Free Performances of Madame Butterfly This Weekend!

Fresh off their successful tour to Montréal, Houston Ballet will present free performances of Madame Butterfly at Miller Outdoor Theatre this weekend, May 9-11, at 8 PM on all three days.  Free tickets are available at the Miller Theatre Box Office on a first-come, first-serve basis between 11:30 AM and 1:00 PM on the day of the performance. Remaining tickets are given out one hour before curtain.  You do not need a ticket to sit on the lawn.  For more information, please visit www.houstonballet.org.

The Road to Montréal

Guest writer: Jim Nelson, general manager

Houston Ballet’s performances of Madame Butterfly in Montréal mark the second round of exchanges between the two companies. Previously, Houston Ballet presented Les Grands Ballet Canadiens de Montréal at the Cullen Theater in 2005 with Ohad Naharin’s ballet Minus One, and the following spring, Houston Ballet performed the classic Giselle on Les Grands’ 2005-2006 season.  The model of reciprocal exchange is one of the innovative ways Houston Ballet and Les Grands are keeping large-scale touring of dance alive.  Following our performances here over the next three days, Houston Ballet will again present Les Grands in Houston in November 2008 as part of Houston Ballet’s Cullen Series.  They will perform Didy Veldman’s TooT and Stijn Celis’ Noces.

Wednesday, April 30, 2008
While the crew is busy loading in the Butterfly production at Place des Arts, the dancers’ journey north starts with airport bus-calls at 8:00 am from Houston Ballet Academy to IAH.  As there are no direct flights between Houston and Montréal and as Continental Airlines (the official airline of HB) has only smaller aircraft going into YUL with our routing, getting the company to Canada requires a stopover and two separate itineraries.  Half of the group travels through Cleveland and the other half travels through Newark.  Luckily we had no delays and both groups arrive on time (5:30 and 6:15).

The evening is free to recover from the travel day and rest up for the marathon day on Thursday.  Oliver Halkowich, the company’s resident foodie, lead a group of dancers to Le Club Chasse et Peche, while Ballet Mistress Louise Lester and I head to Au Pied de Cochon.  Both groups return with raves for the local fare.

Thursday, May 01, 2008
Thursday morning starts with a master class given by Ballet Master Steven Woodgate to local dance students at Ballet Divertimento.  To deepen our impact on the communities we visit, Houston Ballet provides at least one master class in each city we tour to.  This was the first of two Montréal master classes arranged by our presenter, Les Grands Ballet Canadiens de Montréal and US Consulate General. 

                  

The dancers start their day with company class at noon at Place des Arts followed by their one and only dress rehearsal from 2:30-5:30.

7:00 PM
In a similar format to Houston Ballet’s Dance Talks series, Stanton Welch participates in a pre-performance lecture/discussion about the creation of Madame Butterfly.  I’m impressed with the sophistication and insight of the questions from the audience.  Montréal obviously loves and supports dance, and they are very complimentary of Houston Ballet.

8:00 PM, opening performance
The company, lead by principals Amy Fote and Ian Casady as Cio-Cio San and Pinkerton, danced beautifully.  The audience response in Montréal is quite reserved throughout performances compared to Houston audiences where they respond after solos or pas de deux.  Here they generally wait until the end of the act to respond.  I noticed this when we were here performing Giselle.  Obviously the audience loved Madame Butterfly—they jumped out of their seats and gave the company a standing ovation!

I managed to sneak in a few shots from backstage before the performance:

Friday, May 02, 2008
This morning, Ballet Mistress Louise Lester taught the second master class at École supérieure de ballet contemporain de Montréal.

This afternoon the dancers have a couple hours of rehearsal after company class, and tonight Mimi Hassenboehler and Nicholas Leschke dance Cio-Cio San and Pinkerton. Tomorrow night, Melody Herrera and Connor Walsh have their first full performance of the ballet.

From all accounts, the company is having a great time here in Montréal, and we hope to come back soon.

-Jim

Company Leaves for Montreal Today

Houston Ballet dancers are flying to Montréal as we speak to perform at the Place des Arts.  The company will dance Stanton Welch’s Madame Butterfly on May 1-3 at 8 PM on all three days.  In an upcoming blog, general manager Jim Nelson will give us an update on what the company is up to.

In the meantime, check out this great preview article for the performances in the Montréal Gazette.

Behind the scenes of Houston Ballet’s Academy

Guest writer: Mandy Kolkhorst, Academy administrative assistant

The Academy has just finished a weekend full of rehearsals, two performances, make-up, bobby pins, and lots of hairspray.  The annual Academy Spring Showcase was held on Friday, April 18th and Saturday, April 19th in the Cullen Theater at Wortham Theater Center.  Over the last few weeks, we have been very busy planning and organizing everything from flowers, tights, leotards, make-up, rehearsal schedules, programs, and much more.  The Academy administrative staff made sure that every last detail was covered.  With over 175 students that made up two casts, we had our hands full!  Both performances were a great success and all of the students did an outstanding job!  We would like to thank all of the parents and students for their hard work and cooperation in making each rehearsal and performance run smoothly. 

The Academy will now focus on the end of the spring semester and the upcoming Summer Intensive Program.  As we close out the 2007-2008 year, we will begin registering students for the upcoming 2008-2009 year.  Registration forms will be sent out to all current students, including pre-school, open class, and main school.  The next Academy performance will be on May 12th in Houston Ballet’s Studio A.  It will feature children from the open ballet and jazz classes, as well as students in levels 5 through 8 of the main school and Houston Ballet II.  There are a few more Houston Ballet II performances in the month of May, including one at Discovery Green on May 14th and a performance with the Houston Symphony on May 21st. 

Starting on June 16th, the Academy will become home to about 185 students for six weeks for the Summer Intensive Program.  Students will come here from all across the country and world to train and take classes in a variety of styles, including ballet technique, pas de deux, modern, character, jazz, social dancing, pilates and more.  At the end of the six weeks, the students will perform a variety of repertory that is learned over the summer.  These performances give students’ families and friends a chance to see what they have learned and how they have grown as a dancer.

Life in the Academy is never boring, as we move from one thing to next!

-Mandy

Mao’s Last Dancer

Guest writer: Andrea Sanmiguel, interim public relations associate

Production has begun on the movie Mao’s Last Dancer, an adaptation of the best selling novel of the same name.  The incredible rags-to-riches story is one that is very near and dear to Houston Ballet.

Li Cunxin was born into abject poverty in a small village in rural China, but through an incredible accident found himself under the direction of Emperor Mao’s wife, studying ballet for the communist government. Ben Stevenson, then the artistic director of Houston Ballet, was invited to go to China to teach master classes and became very impressed with the male dancers of the Beijing Dance Academy, Li Cunxin in particular. He would later invite Li, along with another pupil, to attend Houston Ballet’s Ben Stevenson Academy for one summer on a full scholarship. 

No one could have expected the sequence of events that would unfold, including a 21-hour standoff at the Chinese Embassy when the young Li Cunxin decided to marry and remain in the United States against the will of the Chinese government. When Li first set foot in Houston, Texas, his experience was flooded with cultural misunderstanding and a great deal of confusion.  He became a true embodiment of the American dream and danced with Houston Ballet for 16 years.

Former artistic director Ben Stevenson with Li Cunxin in the 1980s

It is a daunting task to tell a story as varied as Li’s on the big screen, but the wonderful production crew is doing a fantastic job. Filming has already begun in China and will soon begin in Australia and Houston. Research has been ongoing and Houston Ballet has collaborated closely with the production and art departments to ensure that the story the world sees is as close to reality as possible.

The journey into the era of Li has been an incredible one involving digging through picture archives, studying old posters, reading old newspaper clippings and even looking through dancewear catalogs of the time. The clothes dancers wore, the pieces they were dancing to, and the places they were traveling to can’t simply be invented and are integral to the story. The contrasts are particularly stark when compared to the academy in China, where Li remembers a much different experience.

It has been a very nostalgic journey to remember the Houston Ballet of twenty years ago, a Houston Ballet without a Wortham Theater Center and one in which Ben Stevenson still had not created his ballets Romeo and Juliet or Coppélia. This collaboration has helped us to recover our history in a wonderful way.

The production and art departments are committed to the integrity of their project and determined to be as historically accurate as possible, which makes our communication extremely important. Of course, when the people you are communicating with live in a country separated from yours by a time difference of 17 hours, the job can sometimes be easier said than done!

-Andrea

For more information about the casting for Mao’s Last Dancer, visit this website.

Hip-hop/ballet fusion at Atlanta Ballet

Here’s an interesting story on CNN.com about how Atlanta Ballet is collaborating with OutKast’s Big Boi for an upcoming ballet performance.  Enjoy!

Preparing for the Academy Spring Showcase

Guest writer: HBII dancer and choreographer Garrett Smith

As I have been rehearsing for the Spring Showcase, I have been working very hard in preparing my new piece titled Den III in addition to the many other hours spent in the studio rehearsing for the other pieces I am dancing in.

My piece features three men and one woman. The music is by Tielman Susato titled Renaissance Dances. The piece itself has a hint of Renaissance from the distinct sounds in the music. I played with the whole Renaissance theme while using my style of contemporary movement. What has been most exciting is creating costuming for the piece. My roommate Travis Halsey and I have come up with some really neat costumes that fit the choreography and idea behind the piece. I feel that I am taking a step further in my career by getting the opportunity to have a budget for my piece, let alone being able to have it performed in the Spring Showcase.

Most of all I am so excited that my parents will be able to watch my choreography live when they come. They will be able to see what I have prepared as a dancer, and what I’ve accomplished as a choreographer.

-Garrett

Become a fan of Houston Ballet on Facebook!

We have re-jiggered our Facebook page so that you may now become a “fan” of Houston Ballet.  All you have to do is search for “Houston Ballet”, click “Become a Fan”, and instantly receive access to exclusive dress rehearsal videos, live production photos, and updates regarding performances and company news. We hope to see you online!

USITT Conference

Houston Ballet’s production department recently participated in the United States Institute of Theatre Technology (USITT) Annual Conference and Stage Expo in Houston on March 19-22.  Not only did they set up an amazing display of Houston Ballet’s past productions, but production director Tom Boyd and wardrobe shop supervisor Laura Lynch also presented a session on designing and executing lavish ballet productions, and discussed how that is different from preparing for typical theatre productions.  The USITT Conference provided a unique opportunity for our production staff to display all their hard work in front of an international audience.  Here are a few pictures from the conference:

  The booth

      

       Showgirl costume from The Core display

      Scale model of set design for Stanton Welch’s Swan Lake

      Scale model of set design for Ben Stevenson’s Coppelia

       

        Tom Boyd and Laura Lynch speaking at their session

Congratulations to our production department for representing Houston Ballet so well!

Our subscription campaign pas de deux

Guest writer: Andrew Edmonson, director of marketing and public relations

We are in the home stretch of one of the most intense phases of our subscription campaign, with two more weeks left for subscribers to renew their season tickets for the company’s 2008-2009 season. 

This year, our subscription campaign is budgeted to bring in $2,000,000 in revenues.  This is the marketing department’s second highest sales goal after The Nutcracker, which is projected to bring in $3.2 million in sales revenues in 2008.  The marketing department has a staff of ten full-time employees, with up to ten part-time employees in our box office during peak periods and an outbound sales staff of over a dozen part-time customer service representatives. 

Although we’re sprinting to the finish line of the renewal campaign, the subscription campaign is actually more like a marathon.  It runs for almost twelve months, beginning in mid-February with the announcement of the upcoming season, continuing with five different drops of direct mail scheduled over the next six months until we finish in early February 2009.  Our outbound sales staff began calling this week, and they are projected to bring in over $600,000 in sales.

Over the last four seasons, with an infusion of exciting new works into the company’s repertoire by artistic director Stanton Welch, we’ve seen a 40% increase in subscribers. Our biggest challenge now is to sustain the momentum of upward growth.

Season ticket holders are the lifeblood of any arts organization.  They pay for their tickets six months before the season opens, they commit to seeing six or more productions (as opposed to cherry-picking the most popular works), and many of them also make generous contributions to our annual fund campaign. 

On an even more basic level, subscribers are a crucial part of the artistic process.  Artistry can’t happen in a vacuum (or if it does, it’s much less compelling and more narcissistic) . The audience plays a crucial responsive role. The dancers feed on the energy and feedback that only the audience can provide.   Subscribers see the big picture of all that Houston Ballet does, and they have a unique perspective on how both the company, and individual dancers, are growing and evolving.  They are our partners in the pas de deux of making art. 

Our former prima ballerina Janie Parker once commented that although she struggled with insecurities throughout her career, she blossomed and flourished as a performer in large part because Houston audiences were so loyal, warm and supportive.  She could feel their energy and love across the footlights.

-Andrew