Dubbed Houston’s “queen of curious locations,” Lydia Hance, is the Founder and Artistic Director of Frame Dance and the Chief Curator of Frame x Frame Film Festival. She has been named an Emerging Leader by Dance/USA and has crafted performances and dance films from the Galveston pier onto the METRO light rail, in the backs of U Haul trucks, downtown tunnels, parks, and museums, stages, and warehouses throughout Texas for the past fifteen years. Dance Magazine says, “Hance is a master of making dances in concert with a specific environment.” 

​

A champion of new music composers, her work deepens interdisciplinary and multigenerational collaborations, and investigates the placement of dance in our lives. Her work has been funded by city, state, and national foundations and she has taught at Washington & Lee University, Rice University, Texas Tech University, Houston Community College and served as choreographer outside of the modern dance world for institutions like the Alley Theater, Horse Head Theater, and Roanoke Ballet Theater. 

​

She and colleague Ashley Horn have developed the Little Framers Curriculum for early childhood that is implemented at Frame Dance, Community Preschools, and Houston Area Womens Center. She is a choreographer, curator, filmmaker, educator, and dance writer originally from the California Bay Area. Her screen dances have been included in festivals across the world including most recently the American Dance Festival (North Carolina), Lady Filmmakers Festival (Beverly Hills, CA), Fuselage Dance Film Festival (Seattle, WA), and the 3 Minute Film Festival (Santa Barbara, CA). 

​

​Hance holds degrees in Dance Performance and English Literature from SMU and trained at the Taylor School, Graham School, Tisch School of the Arts, Limon Institute, and SMU and has performed locally, nationally, and internationally with professional dance companies. She has served on artistic advisory boards of Fresh Arts and Diverse Works and has been a curator of the Third Coast Dance Film Festival, Dance Alabama Film Festival, and the enCore Dance on Film Festival.