Houston Ballet history

Her dream came true on January 22, 1973, when the Houston Ballet Guild held its first meeting.

When 38-year old Ben Stevenson became Artistic Director of Houston Ballet in the fall of 1976, he brought a wealth of training from his youth in England and from formative experiences working with three U. S. ballet companies.

Stevenson himself brought growing recognition from Asia with his 1979 invitation from Columbia University’s Cultural Exchange Center to teach a month of classes at the Beijing Academy of Dance.

The Guild hosts the phenomenal Nutcracker Market each year – which since its inception in 1981 has contributed more than $74.2 million for Houston Ballet Foundation.

Two years later, it was the highlight in Houston Ballet’s second European tour, when the company was invited to open Norway’s 1983 Bergen Festival in the city’s Grieg Hall.

1984 at Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, ph.

He guided Houston Ballet until 1987, when he became president of the new Harid Foundation Dance Academy in Boca Raton, Florida.

Paul Taylor’s Company B (1991) became a standout favorite in Houston Ballet’s repertoire, and the title song from this Andrews Sisters ballet served as a brilliant solo vehicle for principal dancer Mark Arvin.

But his departure in 1992 to become Executive Director of American Ballet Theatre was followed by more than two years of instability.

During that interim, mounting deficits overwhelmed Houston Ballet Foundation’s 20-year record of debt-free financing, requiring a severe cut in the 1995-96 budget and a two-year suspension of the Cullen Contemporary Series.

Finally, he choreographed Cleopatra (2000) for Lauren Anderson, the company’s first African-American principal dancer who had begun her training as a seven-year old Houston Ballet Academy student.

He formed his own company in Idaho in 2005, after serving eight years as Houston Ballet’s choreographic associate.

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.