Click here to download pdf

FOR RELEASE ON NOVEMBER 29, 2009
CONTACT: SHAUNA TYSOR
KIM ESPINOSA
713 535 3226
pr@houstonballet.org

HOUSTON BALLET ANNOUNCES TOURING SCHEDULE
FOR THE 2009-2010 SEASON

Houston Ballet Returns to The Kennedy Center
in June 2010

Company Performs The Vertiginous Thrill of Exactitude at
Chicago Dancing Festival in August 2009

Houston Ballet returns to New Orleans in October 2009

Houston Ballet II makes first appearance in Germany

Houston, TX – Houston Ballet Artistic Director Stanton Welch announced touring plans for the company's 2009-2010 season today, including a return to The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C., a return to New Orleans and performances at the 2009 Chicago Dancing Festival.

The company begins its touring in August 2009 with the company’s debut in Chicago, Illinois at the third annual Chicago Dancing Festival (August 22) in Millennium Park. Houston Ballet will perform William Forsythe's energetic and classical work, The Vertiginous Thrill of Exactitude. The company will join world-renowned dancers and companies from across the nation for this series of performances under the stars. The Chicago Dancing Festival is a project of the Chicago Dancing Company in association with the Museum of Contemporary Art and The City of Chicago, Millennium Park. For additional information, visit
www.chicagodancingfestival.com.

After touring Stanton Welch's production of Marie to much critical acclaim in New Orleans in March 2009, Houston Ballet returns to open New Orleans Ballet Association's 40th season with a bang. Houston Ballet will perform Nacho Duato's Jardi Tancat, Stanton Welch’s Falling, William Forsythe’s The Vertiginous Thrill of Exactitude and Twyla Tharp’s In the Upper Room on October 24 in the Mahalia Jackson Theater of Performing Arts. Houston Ballet has a long relationship with New Orleans that began in 1979 with the company's first performance there. Tickets may be purchased by calling (504) 522-0996, Ext. 2. or on New Orleans Ballet Association's website at www.nobadance.com.

From June 15 - 16, 2010, Houston Ballet returns to perform in the Opera House at The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C. as part of Ballet Across America, a biannual program showcasing the depth and breadth ballet through important companies and choreographers from around the United States. Houston Ballet will perform Mr. Welch's work, Falling.

At the premiere of the work by San Francisco Ballet in 2005, Michael Wade Simpson of the San Francisco Chronicle observed, "The whole work has a fresh sense of direction and musicality….Falling is a delight in shades of pastel, with good ideas and excellent dancing delivered in a joyful, Mozartian spirit." Allan Ulrich commented in Voice of Dance that, "Welch's fourth commission for the company [San Francisco Ballet] …accomplishes the most through its directness and charm. A larky abstraction for five couples set to two Mozart, allstring Divertimenti, K. 136 and K. 138 ("Salzburg Symphonies") and clothed in Holly Hynes' folksy, pastel-tinted costumes, Falling mingles the classical vocabulary with idiomatic touches."

Other companies performing in the Ballet Across America series include Tulsa Ballet, Christopher Wheeldon's Morphoses, Pacific Northwest Ballet, The Suzanne Farrell Ballet, Ballet Arizona, The Joffrey Ballet, Aspen Santa Fe Ballet, and North Carolina Dance Theatre. This marks Houston Ballet's eighth appearance at The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts over the last twenty-seven years. The company last performed at The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in June 2008.

Houston Ballet is America's fourth largest ballet company. It was founded in 1969, and has been hailed by The New York Times as "one of the nation's best ballet companies." Under the leadership of artistic director Stanton Welch, the company features 53 dancers and has a $20 million annual budget. Over the last decade, Houston Ballet has toured to London, New York, Moscow, Hong Kong, Los Angeles, Montreal, Spain and The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C. With its extensive international touring, Houston Ballet has emerged as one of the city's most effective international ambassadors.

Houston Ballet II's first appearance in Germany

From April 21-April 27, 2010, Houston Ballet II, the second company of Houston Ballet, will tour to Germany for the first time. The company will perform a mixed repertory program at Theater der Stadt Schweinfurt in the centrally located Schweinfurt, Germany about 100 miles east of Frankfurt from April 21-24 and at Amt für Kultur - Theater am Ring in Villingen-Schwenningen, Germany on April 27. Villingen-Schwenningen is the largest city of the Schwarzwald-Baar district located south of Baden-Württemberg, Germany. Houston Ballet II will also perform at University of New Hampshire at Durham on October 20, 2009.

"Houston Ballet II's debut in Germany this spring is not only exciting but a turning point for these young dancers and Houston Ballet," explains Shelly Power, associate director of the academy. "Touring abroad is a win-win for everyone. Having our second company exposed to different cultures, audiences and theatrical experiences is momentous. Audiences abroad will experience this fine group of young dancers and be amazed at their talent and virtuosity. This is further testament to the progress we have made to increase performance opportunities for our dancers and to educate them in a global fashion."

The dancers of Houston Ballet II are coached by the internationally recognized Claudio Munoz, ballet master for Houston Ballet II; Shelly Power, associate director of Houston Ballet's Ben Stevenson Academy, Stanton Welch, and Houston Ballet's artistic staff. In recent seasons Houston Ballet II has traveled to Mexico (to the Seminario Internacional de Critica de Danza Dance Festival in Monterrey in October 2006), Budapest (International Youth Festival in October 2008) and to New York's prestigious City Center for Music & Dance (in January 2007).

Houston Ballet's touring engagements are supported in part by the Fayez Sarofim & Co. Touring Fund.

###