Summer Diary Series – First Soloist Kelly Myernick

Ever wondered what our Houston Ballet company dancers do over the summer? Well, we asked our dancers what they did over the summer and what they are looking forward to the most in the 2012-2013 season. Read about our last summer diary entry from First Soloist Kelly Myernick!

Hello ballet friends. HB has asked me to tell you about my summer. This was my absolute best summer yet. I got married! My husband is Kyle Kubin. He is an actual native Texan from the non-dancing realm. We met almost 3 years ago when mutual friends of ours invited me to Kyle’s “Lights in the Heights” party after a Nutcracker show. If you live in the Heights, Kyle’s the guy who wins “Most Wattage” every year. Kyle felt like my home immediately. Last October he surprised me and took me out to Point Reyes, CA for the weekend. The real surprise was that he proposed, I said “yes”, and we decided to bring our families back there for a wedding in the summer.

I never considered myself a big wedding person and was definitely begging Kyle to just elope sometime during Cinderella. I am so glad that we had the wedding when we did because it was so special to have all of the people we love in one place. Beth Everitt, the amazing new teacher of our youngest students and my best friend since our own academy days was my maid of honor. Oliver Halkowich, Jessica Collado, Mireille Hassenboehler, Amy Fote, and Nic Leschke all made the trip out as well and made a very impressive showing on the dance floor. We had the most unforgettable night. My friends who originally convinced me to go to Kyle’s xmas party wrote us a funny song for their toast, the last line being, “. . . now my dream has come true. . . and I’m Mr. Most Wattage’s Wife!”

We went to Bali for our honeymoon so we could lie on a beach for a while but also have a bit of a cultural adventure. One of our board members, Melza Barr has lived in Indonesia and she and her family were very helpful in steering us in the right direction. The Balinese people make everything so incredibly beautiful and sacred. We snorkeled and rode bikes from a volcano down through villages and rice fields. People struggle not to use the word “magical” when they describe Bali and we completely understand why.

Poor Aszure Barton. Needless to say I’m still a little unfocused in her rehearsal after that kind of summer but I’ll get back to into it. We have come back to incredibly challenging but rewarding work with Aszure, Twyla Tharp and the drama of Madame Butterfly. I think I am most excited about playing the role of Suzuki opposite Mireille (Cio-Cio San). I think the “One Fine Day” scene at the beginning of Act 2 is one of the most beautiful and dramatic in our repertoire, and I am so excited to finally dance it.

This was a memorable summer and this is shaping up to be a very memorable year.  Welcome back!

-First Soloist, Kelly Myernick

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Our 2012-2013 season is here! Check out our first program of the season – Stanton Welch’s Madame Butterfly from September 6-16, 2012. See Kelly Myernick perform the role of Suzuki in the love story of  Madame Butterfly.

P.S. Make sure you mark on your calendars our second program called Women@Art from September 20-30, 2012. Three of the world’s leading female choreographers take Houston Ballet on a spectacular odyssey of dance with a fall repertory program unlike any other. Featuring a world premiere Angular Momentum by Aszure Barton, the company premiere of Twyla Tharp’s The Brahms-Haydn Variations, and the return of Julia Adam’s Ketubah.

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

Opening Night Excitement

It’s opening night of Giselle and Indigo! Aren’t the wilis gorgeous?

 

Kelly Myernick in Giselle Photo: Amitava Sarkar

Developing a Dancer’s Toolbox: The Art of Collaborative Choreography

Guest writer: Jaclyn Youngblood, Academy Intern

If dancers at the Houston Ballet Academy Summer Intensive Program are still hungry for a challenge after training in classes for seven hours, they have the opportunity to try their hands at choreography. This year marks the thirteenth annual collaboration between Houston Ballet’s Academy and the American Festival for the Arts (AFA) Summer Music Conservatory, a musicians’ summer program of a similar caliber to the HBA Summer Intensive Program.

The end goal of the collaboration is to create an entirely student-produced performance: one HBA student choreographs a dance to music composed by one AFA student, with dancers cast from the upper level of the HBA Summer Intensive.
Last week, two Houston Ballet Company members, Joseph Walsh and Kelly Myernick, joined Education Outreach Coordinator Chase Cobb to speak with the potential AFA composers about developing a common language across artistic worlds. Dancers and musicians each have a specific vocabulary they use to express ideas and imbue meaning; finding a shared language is crucial for collaboration.

Exploring new ways of communication isn’t the only challenge AFA and HBA students face. During the collaboration, students must compromise and learn to take their own ideas and adapt them to their partner’s vision. Cobb said one of the most beneficial aspects of the program is giving students a platform to engage the creative process.
One HBA choreographer, Luis (Colombia), said he applied to choreograph because he wanted to take advantage of the collaborative aspect of the program. Cast as a dancer in last year’s HBA-AFA performance, Luis said he was looking for a new challenge this year. “I wanted to test myself on the next level,” he said. “I like the idea of working within time constraints and understanding what is realistic within the creative process.”

To catalyze that creative process, the HBA and AFA leadership teams for the project (Academy Associate Director Shelly Power and Cobb, and Aaron Allen, respectively) facilitated a meeting at the Houston Ballet’s new Center For Dance on June 23 between the student composers and student choreographers. Cobb said that was the only organized meeting of the composers and choreographers. After the meeting, Power, Cobb and Allen paired the students—with input from the students, though ultimately making the decisions they deemed best—who then exchanged contact information for future online collaboration.

Myernick and Walsh, fresh off their own choreographic workshop experience, urged students to take advantage of technology to aid their remote collaboration: video-conferencing over Skype, sending YouTube vidoes to show examples of music and style.

The dancers are cast by lottery, with each choreographer requesting the number of men and women their piece requires. Summer Intensive level 8 students receive their casting assignments today. The first recording of the composer’s piece will be sent to the choreographer on July 6. Initial rehearsals with the music and cast begin on July 7 and provide an opportunity for the choreographer to give feedback to the composer before the second, and final, recording is due on July 13.

The student productions will be performed at Pershing Middle School on July 22 at 7 p.m. For more information about the performance, check the AFA website.

Blogging from the Road: The Kennedy Center Tour

Guest writer: Jim Nelson, general manager

Monday, June 14
One hour after the curtain fell on Sunday afternoon’s matinee of La Fille mal gardée, sixteen dancers (including the Sunday performance leads Connor Walsh and Melody Herrera), artistic director Stanton Welch, ballet mistress Louise Lester, and Maestro Ermanno Florio headed to IAH to catch the last flight to D.C. to participate in The Kennedy Center’s Ballet Across America II festival which opens tomorrow. 

Houston Ballet will kick off the festival with Stanton Welch’s gorgeous ballet Falling.  Also on the program is The Suzanne Farrell Ballet and North Carolina Dance Theatre.

Houston Ballet was included in the inaugural festival in 2008, and we’re thrilled to be asked back for round two.  The Kennedy Center describes the festival as “an exploration of the breadth and depth of the art form, showcasing companies from across the nation.”  Other ballet companies participating in the festival include Pacific Northwest Ballet, Ballet Arizona, Ballet Memphis, Tulsa Ballet, Aspen Santa Fe Ballet, and The Joffrey Ballet.

Today the dancers are loosening up with a class with Louise Lester, and they will have the remainder of the day to explore D.C. and to rest.  Maestro is rehearsing The Kennedy Center Orchestra and production manager Brian Walker and lighting designer Lisa Pinkham are focusing lights and preparing cues.  Tomorrow is jam-packed with class, dress rehearsal and the opening performance.

The festival is a shining example of the terrific programming The Kennedy Center presents.  The lineup allows dance-goers to see nine great companies over three nights with diverse rep from nine different choreographers such as Balanchine, Duato, Elo, Millipied, Welch and others.  It’s also a great opportunity for the dancers participating in the festival to interact with each other. Houston Ballet dancers will have the opportunity to take class with the dancers from the Suzanne Farrell Ballet and North Carolina Dance Theatre companies during the three days we’re here.

Tuesday, June 15
The dancers have their one rehearsal on The Kennedy Center stage from 2:30-3:30, and it’s their first time to dance Falling with The Kennedy Center Orchestra.  They have just enough time to run the ballet once, go back and correct a few tempos and spacing and re-run problem sections.  Stanton and Louise give the dancers a few notes and then release them for the afternoon.  Houston Ballet is first on the program, and the theater is absolutely packed.  Tonight’s awesome cast is Ian Casady and Melody Herrera, Peter Franc and Amy Fote, Nao Kusuzaki and Chris Coomer, Elise Judson and Joe Walsh, and Connor Walsh and Kelly Myernick.

I’m always struck by the D.C. audience.  They are well informed dance-goers, and they are so responsive.  In some parts of the world, the audience is extremely quiet throughout the ballet—they do not respond to solos or pas de deux sections, and it’s not until the ballet is concluded that you can judge the audience’s reaction.  D.C., like Houston, is on the other end of the spectrum, and they enjoy responding immediately and generously.  Tonight is no exception, and the audience cheers the Houston dancers on throughout the ballet and resoundingly at the end of the ballet.  The bravos and multiple curtain calls are reflected in the dancers’ beaming faces.

-Jim

Photos from dress rehearsal:

Dancers Connor Walsh and Kelly Myernick

Dancer Melody Herrera

Ballet mistress Louise Lester, Maestro Ermanno Florio, and The Kennedy Center Orchestra

Dancers Connor Walsh (left) and Joe Walsh (right)

Left to right: lighting designer Lisa Pinkham, artistic director Stanton Welch, and ballet mistress Louise Lester

If you like this blog…

then you’ll LOVE Chron.com’s “So, You Think You Can Blog” written by our very own dancers Kelly Myernick and Oliver Halkowich.  You can check out their entries here.  Each week they trade off writing an entry about their unique Houston experiences.  Enjoy!