Stanton Welch News

Exploration through world culture, original voices, and iconic masters are on display throughout the 2018-2019 ballet and contemporary dance season at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. The upcoming ballet and dance season-among the nation's most robust and eclectic-features a breadth of dynamic and world-class choreography performed by today's preeminent companies. Brought to life onstage by virtuosic dancers and visionary designers, the season encompasses compelling and thought-provoking works, collaborations across genres, and quintessential classics steeped in tradition.

Legendary ballet costume designer HOLLY HYNES and costume and scenic designer ZACK BROWN are among the 2018 TDF/Irene Sharaff Award recipients which were just announced by TDF, the not-for-profit service organization for the performing arts. Ms. Hynes was selected to receive the 2018 TDF/Irene Sharaff Lifetime Achievement Award for costume design and Mr. Brown will receive the Robert L. B. Tobin Award for Sustained Excellence in Theatrical Design. The awards are presented through TDF's Costume Collection. The awards will be presented at a ceremony on Friday, April 20, at 6:30pm, at the Edison Ballroom (240 West 47th Street).

Houston Ballet Artistic Director Stanton Welch AM and Houston Ballet Academy Director Vicki Attard are pleased to announce that the Academy's own Lower School Principal Melissa Bowman has been named as Houston Ballet Academy's next Director, overseeing a variety of programs designed to take students from their first introduction to movement through a full course of ballet study. Mrs. Bowman will immediately step into her new role within Houston Ballet Academy as Deputy Director, while working hand in hand with Director Vicki Attard. The transition will continue through the summer and on June 4, 2018 Mrs. Bowman will assume the title of Academy Director.

Continuing the Hometown Tour March 1-4 at the George R. Brown Convention Center's Resilience Theater, Rock, Roll & Tutus features four captivating pieces including three Houston Ballet Premieres. The first of Houston Ballet's 'Unconventional Ballets at the Convention Center,' the evening will include Filigree and Shadow, In Dreams, La Cathedrale Engloutie, and Cacti.

Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre Artistic Director Terrence S. Orr is proud to announce the company's 2018-2019 Season lineup, featuring a new production of "The Great Gatsby," a reunion with Dance Theatre of Harlem and the official kickoff of PBT's 50th-anniversary season in February.

Houston Ballet is proud to announce their first ever tour to Dubai, United Arab Emirates. From October 24-27, 2018, Houston Ballet will perform Artistic Director Stanton Welch's Swan Lake. Audiences in Dubai will have the opportunity to enjoy this timeless tale by Mr. Welch that has cemented him as one of the most innovative and in-demand choreographers in the world.

Works & Process, the performing arts series at the Guggenheim, presents The Washington Ballet: Julie Kent and Gemma Bond on Sunday and Monday, February 25 and 26, 2018 at 7:30pm.

Houston Ballet has announced that Artistic Director Stanton Welch AM has promoted Chun Wai Chan to Principal dancer. Formally a First Soloist, Chan was promoted on the evening of December 23, 2017 after starring in Stanton Welch's The Nutcracker as the Nutcracker Prince. This well-deserved promotion concluded Houston Ballet's performances at the Smart Financial Centre during the company's Hometown Tour.

Houston Ballet Artistic Director Stanton Welch AM and Academy Interim Director Vicki Attard are thrilled to announce an addition to Houston Ballet's annual Summer Programming.

Houston Ballet announces new dates and venues for its exhilarating Spring 2018 Season that continues to inspire through artistic excellence and innovative choreography, continuing the Hometown Tour in a variety of Houston theaters.

DORES ANDRE and LUKE INGHAM, principal dancers of the San Francisco Ballet will appear as guest artists in the Shreveport Metropolitan Ballet's production of The Nutcracker on December 9 and 10, 2017 at the Riverview Theatre in Shreveport, Louisiana.

SOFIANE SYLVE and TIIT HELIMETS, principal dancers of the San Francisco Ballet, will appear as guest artists in Orchestra Kentucky's Christmas Spectacular dancing The Nutcracker Pas de Deux on December 16, 2017 at the Southern Kentucky Performing Arts Center in Bowling Green, Kentucky.

Immediately after Hurricane Harvey, long-time Houston Ballet Trustee, Lynn Wyatt, stepped in to make sure Houston Ballet dancers could continue dancing and carry on with performances. With the company's home venue, The Wortham Theater, closed until May 2018, Houston Ballet will have to utilize alternative venues for upcoming its 2017-2018 Season. The company was in need of a portable dance floor to ensure their health and safety in an alternative venue, and without hesitation, Mrs. Wyatt generously underwrote a specialized, portable dance floor to meet that need while enhancing the dancers' performances as well as travel with Houston Ballet when the company goes on tour.

Artistic Director Stanton Welch's spectacular production of The Nutcracker returns and ventures across Houston this holiday season.

Due to Hurricane Harvey, Houston Ballet is unable to perform the opening two productions at the company's home venue. However, Houston Ballet is pleased to report that select performances of fall programming have been rescheduled at THE HOBBY CENTER - SAROFIM HALL. For a limited time on October 26 and 27 at The Hobby Center, Houston Ballet will perform an exhilarating mixed repertory program, Poetry in Motion, featuring a collection of three works that reflect different traditions and expressions in ballet.

Due to Hurricane Harvey, Houston Ballet is unable to perform the opening two productions at the company's home venue. However, Houston Ballet is pleased to report that select performances of fall programming have been rescheduled at THE HOBBY CENTER - SAROFIM HALL. For a limited time from September 22-24 at The Hobby Center, Houston Ballet presents Sir Kenneth MacMillan's Mayerling, and will be the first North-American company to perform this compelling production. Originally premiering on February 14, 1978 at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden by the Royal Ballet, Mayerling also had a triumphant American premiere in Los Angeles that same year and was the subject of a London Weekend Television film, winning the 1978 music category of the prestigious Prix Italia - the first ballet to do so.

Houston Ballet is grateful for the outpouring of support received over the past two weeks. With significant post-Harvey challenges ahead, the company is heartened by the way the city has come together to begin the recovery process. Although this recovery will be difficult and prolonged, Houston Ballet joins all Houstonians in the steadfast belief that the great city of Houston will emerge stronger than ever.

Houston Ballet's Executive Director Jim Nelson and Artistic Director Stanton Welch have announced the following update.

The Australian Ballet has just announced that it has partnered with Chicago's Joffrey Ballet to create a new joint production of Tolstoy's timeless masterpiece, Anna Karenina. In an all-Russian partnership, prolific and award-winning Russian choreographer, Yuri Possokhov will collaborate with award-winning Russian composer, Ilya Demutsky who has been commissioned to create a new score for this production.

Pennsylvania Ballet Artistic Director Angel Corella has announced the roster for the 2017/2018 Season with the additions of Corps de Ballet member Zecheng Liang, and new Apprentices Federico D'Ortenzi, Erin O'Dea, Taro Kurachi, and Cassidy McAndrew (previous member of Pennsylvania Ballet II).