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    Chime at Main Street Square

    Pop-up sculpture lets you compose a special tune to share with downtown Houston

    Tarra Gaines
    Dec 5, 2016 | 11:12 am

    Ready to make beautiful music together, Houston? Then, let’s meet at Main Street Square to play a tune on the art, as the new pop up interactive sculptural installation Chime lets us all become musicians and compose our own special melody to share with all of downtown.

    Just recently popping up amid the Main Street Square Art Blocks, Chime looks a bit like someone built a cute wooden shack in front of the former Sakowitz department store building along the METRORail line between Lamar and Dallas Streets. That someone is Civic Harmony, a design team comprised of artist Dan Gottwald and urban designer Scott Watkins. Gottwald was in Houston for the Chime unveiling and talked about all the music we’ll be making this holiday season as Houstonians discover another reason to explore the streets of downtown.

    As a sound artist, with degrees in sculpture and electronic music Gottwald’s objective is “to provide sculptural music” to cities and communities.

    “I don’t like barriers of virtuosity or perfection or practice even,” he explained. “To release something like this into the world that you don’t need any specific musical training to make a really nice piece of music is kind of my goal. What I’ve done with Civic Harmony is to expand on that.”

    Chime began as an experimental art piece created for the Market Steet Prototyping Festival in San Francisco, but has evolved since then so that the Houston Chime is the largest version yet. Gottwald’s initially had an idea of a big wall of “things you could hit, a big percussion instrument” but he was “really, really hesitant to leave hammers out for everybody or moving parts exposed to the general public.” Thinking outside the box for a time, he came up with a giant box-like solution.

    “It just kind of dawned on me we could put everything on the inside of whatever it was we were doing and use a pendulum,” Gottwald described.

    Two sides of Chime consist of vertical panels, a bit like the peddles of a piano, but they’re meant to be gently pushed with hands. Within the giant wooden instrument, the panels cause the pendulums to swing and hit the interior chimes. Just by giving the panel a slight shove a passerby becomes a musician, but don’t be surprised if your solo soon becomes a duet.

    “You set the whole thing into motion,” said Gottwald, but also noted that both sides work “in conjunction with the other side. You push over here and it starts moving everything over there, in a one-to-one relationship. The size of this thing prevents you from seeing what’s going on on the other side and whether anybody is over there. You can generate some pretty surprising interactions.”

    When I asked Gottwald if there was one instrument Chime reminds him of or that inspired him, he explained that some people think of a piano when they play it, others a glockenspiel, but for him it most resembles simple wind chimes, with humans as “the the wind that enacts the motion of everything.”

    Chime will remain in Main Street Square until the first week of January, but we won’t necessarily hear the fading of its notes anytime soon. The Downtown District acquired this Chime version, and they plan to bring it back out to the streets of downtown on special and perhaps even everyday occasions. It takes a bit of dismantling and carting, but Chime is definitely transportable.

    “We were looking for some more pop up installations to complement the four, year-long [Art Block] installations that we had in Main Street Square, and Chime had been on our radar for almost a year,” explained Angie Bertinot Houston Downtown Management District director of marketing & communications. “I love the idea of moving it around downtown,” she said and hinted that while nothing is definite, the Super Bowl might be another great time for visitors and local residents alike to discover an artful Houston and chime right in their own creative musical compositions.

    Creating music amid the bustle of downtown Houston.

    Chime Art Blocks-playing Chime
      
    Photo by Joel Luks
    Creating music amid the bustle of downtown Houston.
    downtownmusic
    news/arts

    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.

    houston balletsoon youn choperforming-arts
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