Melody Mennite

As much as I admire the art of ballet, I have never seen a new, professional ballet performance, one that no one else has seen before. To say I was excited to be in the audience for the opening night of the world premiere of Houston Ballet's SUMMER AND SMOKE is an understatement, and it was everything that I hoped it to be!

Houston Ballet's season is putting on one of the most celebrated traditions of the holidays: THE NUTCRACKER. As a sneak peek at this year’s THE NUTCRACKER, we spoke with Kellen Hornbuckle, one of the company’s ballerinas. Through our conversation with her, we discussed what we can look forward to in this year’s THE NUTCRACKER and more!

Kansas City Ballet will welcome audiences to Starlight Theatre for a 70-minute performance uniquely designed to tantalize your sense of adventure. All ballets on the Kansas City Ballet at Starlight program are brand new works by extraordinarily gifted choreographers.

It goes without mention that this year’s festivities look a little different, but in the case of Houston Ballet’s virtual program NUTCRACKER SWEETS, different can be synonymous with delightful: the same decorated holiday production with all the bells and whistles, along with several added layers of accessibility. While I’d wholeheartedly agree that I can’t wait to be back in those theatre seats, this year there’s no need to brave the cold or face downtown traffic. Simply snuggle up on your couch, grab some hot cocoa, and treat yourself to the delectable NUTCRACKER SWEETS virtual ballet.

Santa Cruz Ballet Theatre is producing a Nutcracker film, called Clara's Dream!  Enjoy your favorite Santa Cruz tradition, even in these uncertain and uncharted times.  This film will be available for download and/or live stream after Thanksgiving.  

Artistic Director Devon Carney today announced the choreographers chosen for New Moves, a unique performance event designed to search out, develop and showcase emerging choreographers, both from the national dance scene as well as locally within Kansas City Ballet. New provides time and space for choreographers to create world premiere works with accomplished professional dancers. New Moves features the works of choreographers Melissa Gelfin, Rasta Thomas, Melody Mennite, KCB Company Ballet Master Parrish Maynard and Dancers Christopher Costantini, Emily Mistretta, Courtney Nitting and James Kirby Rogers.

Houston Ballet begins its 2020 performances with The Sleeping Beauty by former Artistic Director, Ben Stevenson OBE. This story ballet, as part of Houston Ballet's 50th anniversary season lineup, honors the lasting legacy Stevenson built from 1976-2003.

Houston Ballet Artistic Director, Stanton Welch AM, has announced the company's lively 2020-2021 season. Houston Ballet, continuing to paint the town gold this season, will embrace the next chapter and decade in vivid color this fall.

The Nutcracker is beloved for many reasons; the endless eye candy, the dynamic score, and the marriage of artistry and excellence. The element of tradition keeps us coming back for more. We yearn to feel connection, and to remember what it's like to wonder about magical things. Houston Ballet's multi-faceted Nutcracker is a delicious carnival of mystery and joy. Creative director Stanton Welch has built a production that serves the audience and leaves us completely fulfilled. Nothing sends you back to your childhood more quickly, with all things seemingly possible and your imagination offering an endless sweet escape.

In this dramatic retelling of France's infamous young monarchs, history becomes HERstory as Stanton Welch's Marie returns to the Wortham Theater Center to close Houston Ballet's 2018/19 season.

Works & Process, the performing arts series at the Guggenheim, Houston Ballet: Sylvia by Stanton Welch AM on Saturday, January 19 at 3pm and 7:30pm.

The Houston Ballet, after a year of touring various Houston venues while awaiting the refurbishment of the flood-damaged Wortham Theatre Center, makes a triumphant return in Stanton Welch's THE NUTCRACKER.

Houston Ballet set out to provide a space for women to explore choreography and tell their stories through its inaugural all-female choreographic workshop, elle emerge. Women from Houston Ballet, Houston Ballet Academy, Cincinnati Ballet and Kansas City Ballet answered the call to premiere complete pieces and movements from upcoming works for around 100 ballet supporters at Houston Ballet on November 10.

TUTS' OKLAHOMA is now on stage through September 23rd! Priscilla Lopez stars as 'Aunt Eller' in the production and is joined by Sam Simahk as 'Curly,' Olivia Hernandez as 'Laurey,' Madeline Hamlet as 'Ado Annie,' Logan Keslar as 'Ike Skidmore', Hassan Nazari-Robati as 'Ali Hakim,' Christopher Campbell as 'Will Parker,' Eric Ulloa as 'Jud Fry,' David Sitler as 'Andrew Carnes,' and Dewey Caddell as 'Cord Elam.'

Houston Ballet is back in full force to rehearse for the upcoming season and celebrate its triumphant return home to the Wortham Theater Center.

Tony Award winner Priscilla Lopez will lead the cast in the role of 'Aunt Eller' in Theatre Under The Stars' (TUTS) production of Rodgers and Hammerstein's Oklahoma!, the first show in the musical theatre company's 50th Anniversary Season.

Houston Ballet presents the final mixed repertory program of the season, Play, an incredible, one-of-a-kind event celebrating the Houston community in an artistic response to the devastation of Hurricane Harvey. After such an historic natural disaster and the destruction it caused for the local community-including flooding Houston Ballet's Center For Dance and home venue, the Wortham Theater-Houston Ballet strives to transform a challenging situation into a positive artistic reaction as they approach the end of the Hometown Tour across the city. This immersive three-sided performance experience has been created specifically for the Hometown Tour's unique venue at the George R. Brown Convention Center's General Assembly Hall, with performances held June 8-10.

Houston has had its share of drama in the last few short weeks, and the city's downtown theater venues are reeling from the blow.

Houston Ballet is the first American ballet company to perform MAYERLING. instead of the previously scheduled six performances, the ballet ran for four from September 22-24.

The Houston Ballet's season opener MAYERLING Brings Drama to Life at the Hobby Center for the Performing Arts.