The Houston Chronicle recently interviewed choreographer Christopher Wheeldon, whose work Carousel (A Dance) will be performed as part of Houston Ballet’s upcoming production Of An Era, opening Thursday and running through June 7. Read more here on the Chronicle’s website.
Carousel is the second Wheeldon work to be introduced into Houston Ballet’s repertoire. Set to the music of Richard Rodgers’ musical of the same name, this short 13-minute work is full of whimsy and romance. Some of you may recall his colorful (and often hilarious) ballet Carnival of the Animals, which we performed two years ago. Carousel is sure to be just as entertaining.
We hope you’ll join us for Of An Era to see this exciting addition.
The Houston dance community is thrilled to take center stage this June 3-6th when Houston hosts the Dance USA Annual Conference. Dance USA is the national service organization for dance, and the Annual Conference is its largest yearly convening of dancers, dance presenters, and dance administrators.
In addition to the daytime conference programming, an evening dance showcase performance is almost always a feature of each summer conference, and it is a great opportunity to spotlight the host city’s dance community to a national audience.
In putting together Houston’s showcase performance, The Power of Movement, it was a priority that we present our dance community in the best way possible. Our goal was to present a great looking professional showcase of Houston’s very diverse dance community in a fully produced performance at Wortham Theater Center’s Cullen Theater. It was also a priority that this performance be open to the general public.
Presenting live theater is very expensive, and knowing that ticket sales would never provide enough resources to produce a performance featuring multiple companies in a professional venue, we started fundraising as early as possible. We assembled a strong local host committee and solicited funding for all of the Houston activities including The Power of Movement performance. We formed a Showcase Committee comprised of representatives from dance-presenting organizations; SPA, Diverse Works, HCC, JCC, and Dance Houston and solicited entries from Houston dance companies through Dance Source Houston’s and Houston Arts Alliance’s websites. The challenge for the Showcase Committee was not only selecting great dances, but selecting a lineup that worked together for an evening-long program.
The program should be great. It features 11 companies, ranging from Dance of Asian America to Dominic Walsh Dance Theater, to Travesty Dance Group and Urban Souls. We’re proud of the depth and diversity of the Houston dance community, and we’re very excited about The Power of Movement.
For tickets, go to www.houstonballet.org or call 713.227.ARTS. We hope you’ll join us for this special one-night-only event.
-Jim
Jim Nelson, Houston Ballet General Manager, and Christina Giannelli, Dance Source Houston Executive Director, are the co-chairs of the Houston Host Committee.
Artistic director Stanton Welch was recently featured in an article in Dance Teacher Magazine, answering questions about his Marie and Swan Lake as well as discussing which dance teachers had an impact on his career as a dancer and choreographer. Read the story here.
The company has returned from Spain and is thoroughly happy to be back in the U.S. The dancers and production staff have had a quick 5 days to recuperate from their travels and to prepare for this weekend’s three FREE performances of Classically Contemporary at Miller Outdoor Theatre.
Classically Contemporary, running May 8-10 at 8 pm each night, is a mixed repertory program including Stanton Welch’s Nosotros and Medieval Baebes, Hans van Manen’s Solo, and George Balanchine’s Tchaikovsky pas de deux. Each provides a beautiful interpretation of classical ballet that shows the range and evolution of dance styles and the virtuosity of Houston Ballet’s dancers.
While all performances at Miller Outdoor Theatre are free of charge, Houston Ballet’s performances of Classically Contemporary require tickets to the seated area. Tickets are available on the day of the performance from 11:30 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. at the Miller Theatre Box Office. Any tickets remaining are distributed one hour before curtain. There is a limit of four tickets per person. Please call 281.FREE.FUN (281-373-3386) for further ticket information or visit www.milleroutdoortheatre.com.
We hope you’ll join us on the hill for a lovely evening of ballet!
