HOUSTON, Jan. 20, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Houston Ballet Artistic Director Stanton Welch has announced the company's 2011-2012 season. Four new works enter Houston Ballet's repertoire, including world premieres by Stanton Welch in March 2012 and Nicolo Fonte in May 2012, company premiere of Mark Morris's Drink to Me Only with Thine Eyes, as well as a new staging of Giselle by the Kirov-trained dancer Ai-Gul Gaisina in September 2011.
"The 2011-2012 season is very exciting. We have reached a milestone in Houston Ballet's history, and we will be ushering in a new era with our move into the Center for Dance in the spring of 2011," comments Mr. Welch. "We have three of the most famous, beautiful, and moving story ballets – Romeo and Juliet, Cinderella, and Giselle. Our orchestra will also play two great scores by Prokofiev in Cinderella and Romeo and Juliet, which makes for exciting performances musically as well."
In a move designed to propel Houston Ballet to the next phase of its development, the company broke ground on July 15, 2009 on the Center for Dance, a new 115,000 square-foot facility located in downtown Houston. The $48 million building's grand opening will be April 9, 2011. The six-story building will boast nine dance studios, a dance laboratory for presentations as well as rehearsals, and artistic, administrative and support facilities for Houston Ballet and its academy. The new facility will more than double the space that Houston Ballet has at its current home, and become the largest professional dance company facility in the United States.
About Houston Ballet
On February 17, 1969 a troupe of 15 young dancers made its stage debut at Sam Houston State Teacher's College in Huntsville, Texas. Since that time, Houston Ballet has evolved into a company of 54 dancers with a budget of $18.4 million, a state-of-the-art performance space built especially for the company, Wortham Theater Center, and an endowment of just over $47 million (as of June 2010), making it the United States' fourth largest ballet company by number of dancers. Under the administrative leadership of managing director C.C. Conner since 1995, the company has maintained a strong financial position.
Houston Ballet has toured extensively both nationally and internationally. Over the last decade, the company has appeared in London at Sadler's Wells, at the Bolshoi Theater in Moscow, in six cities in Spain, in Montreal, at The Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., in New York at City Center, and in cities large and small across the United States.
Houston Ballet has emerged as a leader in the expensive, labor-intensive task of nurturing the creation and development of new full-length narrative ballets. The company has also commissioned new one-act ballets from some of the world's most respected choreographers, including Julia Adam, Christopher Bruce, James Kudelka, Trey McIntyre, Paul Taylor, Glen Tetley, Natalie Weir and Lila York.
Writing in The Financial Times on March 6, 2006, dance critic Hilary Ostlere praised Houston Ballet as "a strong, reinvigorated company whose male contingent is particularly impressive, a well-drilled corps and an enviable selection of soloists and principals." Dance Europe editor Emma Manning observed of the company in November 2004, "One of the first things that hits you about this company is the technical strengths not just of the principals, but throughout the ranks. Watching artistic director Stanton Welch take class on a Sunday morning before a matinee, one could not help but marvel at the multiple turns tossed off by the young women in the corps....The three new works shown in this program will be followed by no fewer than four more Houston premieres. Can any other major ballet company in the world match that?"
Houston Ballet Academy has reached over 19,000 Houston area students (as of the 2009-2010 season) and has had four academy students win prizes at the prestigious international ballet competition the Prix de Lausanne, with one student winning the overall competition in 2010.
HOUSTON BALLET 2011-2012 SEASON OVERVIEW
All performances listed here are in Wortham Theater Center.
September 8-18, 2011
RETURN OF THE MASTERS featuring:
Les Patineurs
Choreography by Sir Frederick Ashton (1904-1988)
In the Night
Choreography by Jerome Robbins
Song of the Earth
Choreography by Sir Kenneth MacMillan (1929-1992)
From three of the world's most esteemed choreographers come three lyrically stunning ballets long absent from Houston Ballet's repertoire. Sir Frederick Ashton's Les Patineurs, with its ice-skating couples, showcases the wit and warmth for which Ashton is known. Set against a starry sky, Jerome Robbins's In the Night is a beautiful and poignant ballet featuring three pairs of dancing lovers. Rarely performed in America, Sir Kenneth MacMillan's Song of the Earth is a symphonic masterpiece of music and dance, inspired by an ancient Chinese poem.
September 22 – October 2, 2011
Choreography by Marius Petipa (1818-1910), after Jean Coralli and Jules Perrot
Staged by Ai-Gul Gaisina
INDIGO
Choreography by Stanton Welch
A striking pairing of contemporary and classical, speed and stillness, this two-part program is a spectacular showcase for the dancers of Houston Ballet. Stanton Welch's Indigo abounds with sensual energy. Giselle is a journey into a beautiful world of love, ghosts and mystery. The story of a peasant girl and the man who deceives her, Giselle is one of the most widely performed works of the Romantic era. Newly staged for Houston Ballet, this Giselle harkens back to early Russian productions.
November 25 – December 27, 2011
Choreography by Ben Stevenson, O.B.E.
Oh, the wonder of it all. Living dolls. Dancing snowflakes. A Christmas tree that grows to spectacular heights. It's The Nutcracker, in all its magical, colorful, holiday charm. With music by Tchaikovsky and stunning sets by Desmond Heeley, Ben Stevenson's production has something to delight every member of the family. It just wouldn't be the holidays without The Nutcracker.
Friday, December 2, 2011
Looking back and looking forward, the seventh annual Jubilee of Dance celebrates the best of Houston Ballet. Featuring highlights of company and audience favorites, previews of upcoming productions, and works created especially for the Jubilee, this is a one-night-only event. Order your tickets early. The Jubilee of Dance is a dance lover's dream.
February 23 – March 4, 2012
Choreography by Stanton Welch
The story has been a favorite for generations, but make no mistake, this is not your childhood Cinderella. More tomboy than princess, Stanton Welch's title character is a striking woman of substance, determination and spunk. She's in control, fighting the oppression and will of her evil stepmother with wit and vigor. And when she finds true love she grabs it – and wisely holds on with both hands.
March 8-18, 2012
ROCK, ROLL & TUTUS featuring:
World Premiere by STANTON WELCH
ROOSTER
Choreography by Christopher Bruce
DIVERGENCE
Choreography by Stanton Welch
Contemporary ballet has come of age, and it's looking better than ever. At 20 years old, Christopher Bruce's Rooster is still rocking audiences around the world. It's a fast-paced romp of machismo and nostalgia set to eight classic tracks by The Rolling Stones. Also on the program are two ballets by artistic director Stanton Welch: a world premiere choreographed to highlight the talents of Houston Ballet dancers, and Divergence, the explosive ballet that put him on the international map.
May 24 – June 3, 2012
MADE IN AMERICA featuring:
World Premiere by Nicolo Fonte
Drink to Me Only with Thine Eyes (Houston Ballet Premiere)
Choreography by Mark Morris
Theme and Variations
Choreography by George Balanchine (1904-1983)
Balanchine. Morris. Fonte. All three have created ballets for companies around the world. This program, however, was made entirely in America. Mark Morris's breezy Drink to Me Only With Thine Eyes was commissioned by Mikhail Baryshnikov for American Ballet Theatre. George Balanchine created Theme and Variations, his grand tribute to the Imperial Russian Ballet, for the same company. Nicolo Fonte, a Brooklyn native who danced with Les Grands Ballets Canadiens de Montréal and the Compania Nacional de Danza in Madrid, will premiere a new work, choreographed specifically for Houston Ballet.
June 7-17, 2012
Choreography by Ben Stevenson, O.B.E.
Set in 16th century Verona, Romeo and Juliet chronicles Shakespeare's tale of two beautiful teenagers from families on opposing sides of a bitter feud. With its sweepingly regal ballroom scenes, vivacious swordplay and poignant pas de deux, Ben Stevenson's production is a feast for the eyes. With impassioned dance and bold theatrics, it's an ideal showcase for the company's newest stars. The ballet that inaugurated Wortham Theater Center in 1987 is back in this, our inaugural season rehearsing in the new Center for Dance.
SUBSCRIPTIONS
Full season subscriptions, with tickets to six productions, range in price from $84 to $1,050, depending on seat location and date of performances. To subscribe, call (713) 5-BALLET (713-522-5538) or purchase online at www.houstonballet.org.
SINGLE TICKETS
Single tickets go on sale Monday, August 1, 2011 and may be purchased by calling 713-227-ARTS (713-227-2787) or purchased online at www.houstonballet.org.
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CONTACT: Shauna Tysor, +1-713-535-3226, [email protected]
SOURCE Houston Ballet
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