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    Are you listening?

    When the earth talks: Ground-breaking Hermann Park project brings the sounds of the planet to the surface

    Joel Luks
    Apr 12, 2014 | 10:32 am

    What if you could hear the temperature of the air? What if you could perceive what may be happening below the soil underneath your feet? What if the environment could talk?

    Writer, architect and experimental artist Abinadi Meza, an assistant professor at the University of Houston who's participating in the Cynthia Woods Mitchell Center for the Arts CounterCurrent Festival, believes Mother Nature may sound something like this:

    The material for Meza's sound installation at Hermann Park, titled Vein of Sky, was sourced from microsensors that recorded environmental data from the park's surroundings — light levels, humidity in the air, wind speeds, soil vibrations. The information captured was organized as streams of numbers that he translated into an ambient sound milieu. Vein of Sky isn't designed to be understood literally, but rather as a symbolic backdrop that encourages listeners to feel the atmosphere around them differently.

    "I hope that visitors have a shift in perception in regards to the immediate natural environment, that they form a poetic relationship with it and that they leave with a different sense of the atmosphere around them."

    "Humans can't hear light, we can't hear tremors in the soil, we can't hear the movements of plants," Meza explains. "I wanted to tap into this invisible skin and offer visitors the means to experience the environment in a way that's generally not perceptible."

    Vein of Sky, on view through March 2015, is housed at an open-air, solar-powered sculpture that illustrates the fundamentals of sustainable architecture and design. ReFRAME x FRAME — a project led by LEED architect and UH Graduate Design/Build Studio director Patrick Peters with support from graduate students from the Gerald D. Hines College of Architecture — is crafted from steel and repurposed office furniture as a temporary shelter suitable for the aftermath of natural disasters. The micro pavilion is part of Hermann Park's centennial public art project, Art in the Park.

    The installation is located on the banks of McGovern Lake, near the Pinewood Cafe.

    Meza responded to the spirit of ReFRAME x FRAME and Hermann Park by coding his collected data into a piece that's triggered when someone enters the space. Vein of Sky begins with simple electronic language that randomly increases in complexity and intensity the longer a visitor interacts with the temporary pavilion. With the help of a graduate student, Meza formulated software to automate the execution of his experimental installation.

    "The authorship in my role as the composer and sound artist comes in rephrasing the supply of data to express it in a sensory way," he says. "Although I could have mapped the numbers as pixels on a screen, I found sound to be a better conduit for this investigation."

    Meza considers the genre of sound to be spatially enveloping. Sound demands a visceral reaction that stirs the imagination into fantastical imagery. To work with sound isn't to bypass a visual element, but rather to enhance it.

    "I hope that visitors have a shift in perception in regards to the immediate natural environment, that they form a poetic relationship with it and that they leave with a different sense of the atmosphere around them," he says.

    A visualization of Abinadi Meza's sound installation Vein of Sky.

    Abinadi Meza Vein of Sky
      
    Courtesy of the artist
    A visualization of Abinadi Meza's sound installation Vein of Sky.
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    Salutations, Soon Youn

    Houston Ballet principal dancer announces retirement after 13 years

    Holly Beretto
    Jun 20, 2025 | 10:00 am
    ​Houston Ballet Principal Soo Youn Cho
    Photo by Amitava Sarkar (2016). Courtesy of Houston Ballet.
    Houston Ballet Principal Soo Youn Cho and in Theme and Variations.

    Houston Ballet principal dancer Soon Youn Cho has announced her retirement, after 13 years with the company.

    For more than a decade, she has captivated audiences with her elegance, emotional authenticity, and technical brilliance. Audiences have seen her in roles such as Aurora in The Sleeping Beauty, Kitri in Don Quixote, Odette/Odile in Swan Lake, the Sugar Plum Fairy in The Nutcracker, and Suzuki in Madame Butterfly, among many others.

    Cho’s retirement follows a period of recovery from spinal surgery prompted by chronic back issues that intensified during and after her pregnancy.

    "This decision was not made lightly, but with a great deal of reflection and acceptance over the past year," said Cho. “Since I first began ballet at the age of four, it has been the greatest love of my life. Even through pain and injury, I felt joy and purpose in every moment. I gave my best to every step along the way, and I now leave the stage with a peaceful heart and deep gratitude.”

    Cho further said that even before becoming pregnant, she had been managing chronic back issues throughout her career.

    “With dedication, careful conditioning, and the unwavering support of those around me, I was able to continue dancing for many years,” she said. “Despite my best efforts to recover, I’ve come to the difficult realization that I won’t be able to return to dancing at the level I once did. With a heavy but full heart, I’ve decided to retire from the stage.”

    Born in Korea and trained there, as well as in Canada and Germany, Cho danced with Opera Leipzig Ballet in Leipzig, Germany and the Tulsa Ballet in Tulsa, Oklahoma, where she was promoted to principal in 2010. She joined the Houston Ballet in 2012 as a demi soloist. She quickly rose through the ranks, promoted to soloist in 2014, then first soloist in 2016. In 2018, she became the Houston Ballet’s first Korean principal.

    Upon achieving the designation, she said, “I feel like I have made an important mark in history, along with other great dancers, for my people in such a great company.”

    Cho’s roles onstage reflected her wide artistic range and commitment to storytelling through dance. Her Houston Ballet colleagues and audiences admire and praise the passion and sincerity she brought to every performance. One of those, Cho’s portrayal of Suzuki in Madame Butterfly, is especially close to her heart, not only for its emotional depth but for the lifelong friendship it sparked with fellow principal Yuriko Kajiya.

    “Becoming part of this Company and working alongside such extraordinary people has been one of the greatest blessings and privileges of my life. I close this chapter with a full heart and immense appreciation for the art, the audiences, and the people who made it all so meaningful.”

    Cho said that while she doesn’t yet know what will come next, she departs the company filled with gratitude.

    “Looking back, I feel nothing but gratitude,” she said. “Gratitude for the incredible colleagues and mentors I’ve shared the studio with. Gratitude for the audiences who supported us performance after performance. And gratitude for the art form itself — so demanding, so beautiful, and so deeply rewarding. I leave the stage with peace in my heart. Because I gave everything I had to this journey, I can move forward without regret.”

    \u200bHouston Ballet Principal Soo Youn Cho
      

    Photo by Amitava Sarkar (2016). Courtesy of Houston Ballet.

    Houston Ballet Principal Soo Youn Cho and in Theme and Variations.

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