The Houston Ballet has more than 50 years of rich history. Now the fourth-largest ballet company in the United States, legend says that the first efforts to establish a resident ballet company in Houston began in the 1930s, when the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo spent several Christmas seasons in the city. The leading dancers were given accommodations at the Rice Hotel, while lesser lights found quarters with friends they made among audience members.
Still, the city wanted a resident company, and when Tatiana Semenova, a former Ballet Russe dancer, brought her American Youth Ballet Company to perform in 1955, residents gathered support to bring her company to Houston permanently. In 1955, leaders obtained a state charter for a Foundation of Ballet and the Houston Ballet was born.
Since 2004, Houston Ballet II has been an important part of the Houston Ballet family. The goal is to attract the best young talent from around the world to the Ben Stevenson Academy’s Summer Intensive program. Qualified students who remain in Houston after the summer session for regular winter-season training pass up through the Academy into Houston Ballet II for actual performing experience and a better chance of joining the parent company or another professional ballet company. Houston Ballet II members perform a diverse range of dance works, including excerpts from classics such as The Sleeping Beauty, Swan Lake, and The Nutcracker.
To achieve its goals, the Houston Ballet has developed relationships with leading ballet academies around the world, eventually holding Summer Intensives in 17 cities and attracting students from Japan, China, Romania, Guatemala, Brazil and France. Those admitted to the Academy and Houston Ballet II have gained performance experience in Houston, in many mid-sized American cities, and in countries around the world. The success of the Summer Intensive can be measured by its enrollment, which more than doubled from 273 students in 2009 to 571 in 2016. They have come from as many as 40 states and 20 foreign countries.
Among the works HBII members perform on tour are The Sleeping Beauty, ACT III, the Pas de Deux from Don Quixote, and A Dance in the Garden of Mirth, set to music from the 13th and 14th centuries.
Come see these rising stars of ballet. You don’t need to know a chassé, from a plié to know magic when you see it.
