Houston Ballet II

Houston Ballet II Audition:
saturday, april 10, 2010
Registration 8:30am
audition 9-10:45am

at 1921 W. Bell, Houston, Texas

General Information about hbii

Houston Ballet II (HBII) is the top level and pre-professional division of Houston Ballet Ben Stevenson Academy.  Stanton Welch is the artistic director of HBII, Shelly Power is the associate director, and Claudio Munoz is the HBII's Ballet Master.  HBII's have daily class from an outstanding faculty from all over the world.   

HBII consists of students from the Academy's Pre-Professional Division.  HBII's repertoire includes both classical and contemporary works by Houston Ballet Artistic Director Stanton Welch, Houston Ballet Artistic Director Emeritus Ben Stevenson, and many other choreographers.  The company's mission is threefold:

HBII is another way for Houston Ballet to serve its constituents by reaching smaller communities that might not have the chance to see major ballet companies perform.  The visibility of HBII assists the growth of the professional company by showing the excellent training Houston Ballet Ben Stevenson Academy provides.

During the 2008-2009 year, HBII consisted of 22 dancers.  HBII dancers are taught by academy instructors as well as company instructors.  Dancers interested in auditioning for HBII are invited to audition at one of the touring cities during Houston Ballet's company tour or during our open call in Houston TBD for 2010.

System of Dance Training and Importance of Contemporary Dance

A HBII dancer's primary study will be Vaganova, however, Cecchetti and RAD are emphasized as well.  Modern classes occur three times a week and consist of a mix of Limon, Cunningham, Graham, and Evans styles of movement.  All modern classes are accompanied with live percussion.  HBII's are taught improvisational techniques as well as an exploration of techniques in choreography.  Every HBII dancer will be asked to learn a series of classical repertoire variations in which one variation will be chosen and performed for an artistic panel.  HBII dancers are also required to create an original solo for themselves to be performed at mid-semester.

In addition to ballet and modern, HBII's learn classical character dance, jazz, and contemporary dance, as well as basic social dance such as swing, tango, and salsa.

Repertoire, Guest Teachers and Coaching
 

Repertoire

Houston Ballet is most fortunate to have Stanton Welch as artistic director.  Mr. Welch is a world renowned choreographer.  HBII's are required to learn several of Mr. Welch's works such as Fingerprints, A Time to Dance, Bruiser,  Blue, and Raymonda.  As well as Giselle, Coppélia, Les Sylphides, La Sylphide, La Bayadere, Napoli, Esmeralda, Don Quixote, The Nutrcracker, Le Corsaire, to name only.  In 2006, HBII's were given the opportunity to participate in Stanton Welch's new rendition of Swan Lake.

Guest Teachers and Coaching

John Eliasen, Royal Danish Ballet

Mark Morris, Mark Morris Dance Group

Tina Fehlandt, Mark Morris Dance Group

John Meehan, director of ABT Studio Company, future artistic director of Hong Kong Ballet

Violette Verdi, former principal dancer New York City Ballet

Pierre Lapointe, Les Grandes Ballet

Lauren Anderson, former principal dancer Houston Ballet

Barbara Bears, principal dancer Houston Ballet

Performances

HBII has an extensive performance schedule throughout the year as they perform with the company in addition to having their own season.  Please refer to the HBII calendar to see a detailed list of performances throughout the year.

HBII calendar for students
 

Auditioning for Professional Companies After Training is Completed:

Houston Ballet offers career planning assistance to HBII dancers.  Dancers are provided with up to date information on company hires, assistance in making audition appointments, help with resumes/vitae preparation, and professional head and body photo guidance.  Workshops are held yearly for those needing assistance.

Advice and guidance on alternative dance career planning is available as needed.  Information and assistance with college dance programs is also available.

Academics
 

High School

All HBII students are required to earn a high school diploma.  Houston Ballet Ben Stevenson Academy does not provide an academic program for the completion of high school, although an education coordinator is available to assist students with their completion of high school through the many online and correspondence programs available.

Foreign students may take an English as a second language class online, by correspondence, or at colleges in the area.  Houston Community College, Rice University, or Bilingual Education Institute are schools offering courses.

College

Local university programs are available to dancers who remain in the Houston area after training with HBII.  Students may apply to the University of Houston Downtown for college study and receive as many as 30 hours of college credit upon graduation from UH Downtown after completing HBII (one to two year participants).  Community college classes are often held on site or at a nearby location for those wishing to continue their education while training or dancing.
 

Accomodations
 

Houston Ballet Ben Stevenson Academy offers assistance to students in finding accomodation.  There are many options of places to live in the area near Houston Ballet.  Some examples (but not limited to) are as follows:

Houston Ballet Chaperoned Town Homes

Houston Ballet owns two town homes connected with a live-in chaperone.  Each townhouse has space for six students, one for boys, and one for girls.  The town homes are within walking distance to Houston Ballet, and are available for students under the age of 18.  Students 17 years and younger may apply for chaperoned housing, but are not guarenteed for placement.  Rent is approximately $550.00 US per month.

Home Stay

Foreign students have the option of living with a home-stay family.  Meals and transportation to the ballet are provided by the home-stay family.  Houston Ballet Ben Stevenson Academy can assist students with inquiries.  Rent is approximately $600.00 US per month.  Please visit Home Stay Houston for more information.

Non-Chaperoned Housing

There are many apartments within walking distance to Houston Ballet.  The academy provides assistance to students in finding an apartment and/or roommate(s).  Houston Ballet is centrally located.  Grocery stores, pharmacies, delis, banks, shopping, etc. are all within a five minute walking distance.  Many students use bicycles for transportation.  The Wortham Theater Center, Houston Ballet's performance house, is a ten minute car ride to the downtown area from most apartment locations.  Rent ranges from $600.00 US for shared living, to $800.00 US single living per month.
 

Injury / Illness
 

Houston Ballet's athletic trainer is available to students.  Houston Ballet Ben Stevenson Academy has a team of physicians that are available to see students on short notice, and the academy can provide transportation to the doctor and/or hospital if necessary.  On-site clinics are often held at Houston Ballet.  Physical therapy works closely with HBII's to assist in all injury assessments.

All students are required to have a physical evaluation performed by Houston Ballet's team phsyician in Houston prior to beginning classes.

PILATES / BODY CONDITIONING

Houston Ballet is proud of its state of the art body conditioning and pilates training facility.  Ninety percent of all pilates and body conditioning instructors have been professional dancers.  Tread mills, weight machinges, cadillacs, reformers, are available free of charge every day to all HBII dancers.  To provide each student with the most comprehensive and conscientious trining possible, students in HBII are required to pay for their first five (5) pilates sessions.  After that, they are given complimentary pilates sessions with Houston Ballet pilates instructors.  Trainers are available for individual instruction as well as group lessons. 

Yamuna ball classes are also taught as well as other dance related and non-dance related injury prevention classes.

required attire

BALLET

   Women:  Leotard #1:  Motionwear - Princess Cami 2518 shelf lined, tencel, color - Black.  Leotard #2:  Motionear - Princess Cami 2518 shelf lined, cotton/lycra, color - TBD.  Pink tights, pink ballet and pointe shoes.
   Men:  Shirt #1:  Motionwear - Style 7207 black.  Shirt #2:  TBD.   Black footed tights, and additional color TBD.  Black ballet shoes.

MODERN

   Men and Women:   Black or pink footless tights

JAZZ

   Men and Women:   Jazz shoes, jazz pants optional

CHARACTER

   Women:   Character shoes and character skirt

   Men:  Jazz shoes/ballet shoes

Note:  Leg warmers and ballet skirts are not allowed in class.  Women will be required to purchase a rehearsal tutu at the beginning of the Fall Semester.

For more information on HBII, please contact Houston Ballet Ben Stevenson Academy at 713 523 6300 or via email to hbacademy@houstonballet.org.

Image: Houston Ballet's Ben Stevenson Academy

students performing Bruiser

Photo by: Jim Caldwell

Image: Houston Ballet's Ben Stevenson Academy

students performing Blue

Photo by: Jim Caldwell

Image: Houston Ballet's Ben Stevenson Academy

students performing Raymonda.

Photo by: Jim Caldwell

Image: Pilates instruction
Photo by: Bruce Bennett