Free Rein

NobleMotion and Musiqa, known for their innovative collaborations, presented Free Rein - a fusion of music, dance, multimedia design, and cutting-edge neuro-engineering. Performances ran January 23-25, 2026, at the MATCH.

What's on the program

FREE REIN (World Premiere)

Music: Anthony Brandt
Choreography: Andy & Dionne Noble
Multimedia and Data Visualization: Badie Khaleghian
Neuroscience: Anna Abraham, Andrew Nordin

 

What happens inside the mind of an artist at the moment of creation? How does inspiration move between music, dance, visual art, and audience – live and in real time? With Free Rein, Musiqa and NobleMotion Dance invite Houstonians to witness creativity as it unfolds, making the invisible process of artistic invention visible, audible, and deeply human.

Building on the acclaimed Meeting of Minds collaboration – which earned Chamber Music America’s 2025 Interdisciplinary Collaboration of the Year Award – the companies reunite to blur the boundaries between art and science. In the titular work, musicians and dancers shift between rehearsed and spontaneous performance, showcasing both individual and collective creativity.

Each segment reveals a different facet of artistic inspiration, while scientists capture and project neural data for the audience to experience in real time. Embedded scientific research using mobile brain-body imaging and cutting-edge AI displays performers’ levels of creativity as the work unfolds.

 

“We’ve crafted choreographic prompts that push the dancers’ cognitive capacities. How they navigate these game-like structures is never predictable, keeping the audience on the edge of their seats.”
– Andy Noble

LIGHT, LINE, SHADOW

Music: Pierre Jalbert
Artwork: Edward Hopper, Road and Trees

A three-movement work inspired by Edward Hopper’s Road and Trees, each movement reflects a facet of the painting: the dynamic motion of landscape seen from a car (Landscape in Motion), the dense forest and layered brushwork (Brush Strokes), and the painting’s sense of solitude and openness (Open Road).

 

PHANTOM REACH (Excerpt, 2025)

Choreography: Andy & Dionne Noble
Music and Multimedia: Badie Khaleghian

Phantom Reach steps inside the fractured psyche of a man drifting through a fugue state, where towering projections of his hands expose the emotional undercurrents he struggles to suppress. In this excerpt from the larger work, performed by Lindsey McGill and Jacob Regan, the man exists on one side of a wall and the woman on the other – neither able to break through, she fighting not to fade from his memory. With evocative multimedia design and an original composition by Badie Khaleghian, Phantom Reach immerses audiences in a hauntingly beautiful mindscape.

 

LET IT RING (2025)

Music: Max Vinetz
Choreography: Andy & Dionne Noble

Composed by multi-award-winning composer Max Vinetz, Let It Ring is a bold contemporary work featuring uplifting, virtuosic music and movement. The piece includes an ensemble of eleven guest dancers from Sam Houston State University’s Department of Dance.

FREE REIN (World Premiere)

Music: Anthony Brandt
Choreography: Andy & Dionne Noble
Multimedia and Data Visualization: Badie Khaleghian
Neuroscience: Anna Abraham, Andrew Nordin

What happens inside the mind of an artist at the moment of creation? How does inspiration move between music, dance, visual art, and audience – live and in real time? With Free Rein, Musiqa and NobleMotion Dance invite Houstonians to witness creativity as it unfolds, making the invisible process of artistic invention visible, audible, and deeply human.

PHANTOM REACH (Excerpt, 2025)
Choreography: Andy & Dionne Noble
Music and Multimedia: Badie Khaleghian

Phantom Reach steps inside the fractured psyche of a man drifting through a fugue state, where towering projections of his hands expose the emotional undercurrents he struggles to suppress. In this excerpt from the larger work, performed by Lindsey McGill and Jacob Regan, the man exists on one side of a wall and the woman on the other – neither able to break through, she fighting not to fade from his memory. With evocative multimedia design and an original composition by Badie Khaleghian, Phantom Reach immerses audiences in a hauntingly beautiful mindscape.

LET IT RING (2025)
Music: Max Vinetz
Choreography: Andy & Dionne Noble

Composed by multi-award-winning composer Max Vinetz, Let It Ring is a bold contemporary work featuring uplifting, virtuosic music and movement. The piece includes an ensemble of eleven guest dancers from Sam Houston State University’s Department of Dance.

More about Free Rein

PERFORMERS & CREATIVE TEAM

Musicians: Nanki Chugh (violin), Chelsea de Souza (piano), Caio Alvez Diniz (cello), Garrett Hudson (flute), Bensen Kwan (percussion), Austin Lewellen (bass), Maiko Sasaki (clarinet), Molly Turner (conductor)

Dancers: Jacob Regan, Lauren Serrano, Deontay Gray, Tyler Orcutt, Lindsey McGill, Kalli Loudan, Dillon Bell, and guest dancers from Sam Houston State University

Music and Multimedia: Badie Khaleghian

Scientific Team:
Dr. Anna Abraham – Director, Creativity and Imagination Lab, University of Georgia
Dr. Andrew Nordin – Director, Nordin Lab, University of Houston
Dr. Vicente Ordóñez-Román – Rice University
Dr. Simon Fischer-Baum – Rice University
Music, Mind and Body Lab – Rice University

 

EDUCATIONAL IMPACT

In addition to public performances, Free Rein reached thousands of Houston-area students through the Hobby Center for the Performing Arts’ Discovery Series. Public school fifth graders were among the first audiences to experience real-time visualizations of the creative brain in action.

 

SUPPORT

Free Rein is made possible by the Hobby Center for the Performing Arts; T.T. and W.F. Chao Foundation; the Creativity and Imagination Research Lab at the University of Georgia; the Nordin Lab at the University of Houston; the Shepherd School’s Music, Mind and Body Lab at Rice University; Sam Houston State University’s College of Arts and Media; Bowdoin College; and is funded in part by the City of Houston through Houston Arts Alliance; the Texas Commission for the Arts; Dance Source Houston’s Groundwork Grant Program; New Music USA’s Organization Fund (2025–26); the Mid-America Arts Alliance; the National Endowment for the Arts; and the state arts agencies of Arkansas, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, Oklahoma, and Texas.

 

EVENT DETAILS

  • Discovery Series Educational Concerts: January 20-22, 2026, Hobby Center for the Performing Arts
  • Public Performances: January 23-24, 2026 at 7:30 PM; January 25, 2026 at 2:00 PM
    MATCH (Midtown Arts and Theater Center Houston)
  • Tickets: MATCH.ORG

 

ABOUT MUSIQA

Musiqa is Houston’s home for bold, adventurous music. Composer-led and community-driven, Musiqa brings together composers, artists, and audiences for boundary-pushing performances and innovative education programs. With a 24-year legacy, Musiqa champions living composers, interdisciplinary collaboration, and creative risk-taking, making contemporary music accessible to all. Through programs like MusiqaLab, Musiqa empowers young artists, fills “arts deserts” with opportunity, and transforms lives through music education.