Houston Ballet opens with Return of the Masters

Houston Ballet will kick off the 2011-2012 season with Return of the Masters, a program showcasing three stunning works that have been absent from our repertoire for too long! We’re thrilled to bring back Sir Frederick Ashton’s Les Patineurs, Jerome Robbins’s In the Night and Sir Kenneth MacMillan’s Song of the Earth. Artistic Director Stanton Welch shares his thoughts and a little background information on each of the ballets here.

Enjoy these beautiful photos from our archives and definitely check out our photo gallery for more! Return of the Masters opens Thursday,  September 8 and runs through September 18.

Li Cunxin, Janie Parker & Gregg Garrett in Song of the Earth p. Geoff Winningham

Mireille Hassenboehler & Susan Bryant in Les Patineurs p. Geoff Winningham

Janie Parker & Li Cunxin in Jerome Robbins's In the Night p. Geoff Winningham

Houston Ballet will receive $50,000 grant from the National Endowment for the Arts!

Rocco Landesman, Chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts, today announced that Houston Ballet  has been approved for a grant of $50,000 to support the world premiere of a new work by the celebrated Finnish choreographer Jorma Elo and the American premiere of Christopher Bruce’s Grinning in Your Face, two works featured as part of the spring repertory program Raising the Barre, running May 26 – June 5, 2011.

Houston Ballet is one of 1,057 not-for-profit organizations recommended for a grant as part of the federal agency’s first round of fiscal year 2011 grants. In total, the Arts Endowment will distribute $26.68 million to support projects nationwide.  An independent agency of the federal government, the National Endowment for the Arts advances artistic excellence, creativity, and innovation for the benefit of individuals and communities. 

The National Endowment for the Arts has a generous two-decade history of supporting projects at Houston Ballet with substantial gifts.  Most recently in 2010, the NEA awarded Houston Ballet $50,000 for the company premieres of Jerome Robbins’s Fancy Free and George Balanchine’s Ballo della Regina.  For more information on the National Endowment for the Arts, visit their web site at http://www.nea.gov/.

View Videos from Classically Modern

From the best of 20th and 21st century choreographers comes a program as diverse as dance itself. Hans van Manen’s Solo is an athletic tour-de-force for three gifted male dancers, set to music by Johann Sebastian Bach. Artistic director Stanton Welch’s Mediæval Bæbes features female artists performing to the music of an a cappella group by the same name. Jerome Robbins’s Afternoon of a Faun looks in on a young couple in a rehearsal studio, with audience as mirror. George Balanchine’s dazzling Symphony in C makes for a grand finale, a stunning showpiece for the full company.  Running September 26 – October 4, 2008. www.houstonballet.org

Watch dress rehearsal footage of Hans van Manen’s Solo

Watch dress rehearsal footage of Jerome Robbins’s Afternoon of a Faun

Watch dress rehearsal footage of the world premiere of Stanton Welch’s Mediæval Bæbes

Watch dress rehearsal footage of George Balanchine’s Symphony in C

 

More information about Classically Modern