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.
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
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.
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!
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
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