Join us for Houston Ballet’s Dance Talk on Tuesday, May 21

On Tuesday, Tuesday, May 21 from 8:00 – 9:00 pm, join Houston Ballet for a free Dance Talk featuring former New York City Ballet Principal Dancer Bart Cook discussing Jerome Robbins’s comic masterpiece The Concert, and Roslyn Anderson about her work staging Jiří Kylián’s signature work, Sinfonietta. Both The Concert and Sinfonietta will be featured on Houston Ballet’s program Journey with the Masters running May 30 – June 9 at Wortham Theater Center.

Former NYC Ballet Dancer: Bart Cook; Ballet: The Concert; Photo Steven Caras

The Tuesday, May 21 Dance Talk is free and open to the public at Houston Ballet Center for Dance, 601 Preston Street, 77002. For more information or questions, please contact marketing manager Elizabeth Cleveland: ECleveland@houstonballet.org, or 713 535 3236.

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Dancer: Amy Fote; Ballet: The Concert; Photo Amitava Sarkar

From May 30 – June 9, 2013 Houston Ballet offers up a mixed repertory program titled Journey with the Masters featuring the company premiere of Ballet Imperial, George Balanchine’s tribute to Marius Petipa and Peter Tchaikovsky, alongside revivals of Jirí Kylián’s exuberant and joyous Sinfonietta (not seen in Houston since 1997) and Jerome Robbins’s The Concert, a laugh-out-loud ballet depicting a group of concertgoers at a performance with keen insight to human behavior.

Tickets may be purchased by calling 713-227-2787 or by visiting www.houstonballet.org.

Pink at the Brown: Saving Lives and Making Art

Houston Ballet Artistic Director Stanton Welch serves as artistic chair of this year’s Pink at the Brown, a glittering one-night performance bringing together Houston’s leading arts organizations on Thursday, May 16 at 8pm at Wortham Theater Center. The event benefits the Pink Ribbons Project, which saves lives and enhances the lives of those touched by breast cancer.

Dancers: Jessica Collado and Ian Casady; Photo: Leonel Nerio

In this blog entry, Stanton talks about plans for the event, and the new work that he has created especially for the performance, Nocturne Op. 15 No. 1.

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I’ve really enjoyed serving as artistic chair of Pink at the Brown. What I love most about Pink at the Brown is that it brings together all the arts in one performance.  On one stage in one night, you get Houston Symphony, Houston Grand Opera, Stages, DaCamera, Houston Ballet and Society for the Performing Arts.

Jane Weiner, the founder and artistic director of Pink Ribbons, is very talented.  She’s instrumental in putting together a very interesting evening of programming. At our initial brainstorming session for Pink at the Brown, after much discussion, we settled on the concept of using umbrellas as a motif throughout the performance. Everyone performing in Pink at the Brown is photographed with umbrellas. The umbrellas speak to a very basic question: How do you protect yourself? How do you find a safe space in a sometimes dangerous world?

Oliver Halkowich, a soloist with Houston Ballet, is very clever at exploring motifs, and I knew that I wanted him to choreograph a work for Houston Ballet II, our second company, to perform at Pink at the Brown.

I initially started out thinking that I might want to create a work to Coldplay’s Fix You. After much reflection, I settled upon Chopin’s Nocturne Op. 15 No. 1. It is soft, sentimental and touching.

I wanted to take two of my favorite dancers Ian Casady and Jessica Collado – and make this piece for them. Ian Casady was in my first work for Houston Ballet, Indigo, in 1998, and I’ve worked with him for 15 years. So my artistic relationship with him is one of the longest that I have had in America. And Jessica is in every ballet that I make.

They are two of the most musical dancers I’ve ever worked with in my life. Throughout this process, I’ve been so impressed with their musicality and ability to find very subtle nuances in the score.

Houston Ballet Pianist Katherine Burkwall-Ciscon is one of our company’s jewels, and I was so glad that she could join us in this collaboration to play the Chopin for Pink at the Brown.

 I think that it’s going to be a very special night.

-Stanton Welch, Artistic Director

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Pink at the Brown will be performed on Thursday, May 16 at 8:00 pm at Wortham Theater Center. It will feature performances by The Alley Theatre, Da Camera of Houston, Houston Ballet, Society for the Performing Arts Houston, Houston Grand Opera, Meta-Four Houston, Wrtiers in the Schools, and Stages Repertory Theatre. Tickets start at $25.  http://www.pinkribbons.org/pinkatthebrown/

Dancing The Rite of Spring

On Friday, May 17 from 6:30 – 8:00 pm at 601 Preston Street, join Houston Ballet Artistic Director Stanton Welch, and Shen Wei Dance Arts Company Manager Stephen Xue for a free group discussion on the 100th year anniversary of The Rite of Spring as they share insights into the Houston Ballet’s and Shen Wei Dance Arts’ productions of Vaslav Nijinsky’s seminal work.

Ballet: The Rite of Spring; Choreographer: Stanton Welch; Dancers: Artists of Houston Ballet; Photo: Amitava Sarkar

In March 2013, Mr. Welch choreographed a highly lauded new production of The Rite of Spring featuring Houston Ballet’s entire company. On Saturday, May 18 at 8:00 pm at Wortham Theater Center, Society for the Performing Arts will present New York-based Shen Wei Dance Arts, making its Houston debut performing two of its most celebrated works: The Rite of Spring (2003), coinciding with the 100th anniversary of Stravinsky’s famed musical composition; and Folding (2000), a highly stylized piece performed to the melodies of Tavener and Tibetan Buddhist chants.

Shen Wei Dance Arts; Photo by Christy Pessagno

Shen Wei was the mastermind choreographer behind the stunning 2008 Olympic Opening Ceremonies in Beijing – featuring 16,000 performers right in the heart of The Bird’s Nest. The company itself is devoted to the creation of innovative dance forms for the 21st century. A seamless fusion of Chinese opera, painting, dance and music with Western performance arts, Shen Wei’s works are “visual feasts” (The New York Sun) that transfix audiences.

For more information on the May 18 performance by Shen Wei Dance Arts and to purchase tickets:

http://www.spahouston.org/show?ShowId=59

Houston Ballet Helps Miller Theater Celebrate Its 90th Anniversary In Grand Style

From May 10 – 12 at 8pm, Houston Ballet celebrates Miller Theater’s 90th anniversary by performing three stellar works in three free performances. The evening will open with two short, dazzling pieces: the duet from the 19th century classic Flower Festival in Genzano and the exquisite classical set piece Grand Pas Classique, set to music by Daniel Auber and showcasing the virtuosity of two superb classical dancers.

Dancers: Artists of Houston Ballet; Photo: Amitava Sarkar

The program concludes with Stanton Welch’s signature work Madame Butterfly, the story of a beautiful Japanese geisha who gives up her faith and her family to marry an American naval officer. Set to Puccini’s powerful score with lavish costumes and sets by Peter Farmer, Madame Butterfly is at once compelling and heartbreaking. It is a stunning achievement in neoclassical ballet that has been an international success, with performances on three continents.

Free tickets to these performances are available (4 per person over age 16 while they last) at the Miller Outdoor Theatre box office the day of the performance between the hours of 10:30 a.m. – 1 p.m. If tickets remain at 1 p.m., the box office will re-open one hour before show time to distribute the remaining tickets. As always, open seating on the hill. This is a ticketed event for the covered seating area.

Houston Ballet at Miller Outdoor Theatre; Photo: Nerio Photography

Houston Ballet II Steps Center Stage in Toronto

From April 28 – May 4, the dancers of Houston Ballet II will tour to Toronto to appear in the prestigious international ballet festival Assemblée Internationale 2013 (AI13) in the Betty Oliphant Theatre at 404 Jarvis Street. Houston Ballet II dancers will appear along side other young dancers from some of the world’s most elite training institutions, including Paris Opera Ballet, the Royal Ballet of London, the Royal Danish Ballet, the National Ballet of Cuba, and The Australian Ballet.

Ballet: Fingerprints; Dancers: Artists of Houston Ballet II; Photo: Amitava Sarkar

Hosted by Canada’s National Ballet School (NBS), the AI13 will bring together students and artistic staff from eighteen international professional ballet schools for an intensive seven days of classes, performances, forums and professional development. Former Houston Ballet dancer Garrett Smith is choreographing a new work that will premiere at the festival. Houston Ballet II will also perform the first movement of Stanton Welch’s work Fingerprints, inspired by the music of the famous Kronos Quartet’s Pieces of Africa.

Tickets to four public performances can be purchased by calling the box office at 416-964-5148 or by email at boxoffice@nbs-enb.ca. For more information, visit Assemblée Internationale’s website. 

We are so proud that Houston Ballet II has been invited to Toronto to participate in the prestigious Assemblee Internationale 2013, the international ballet festival April 28 – May 4. Learn more about this innovative program that brings together the best young dancers from all over the world for an incredible week of classes, professional development and performances.

HBII’s Satoko Konishi and Dillon Malinski To Shine On Miller Stage

Houston Ballet’s Ben Stevenson Academy has continuously shown its capacity to cultivate and reach talent on an international level. This season alone, they have traveled to Australia, Switzerland, and soon Canada for the Assemblee Internationale 2013.

Dancers: Satoko Konishi and Dillon Malinski; Ballet: Impromptu; Photo: Amitava Sarkar

However, right here in Houston, Texas, on April 27, two of these esteemed students of Houston Ballet II company, Satoko Konishi and Dillon Malinski will showcase their talent on the Miller Outdoor Theatre stage at the 9th annual East Meets West  concert. This will undoubtedly be an evening of grace and culture as Konishi and Malinski perform an excerpt from Stanton Welch’s A Dance in the Garden of Mirth. Choreographed in 2000 for Atlanta Ballet and set to music of the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, Mr. Welch designed this ballet to capture the vibrancy and joy present in the music and gatherings associated with the time period. He describes this medieval music as the “techno music of the day – it was the house music that people danced to. There was almost a barbaric want to live in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries”. The music, recordings by the Dufay Collective, is certainly a raw, rhythmic experience. The audience will surely connect with the passion brought about by the sound, conveyed by the movement. I can only imagine the resonance it will bring to an outdoor venue like Miller. And with bright young talents like Konishi and Malinski, the performance is bound to captivate.

Dancers: Satoko Konishi and artists of Houston Ballet II; Ballet: A Dance in the Garden of Mirth; Photo: Amitava Sarkar

East meets west and talent meets culture will definitely be the name of the game for the entire evening. Included in the program will be Dance of Asian America, Mitsi Dancing School, Revolve Dance Company, and Ad Deum Dance Company.

For more information on “East Meets West XI” at Miller Outdoor Theatre, April 27, visit http://milleroutdoortheatre.com/events/378/.

HGOco Premieres New Opera Inspired By the Experiences of Soloist Nao Kusuzaki

From April 9-14, Houston Grand Opera will present The Memory Stone, a new opera loosely inspired by the experiences of Houston Ballet Soloist Nao Kusuzaki. The opera, which is composed by Marty Regan with a libretto by Kenny Fries, will be performed free of charge April 9-11 at 7:30 p.m. at Asia Society Texas at 1370 Southmore Boulevard in The Museum District. Additional performances will be given at the Japan Festival in Hermann Park on Saturday April 13 and Sunday April 14 Japan Festival in Hermann Park.

Dancers: Nao Kusuzaki and Christopher Coomer; Ballet: Falling; Photo: Amitava Sarkar

The Memory Stone takes place after the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami in Japan. A mysterious woman appears with a memory stone in Houston’s Japanese garden. The woman’s powers cause two Japanese-American women to relive crucial moments from their respective pasts. The Memory Stone explores the invisible bond between the women, and how they support those who have been affected by the devastation of the earthquake and tsunami in Japan.

This presentation of The Memory Stone is part of HGOco’s East + West series, which celebrates Houston as a crossroads for Eastern and Western cultures. All performances are free and open to the public. Asia Society Texas Center performances require reservations which can be done online.