, August 2007.
Music by Be Good Tanyas
Costume by L. Brooke Schlecte


In this piece, a woman reveals vulnerable moments when she is pushed and told she will not excel.  Through trial and error, she finds ways to maneuver herself in unexpected places in moments of solace and survival.

Dangling From the Line

The Sweetest Thing

The Sweetest Thing, a quintet, Premiere: Plano Courtyard Theatre, Plano, Texas, March, 2007, ABDC Dance Festival, Bryan, Texas, July 2007.
Music by Be Good Tanyas
Costumes by L. Brooke Schlecte
Text by dancers and Meghan Cardwell-Wilson.
Name of performers: Lexie Eppley, Cali Hoffman, Hayley Hoffman,
Hillary Hoffman, Katie Lane.


This quintet reaches, catches, and holds each other as their whispers explain stories, risks, and infatuations like pages from a diary.

Inter...rupted

Inter…rupted, a quartet, Premiere: Plano Courtyard Theatre, Plano, Texas, March, 2007. Music by Four Tet. Costumes by L. Brooke Schlecte.
Text by Meghan Cardwell-Wilson
Name of performers: Lexie Eppley, Rachel Bruce Johnson, Katie Lane,
Brandy Marie Niccolai
Reconstructed for: Lexie Eppley, Hillary Hoffman, Sarah Newton, Katie Lane.


This quintet addresses events that alter perspectives of life and changes plans. The themes in this dance were inspired by surprising events that took place within the choreographer’s family circle.

Inter...rupted

She Drew a Picture of a Whale

She Drew a Picture of a Whale, a duet, co-choreographed and performed by Rachel Bruce Johnson and L. Brooke Schlecte, American College Dance Festival Gala at Texas Christian University, Fort Worth, Texas, February, 2007,Plano Courtyard Theatre, Plano, Texas, March 2007, and Margo Jones Performance Hall, Texas Woman’s University, Denton, Texas, April, 2007, Out Of the Loop Dance Festival, Addison, March 2008.

Music by Cocorosie
Costumes by Rachel Bruce Johnson and L. Brooke Schlecte


In a split-screen layout, a duet confronts impending struggles as one performer suppresses, and the other unleashes monsters of distorted body image.


She Drew a Picture of a Whale

Caution: Information Overload

Caution: Information Overload, a group piece, Premiere: Margo Jones Performance Hall, Texas Woman’s University, Denton, Texas, November, 2006.
Music by Caribou
Costumes by Mario Zavala
Name of performers: Jennifer Blankenship, Lauren Guyer, Nadia Losonsky,
Karla Mercado, Lacie Minyard, Leslie Perez, Sarah Pilgrim, Brianne Rice,
Rubi Trevino, Marcy Yonkey


A group of ten dancers explores stress, confusion, and anxiety that are embedded in twenty-first century America.

This Tupperware is Microwave Safe

This Tupperware is Microwave Safe, a group piece, Premiere: Margo Jones Performance Hall, Texas Woman’s University, Denton, Texas, April, 2007, Baylor Dance Company ShowCase, Waco, Texas, April 2008.
Music by Four Tet
Costumes by L. Brooke Schlecte and performers
Name of performers: Rachel Bruce Johnson, Kali Boyd,
Meghan Cardwell-Wilson, Cali Hoffman, Hayley Hoffman, Hillary Hoffman,
Lacie Minyard, Sarah Pilgrim, Royce Russell, L. Brooke Schlecte, Nicole Touzien, Nicole Wieczorek, Marcy Jo Yonkey.
Reconstructed for: Brazie Adamez, Lexie Eppley, Cali Hoffman, Hayley Hoffman,
Hillary Hoffman, Katie Lane, Sarah Newton, L. Brooke Schlecte.


This dance plays with ideas of conformity and personal identity while illustrating themes of plastic and superficial images.  The dancers' physicality reveals the glitz, trickery, and fads of desire while trying to survive within their deceptive world. 


This Tupperware is Microwave Safe

Shifting Parables

Shifting Parables, a solo, Premiere: Ad Deum Dance Intensive, Houston, Texas, August 2007.

Music by Sigur Ros
Costumes by Rachel Bruce Johnson
Name of soloist: Rachel Bruce Johnson


Self, other, reality, spirituality, problem maker, problem solver. The soloist baffles her equilibrium with questions and confusions concerning these ideas. Who holds the pencil, who is writing the story, and who is it about?


Fish Out of Water

Fish Out of water a group peice performed by Lexie Drennan, Sarah Newton, L. Brooke Schlecte, and Katie Quinn at Shatter the Glass House Concert, Waco, Texas 2008.

Music by The Pixies


A group of dancers struggle to find their space while being distracted with the external and internal distractions and recurring impulses. As they rummage through this environment they notice themselves in other and the ambiguity of the world around them.

Confusing the Looking Glass

Confusing the Looking Glass is a solo performed by Sarah Newton. Barefoot Brigade, Dallas Texas, April 2008, DanceMakers, Denton, Texas, April 2008.

Music by Efterklang

In this dance a woman feels her way through a dreamlike conversation with herself.  As images and realities become more and more contorted and absurd, she still attempts to find herself and her ground.

Mind Over Matter

Mind Over Matter, a duet, GW Carver Boyd Vance Theatre, Austin, Texas, August 2008.
Choreography by L. Brooke Schlecte
Music by Some Leider and The Lushlife Project
Performers: Sarah Newton, L. Brooke Schlecte


This duet was inspired by the two dancers' similar life experiences with over-working, over-thinking, over-doing, and over-managing every aspect of their lives.  As the dancers learn this similar quality and experiment with it in the context of movement, a satirical tone begins to evolve.  As the dance evolves, the dancers realize the hilarity of the self-imposed seriousness on their everyday lives. 

Counting Sheep

Counting Sheep, a trio, A Premiere.
Choreography: L. Brooke Schlecte
Music by Mum
Performers: Sarah Newton, Jessica Rosenberger, L. Brooke Schlecte

Soft sheets, favorite pillows, warm spots, unwinding from a long day, hopes, and dreams are all some things that create that slow dream-like point in time before we fall into our deep sleep.  We try to stay in this space, try to hold on to a good dream and hold on to a place of comfort.  The dancers meander through this wonderfully hazy world and find that this place is their peaceful serenity. 

A Long Journey Home

A Long Journey Home. In five parts: Prologue, The Meandering Forest, The Garden, The Reflecting Pool, and Exodus.

This dance is a series of small stories working together and apart from each other. The story evolves through time and arrives at the place when we find ourselves as the source of our destiny.

Choreography by L. Brooke Schlecte
Music by Amon Tobin & Kid Koala, Modeselekor, Diplo, Caribou, and Quantic
Performers: Lexie Eppley, Sarah Newton, Jessica Rosenberger, and L. Brooke Schlecte
Understudy and Guest Artist: Christine Comtoise
Costume: P.J. Kelly


Loophole

Loophole
Choreographed by: L. Brooke Schlecte
Performed by: Sarah Newton

In this dance, a woman navigates through the ambiguous questions of the human experience. She is traveling with no vessel, no beginning, and no familiar entry point. In this place, she creates a comfortable chaos with detailed and expansive movement, as well as, moments of resolve in a series of reset moments. Inevitably, her human nature finds a way of sense making without a complete resolution.