Houston Ballet Academy to Travel to Prix de Lausanne and Dance Education Biennale

Houston Ballet Academy has been invited to participate in two prestigious European conferences in January and February 2014, while Houston Ballet II, Houston Ballet's Second Company of gifted young International Artists, will make appearances in Arkansas and Georgia in March 2014.

Houston Ballet Academy students Tyler Donatelli, who is 17 and from Huntington Beach, California, and Michael Ryan, who is 17 and a native of Plano, Texas who was raised in Florida, have been accepted into the prestigious international ballet competition Prix de Lausanne in Switzerland January 26 - February 1. Since 2009, five Houston Ballet Academy students have won awards at the Prix de Lausanne, with one student, Emanuel Amuchastegui, taking the top prize, and the "Audience Favorite" Award in 2010. The public can follow the daily progress of the competition and watch the final round of the competition via live streaming at the Prix de Lausanne's web site, www.prixdelausanne.org

From February 15 - 23, 2014, four students from Houston Ballet Academy have been invited to Dresden, Germany to participate in the prestigious German dance education conference "Fourth Dance Education Biennale 2014 Dresden," which this year will focus on "Education Profession - The Creative Process." From February 15 to 23, more than 150 participants - students, lecturers and teachers - will address to this topic in workshops, performances and a symposium.

The Dance Education Biennale takes place every two years in a different city in Germany. It gives a platform to universities, which offer study paths in dance, and to vocational schools in Germany, to gather regularly for professional exchanges. Artistic presentations, lectures, workshops and professional trainings help to create a lively exchange atmosphere about dance and choreography, as well as about different approaches in education and work between students, teachers, artists, researchers and audience.

Back in the United States, the students of Houston Ballet Academy maintain a busy schedule of performances both in Houston and across the U.S. On Saturday, February 1, 2014 at 8 p.m., students from Houston Ballet Academy students will appear in the program Four in the Mix at the Evelyn Rubenstein Jewish Community Center, located at 5601 S. Braeswood, Houston 77096-3907. They will perform Stanton Welch's classical showpiece The Ladies, and La Prima Vez & Tranquillo, a new work by the Academy's gifted young choreographer James Potter. The program features four exciting companies of aspiring young artists (Dance of Asian America, Houston Ballet Level 8, Urban Souls Dance Company 2 and Inertia), and is part of Dance Month at the Kaplan Theater, running January 10 - February 9. Tickets are $24 for the general public, and $12 for students and seniors. For more information and to purchase tickets, visit: http://www.erjcchouston.org/arts/dance-month-at-the-kaplan-theatre/

On March 27, 2014, Houston Ballet II will tour to the Townsend Center for the Performing Arts in Carrollton, Georgia, and perform a mixed repertory program featuring Ma Cong's Calling, Ilya Kozadayev's Molto Espressivo, Stanton Welch's A Dance in the Garden of Mirth, and the third act of The Sleeping Beauty. For more information and to purchase tickets, visit http://www.townsendcenter.org/web/home.aspx OnMarch 29, 2014, Houston Ballet II will tour to Grand Prairie Center in Stuttgart, Arkansas and perform a mixed repertory program featuring Ma Cong's Calling, Ilya Kozadayev's Molto Espressivo, Stanton Welch's A Dance in the Garden of Mirth, and the third act of The Sleeping Beauty. For more information and to purchase tickets, visit http://www.pccua.edu/gpc/

For more information on Houston Ballet II performances in Houston and on tour around the U.S., please visit: http://www.houstonballet.org/Education_Outreach/HBII_Performances/

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