Principal dancer Connor Walsh Participates in Documentary

Houston Ballet’s premiere principal Connor Walsh returned Wednesday from a film shoot in West Palm Beach, Florida.  Walsh was participating in a documentary on legendary dance photographer Steven Caras. Caras was nurtured first as a dancer for 14 years at New York City Ballet by America’s most influential choreographer George Balanchine and secondly as a dance photographer by Balanchine.   The new hour-long PBS documentary titled Steve Caras: See Them Dance was directed by Emmy Award winning film-makers Deborah Novak and John Witek. 

For more information on Steve Caras and the PBS documentary, please visit www.stevencaras.com.

Getting to know demi soloist Michelle Carpenter

Guest writer:  Melissa Seuffert

Demi soloist Michelle Carpenter, a Mission Viejo, California native, joined Houston Ballet in 2002 after training at Houston Ballet’s Ben Stevenson Academy.  Since being promoted to demi soloist in 2007, Ms. Carpenter has landed a number of soloist roles in ballets, including Stanton Welch’s La Bayadère and Falling.  Here she tells us a little more about herself:

What age did you start dancing?  Did you always love ballet?
I started “dancing” when I was 3 (if you can call it dancing at that age).  I have been dancing for as long as I can remember.  I didn’t start liking ballet until I was probably 10.  I did a lot of jazz and gymnastics.

When did you know you wanted dancing to be your career?
I think I always knew I wanted to be a dancer.  It’s every girl’s dream, and I’m so lucky to have achieved it.

What is your favorite part about being on stage? Do you have a ritual before going on stage?
I feel at home on stage. I love performing for audiences; it’s such a thrill to be out there, baring all for all to see. I don’t really have a ritual before going on stage.

Do you have a favorite moment in your dance career?
My favorite moment was getting an apprenticeship with Houston Ballet.

Do you have a favorite Houston Ballet moment?
Our 2009 tour to Spain was amazing. It was an amazing experience.

What is your most memorable role? Why?
I love dancing Snow Queen in The Nutcracker. Each year I have a different partner (sometimes multiple partners) to dance with. It’s a difficult role that is very rewarding.

What is your favorite time of the ballet season?
The Nutcracker.
We are dancing and performing a lot. Every night you are dancing something different.

What aspects of dance do you find most satisfying?
Performing and have a feeling of accomplishment after a tough role.

Do you have any pets? If so, what kind? Names?
I have a cat named Lilly, a puggle (pug/beagle mix) named Bella, and a boxer named Sage.

What is your favorite thing to do in Houston? Do you have a favorite restaurant?
I enjoy taking my dogs to the dog park to play. They love to swim and fetch balls. My favorite restaurants are Chuy’s, Blue Fish House, Bombay Brasserie, and Mission Burrito. I really enjoy cooking at home too. I love tackling new and interesting recipes.

Childhood ambition?
To be a dancer and have a family.

Fondest memory?
Christmases at home with family.

Proudest moment?
Getting a job at Houston Ballet.

Favorite movie?
Anchorman, Billy Madison, Zoolander, Wedding Crashers, Eurotrip…anything funny.

Favorite book?
I just read the Twilight series and loved it. I also liked I Know This Much is True by Wally Lamb and Fall on Your Knees by Ann-Marie MacDonald.

Favorite TV show?
Top Chef, Design Star, anything on the Food Network, Project Runway, Biggest Loser, Scrubs.

Favorite food?
I can’t live without Mexican food!

Michelle Carpenter in rehearsal. Photo by Amitava Sarkar.

Off to the Races

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

Houston Ballet’s dancers are leaping towards the conclusion of our 2009-2010 season.  Instead of a leisurely stroll around the home stretch, the company is engaged in an all-out sprint to the finish line on June 20, performing seven ballets, in three venues, in two different states, over the next seven weeks. 

First up on the calendar is an annual rite of spring for the company:  three free performances at Miller Outdoor Theatre Friday, May 7 – Sunday, May 9.   This year, Stanton has put together a stellar program that showcases the contemporary side of the company’s repertoire:  Nacho Duato’s modern classic Jardí Tancat  (literal translation:  Enclosed Garden), set to the haunting Spanish folk songs of  Marie del Mar Bonet; Twyla Tharp’s groundbreaking work In the Upper Room that takes its audience on an exalted journey from earth to a more transcendent space; and Stanton’s beautifully classical work for five couples to the music of Mozart, Falling.   Take a peak at Stanton’s Falling on Youtube. 

From May 27 – June 6, the company returns to Wortham Theater Center to present Pecos, a mixed repertory program featuring the company premiere of George Balanchine’s Ballo della Regina.  A very special style is required to perform Balanchine’s works.   Our dancers have been blessed to be taught and coached in Ballo by the legendary American ballerina Merrill Ashley, who not only had the good fortune to work with Balanchine from 1967 to 1983, but also created the leading female role in Ballo in 1978. 

“Balanchine always seemed to take special delight in challenging me with difficult steps, and since he knew I excelled at moving quickly, he decided to make that the feature of Ballo – virtuoso steps at high speed,” commented Ms. Ashley.  “He highlighted all my strengths in Ballo, giving me a ballet that not only was challenging and fun to dance, but one that gave me the opportunity to communicate the joy of dance, which was my favorite mood to express on stage. Ballo epitomizes the essence of the technique that he advocated, as it requires extreme precision, clarity, speed, and expansive movement. Dancers who are not trained in the Balanchine style are always startled to find how much easier the steps are when they use the technique Balanchine advocated. His choreography is constructed with the idea that the steps will be done as he would have taught them. That is what makes the angles of the steps look best, and what makes the transitions from step-to-step possible at high speeds.”

For more information on Ms. Ashley and her amazing career, read a 1997 interview with her in The New York Times discussing her special link to Balanchine, and the 1997 review of her final performance with New York City Ballet detailing so many of the qualities that audience adored about her.

A very different balletic style is required to perform the works of Sir Frederick Ashton, whose 1960 masterpiece La Fille mal gardée closes Houston Ballet’s season on June 10-20.  The English critic Alastair Macaulay has observed, “The ballet style shown in Ashton’s ballets is a particularly intricate one, with upper and lower body maintaining a lively activity, and many internal embellishments of head, arms, épaulement and footwork.”  Two experts in the Ashton style have been in Houston helping our dancers to prepare to perform Fille:  Englishman Christopher Carr, a former dancer and ballet master with London’s Royal Ballet, and Australian Grant Coyle, principal dance notator to The Royal Ballet.

There will be no rest for the weary.  The weekend after Fille opens, ten Houston Ballet dancers will hop on a plane to Washington, D.C. to perform Stanton’s work, Falling, for the prestigious national ballet festival, Ballet Across America II, at The Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.  Houston Ballet was a part of the very successful first installment of Ballet Across America in 2008 and is very happy to make its 8th appearance at The Kennedy Center.  Houston Ballet opens the festival Tuesday, June 15 and Wednesday, June 16 on a program with The Suzanne Farrell Ballet and North Carolina Dance Theatre.

Then the ten dancers who performed in Ballet Across America will rush back to Houston for the final four performances of Fille June 18 – 20.  And then, it’s off to a very well-deserved long summer break for most of the company. 

-Andrew