It has been quite a year for Houston Ballet, rife with Harvey-related challenges and triumphs, such as taking its place in history as the first North American Company to perform Sir Kenneth MacMillan’s epic drama Mayerling.
Stanton Welch framed his new Nutcracker as a coming-of-age story, with a young Clara at the center of his dazzling holiday ballet, now entering its second year.
When Houston Ballet takes the stage next fall for the Houston premiere of Sir Kenneth MacMillan's Mayerling, Sept. 22-24 at the Hobby Center, it will surely be new for the audience, yet also be a continuation of a storied relationship between the company and the legendary British choreographer.
Entering the lobby at Houston Ballet's Center for Dance for Project REACH on balmy Saturday night felt like going to a club where all of the city's A-lister dance folks had gathered for something big and important.
I’ve always had a pestering curiosity about Anna Sokolow. A great American choreographer who influenced the development of modern dance in America, Israel, and Mexico—to say nothing of the famous actors who credit her as a force in their training, including Faye Dunaway, Julie Harris, Eva-Marie Saint, Jean Stapleton, Eli Wallach, Patti LuPone, and Kevin Kline—Sokolow nevertheless remains at the periphery of the canon.
At first glance, Houston Ballet's 2017/2018 Season can look like a crash course in ballet, with something for everyone, including ballet connoisseurs, contemporary enthusiasts and those completely new to the art form.
Houston Ballet is throwing a little holiday get-together, at least that's what it looks like from my seat at the front of the rehearsal room as the company enacts the famous party scene from the Nutcracker.