Houston Ballet Announces New Dates and Venues for its Spring 2018 Season

Houston Ballet announces new dates and venues for its exhilarating Spring 2018 Season that continues to inspire through artistic excellence and innovative choreography, continuing the Hometown Tour in a variety of Houston theaters.

The Spring Season will begin with a mixed repertory titled Rock, Roll & Tutus, the first of the "Unconventional Ballets at the Convention Center," and will now feature three Houston Premieres including Filigree and Shadow, Houston Ballet's first work by Australian choreographer Tim Harbour, In Dreams by Houston Ballet veteran and former Choreographic Associate Trey McIntyre, Stanton Welch's La Cathedrale Engloutie, and the return of Alexander Ekman's Cacti. To follow, Don Quixote returns to Houston Ballet with the revival of former Artistic Director Ben Stevenson's homage of the classic tale after a twelve year hiatus.

Join us for the Academy Spring Showcase, an exciting night showcasing our Academy. Mixed repertory Play, the program formerly titled Global Movements, will be the second of the "Unconventional Ballets at the Convention Center," and will showcase memorable ballets by Stanton Welch himself, created and adapted just for the unique space at the George R. Brown Convention Center's General Assembly Hall. It will include Play set to the tunes by DJ/Techno artist Moby and the revival of Bolero, spotlighting the entire Houston Ballet Company, both re-worked and re-choreographed by Welch.

The evening also features a World Premiere ballet celebrating Houston's resilience. The Season concludes with Stanton Welch's Swan Lake, a classic, timeless production featuring stunning choreography and celebrating everlasting love.

"We're excited to announce the rescheduled dates and venues for the remainder of our 2017/18 Season," says Executive Director Jim Nelson. "While our beloved Wortham Theatre is still closed for repairs, Houston Ballet's Hometown Tour will continue through the Spring playing at a variety of venues, creating a memorable, extraordinary season."

Upcoming Spring programming has been rescheduled and relocated to the dates and venues listed below.

Rock, Roll & Tutus

Unconventional Ballets at the Convention Center

NEW Dates: March 1-4, 2018
NEW Venue: George R. Brown Convention Center's Resilience Theatre

Don Quixote

NEW Dates: April 13-15, 2018

NEW Venue: The Hobby Center for the Performing Arts - Sarofim Hall

Academy Spring Showcase

NEW Dates: May 24-26, 2018

NEW Venue: Moores Opera House at University of Houston

Play, the program formerly titled Global Movements
Unconventional Ballets at the Convention Center

NEW Dates: June 8-10, 2018

NEW Venue: George R. Brown Convention Center's General Assembly Hall

Swan Lake

NEW Dates: June 23-July 1, 2018

NEW Venue: Jones Hall

Details of the upcoming Houston Ballet performances are listed below. For additional information, please visit houstonballet.org.

Rock, Roll & Tutus: March 1-4, 2018

The Spring begins with Rock, Roll & Tutus, the first of Houston Ballet's "Unconventional Ballets at the Convention Center," featuring four captivating pieces including three Houston Premieres. The fast-paced work Filigree and Shadow brings another Australian choreographer, Tim Harbour, into the Houston Ballet family. Created for The Australian Ballet, this work is filled with contemporary complexity in what Dance Magazine reviewed as "rooted in psychological territory." This will be Houston Ballet's first time performing Harbour's Filigree and Shadow and its first work by Harbour. Houston Ballet veteran and former Choreographic Associate, Trey McIntyre, makes his return, setting his contemporary ballet In Dreams with songs by the legendary musician, Roy Orbison. McIntyre's bold choreography pairs the movement of ballet with the soul of bluegrass and the swagger of rockabilly. Stanton Welch's La Cathedrale Engloutie, makes its Houston Ballet premiere. This captivating Pas de Deux is set to the music of Debussy and made its world premiere by San Francisco Ballet in 1997. Alexander Ekman's Cacti is back by popular demand. This piece is a gleeful, hilarious parody of the excesses of contemporary dance. Ekman's Cacti represents one of many contemporary dance creations that are currently circulating across various countries.

Don Quixote: April 13-15, 2018
Returning after twelve years, the Spring Season will include the revival of former Artistic Director Ben Stevenson's Don Quixote. Enjoy the charming flare of seventeenth century Barcelona, Spain as imagined in the original novel by Miguel de Cervantes. The tale follows the elderly adventurer Don Quixote and his search for his idyllic woman, Dulcinea, only to be caught between the budding romance of temperamental Kitri and mischievous Basilio. Audiences are sure to enjoy this famously jovial ballet, full of dazzling choreography, sets, and costumes.

Academy Spring Showcase: May 24-26, 2018

Join us for this exciting night showcasing hundreds of Academy dancers in works from Houston Ballet's repertoire including excerpts from Raymonda and highlights from Stanton Welch's ballets.

Play: June 8-10, 2018

The program formerly titled Global Movements

For the Company's second "Unconventional Ballets at the Convention Center," Play, the program formerly titled Global Movements, has been completely reimagined by Stanton Welch AM with memorable ballets created just for the unique space at the George R. Brown Convention Center's General Assembly Hall. Play is set to music by DJ/Techno artist Moby from his Grammy-nominated 1999 album of the same title. Dancers dressed in everyday clothing capture the frenetic rhythms and vibes of modern urban life, translating them into classical ballet technique. Bolero, which made its debut in 2004, returns to the stage, spotlighting the entire Houston Ballet company. This piece is set to the exotic, mesmerizing score of Maurice Ravel. The program will also include additional new works to be announced, including a World Premiere by Welch celebrating Houston's resilience. With a stage that extends into the audience on three sides, this theatre creates an immersive experience, bringing you into the action and allowing for unprecedented interaction between the audience and the dancers. It's an event not likely to be repeated.

Swan Lake: June 23-July 1, 2018

Houston Ballet presents the return of Swan Lake by Artistic Director Stanton Welch as the conclusion to the 2017/2018 Season. In this production, the everlasting love between Prince Siegfried and the maiden-turned-white-swan Odette is tested by the evil knight Rothbart and his black swan enchantress, Odile. Welch's Swan Lake utilizes Tchaikovsky's full score as arranged for this three-act production. In his staging, Welch imbues the main characters with greater psychological complexity, and gives the work a twenty-first century pace. Welch, who collaborated with Kristian Fredrikson on Swan Lake, was inspired by John William Waterhouse's painting, The Lady of Shalott (1888). Waterhouse (1849-1917) was a British Neo-Classical and Pre-Raphaelite painter well-known for works featuring female characters from mythology and literature. The painting, which is based on Lord Alfred Tennyson's poem by the same title, depicts a tragic maiden afloat on a lake. Welch commented, "When I saw this painting I said, 'This is our Odette.' Here is a woman, a young heroine, lost in a forest by a lake, touched by tragedy."

For Houston Ballet subscribers and current ticket holders, there is no action needed on your part. Houston Ballet is taking care of seating you into all of the upcoming performances and you will receive new tickets in the mail in January.

For those interested in joining us this Spring, tickets go on sale to the general public on Monday, December 11 at 10:00am. Please visit houstonballet.org or call 713-227-2787.

About Houston Ballet

Houston Ballet has evolved into a company of 59 dancers with a budget of $33 million (making it the United States' fifth largest ballet company.) With a state-of-the-art performance space built especially for the company, which is the largest professional dance facility in America, Houston Ballet's $46.6 million Center for Dance opened in April 2011, with an endowment of just over $74.1 million (as of July 2017).

Australian Choreographer Stanton Welch AM has served as Artistic Director of Houston Ballet since 2003, raising the level of the company's classical technique and commissioning works from dance makers such as Christopher Bruce, Alexander Ekman, William Forsythe, Ji?í Kylián, Trey McIntyre, Julia Adam, Edwaard Liang and George Balanchine. Executive Director James Nelson serves as the administrative leader of the company, a position he assumed in February 2012 after serving as the company's General Manager for over a decade.

Houston Ballet has toured extensively both nationally and internationally. Over the past fifteen years, the company has appeared in London at Sadler's Wells, at the Bolshoi Theater in Moscow, Russia, in six cities in Spain, in Montréal and Ottawa, at The Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., in New York at City Center and The Joyce Theater, at the Théâtre des Champs Elysées in Paris, at The Arts Center Melbourne State Theatre in Melbourne, Australia, in Los Angeles at The Music Center's Dorothy Chandler Pavilion and in cities large and small across the United States. Houston Ballet has emerged as a leader in the expensive, labor-intensive task of nurturing the creation and development of new full-length narrative ballets.

Writing in Dancing Times in June 2012, dance critic Margaret Willis praised Houston Ballet and highlighted the fact that "During his own tenure, (Stanton) Welch has upped the standard and Houston Ballet now shows off a group of dancers in splendid shape. With fast and tidy footwork, they are technically skillful and have strong, broad jumps and expansive, fluid movements. The dancers' musicality shines through their work, dancing as one with elegance and refinement - and they are a handsome bunch too!...if ballet were an Olympic sport, see Houston Ballet well on the way to achieving gold."

Houston Ballet Orchestra was established in the late 1970s and consists of 61 professional musicians who play for Houston Ballet's performances at Wortham Theater Center under Music Director Ermanno Florio.

Houston Ballet's Education and Community Engagement Program reaches over 60,000 individuals in the Houston area annually. Houston Ballet Academy teaches over one thousand students every year, and approximately 50% of the current company was trained by the Academy.

For more information on Houston Ballet visit houstonballet.org.