Houston Ballet's Ben Stevenson Academy
Houston Ballet's Ben Stevenson Academy is a ballet training school affiliated with the Houston Ballet. The academy is housed in Houston Ballet Center for Dance in Houston, Texas. History During the 1950s, Houston Ballet Academy was established under the leadership of Tatiana Semenova, a former dancer with the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo The company Ballets Russes de Monte-Carlo (with a plural name) was formed in 1932 after the death of Sergei Diaghilev and the demise of Ballets Russes. Its director was Wassily de Basil (usually referred to as Colonel W. de Basil), and it .... In July 2003, Houston Ballet Academy was renamed Houston Ballet's Ben Stevenson Academy in honor of Ben Stevenson, former artistic director of the professional company and director of the academy. Shelly Power has been the Academy's director. Divisions Main School Division Children age seven and older may audition for admission into Levels 1-8 of the Main School program. Auditions are held ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Tatiana Semenova
Tatiana Semenova (July 17, 1920–September 24, 1996) was a Russian-born ballet dancer and dance teacher. She was the founding director of the Houston Ballet Academy. Semenova was born in Petrograd (now St. Petersburg), Russia, but moved with her family to Paris, France when she was five. At the age of seven, Semenova began studying with Mathilde Kschessinska. After several years of practice, Semenova made her dancing debut at the age of 11 with a Russian opera company formed in London. The next year she began her formal ballet career as a member of the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo, touring the United States and South America. In 1937 Semenova joined the Opéra russe à Paris as its premiere danseuse. During World War II, she formed a group called the Foxhole Ballet to tour military installations in Europe and Africa with the USO. While performing in Rome, Italy on a bomb-damaged stage, she severed the cartilage in her knee and fractured her arm. Unable to dance any lo ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Houston Ballet Center For Dance
Houston Ballet, operated by Houston Ballet Foundation, is a professional ballet company based in Houston, Texas. The company consists of 59 dancers and produces over 85 performances per year. It is the 5th largest ballet company in the United States (by number of dancers). History Beginning in the 1930s, Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo. spent a week during the Christmas season performing for Houston audiences for 11 years. This led patrons to express a growing desire for a resident dance company within Houston. The Houston Ballet has its origins in the Houston Ballet Academy, which was established in 1955 under the leadership of Tatiana Semenova, a former dancer with the Ballets Russes. In 1969, the foundation formed a professional ballet company under the direction of Nina Popova, also a former dancer with the Ballet Russes and the American Ballet Theatre. Direction From 1976–2003, Ben Stevenson, a former dancer with Britain's Royal Ballet and English National Ballet, served ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Ballet
Ballet () is a type of performance dance that originated during the Italian Renaissance in the fifteenth century and later developed into a concert dance form in France and Russia. It has since become a widespread and highly technical form of dance with Glossary of ballet, its own vocabulary. Ballet has been influential globally and has defined the foundational ballet technique, techniques which are used in many other dance genres and cultures. Various schools around the world have incorporated their own cultures. As a result, ballet has evolved in distinct ways. A ''ballet'' as a unified work of art, work comprises the choreography (dance), choreography and music for a ballet production. Ballets are choreographed and performed by trained ballet dancers. Traditional classical ballets are usually performed with classical music accompaniment and use elaborate costumes and staging, whereas modern ballets are often performed in simple costumes and without elaborate sets or scenery ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Houston, Texas
Houston ( ) is the List of cities in Texas by population, most populous city in the U.S. state of Texas and in the Southern United States. Located in Southeast Texas near Galveston Bay and the Gulf of Mexico, it is the county seat, seat of Harris County, Texas, Harris County, as well as the principal city of the Greater Houston metropolitan area, the fifth-most populous metropolitan statistical area in the United States and the List of Texas metropolitan areas, second-most populous in Texas after Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, Dallas–Fort Worth. With a population of 2,314,157 in 2023, Houston is the List of United States cities by population, fourth-most populous city in the United States after New York City, Los Angeles, and Chicago, and the List of North American cities by population, sixth-most populous city in North America. Houston is the southeast anchor of the greater megaregion known as the Texas Triangle. Comprising a land area of , Houston is the List of United S ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Ballet Russe De Monte Carlo
The company Ballets Russes de Monte-Carlo (with a plural name) was formed in 1932 after the death of Sergei Diaghilev and the demise of Ballets Russes. Its director was Wassily de Basil (usually referred to as Colonel W. de Basil), and its artistic director was René Blum. They fell out in 1936 and the company split. The part which de Basil retained went through two name changes before becoming the Original Ballet Russe. Blum founded Les Ballets de Monte Carlo, which changed its name to Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo (note the singular) when Léonide Massine became artistic director in 1938. It operated under this name until it disbanded some 20 years later.Koegler, Horst, ''Concise Oxford Dictionary of Ballet'' (1st English edition, 1977). The Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo featured such dancers as Ruthanna Boris, Frederic Franklin, Alexandra Danilova, Maria Tallchief, Nicholas Magallanes, Lois Bewley, Tamara Toumanova, George Zoritch, Alicia Alonso, Elissa Minet, Y ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Ben Stevenson (dancer)
Ben Stevenson OBE (born 4 April 1936), is a former ballet dancer with Britain's Royal Ballet and English National Ballet, co-director of National Ballet of Washington, D.C. (1971–1974), artistic director of Chicago Ballet (1974-1975), artistic director of Houston Ballet (1976–2003), and artistic director of Texas Ballet Theater (2003–2022). Early life A native of Portsmouth, England, Stevenson received his dance training at the Arts Educational School in London. Upon his graduation, he was awarded the prestigious Adeline Genée Gold Medal, the highest award give to a dancer by the Royal Academy of Dancing. Career At the age of 18, Stevenson was invited to join the Sadler's Wells Royal Ballet by Dame Ninette de Valois. A few years later, Anton Dolin invited him to dance with the London Festival Ballet, where, as a principal dancer, he performed leading roles in all the classics. In 1967, the English National Ballet asked him to stage his first ballet, the highly su ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Ballet Schools In The United States
Ballet () is a type of performance dance that originated during the Italian Renaissance in the fifteenth century and later developed into a concert dance form in France and Russia. It has since become a widespread and highly technical form of dance with its own vocabulary. Ballet has been influential globally and has defined the foundational techniques which are used in many other dance genres and cultures. Various schools around the world have incorporated their own cultures. As a result, ballet has evolved in distinct ways. A ''ballet'' as a unified work comprises the choreography and music for a ballet production. Ballets are choreographed and performed by trained ballet dancers. Traditional classical ballets are usually performed with classical music accompaniment and use elaborate costumes and staging, whereas modern ballets are often performed in simple costumes and without elaborate sets or scenery. Etymology Ballet is a French word which had its origin in Italian '' ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Dance In Texas
Dance is an art form, consisting of sequences of body movements with aesthetic and often symbolic value, either improvised or purposefully selected. Dance can be categorized and described by its choreography, by its repertoire of movements or by its historical period or place of origin. Dance is typically performed with musical accompaniment, and sometimes with the dancer simultaneously using a musical instrument themselves. Two common types of group dance are theatrical and participatory dance. Both types of dance may have special functions, whether social, ceremonial, competitive, erotic, martial, sacred or liturgical. Dance is not solely restricted to performance, as dance is used as a form of exercise and occasionally training for other sports and activities. Dance performances and dancing competitions are found across the world exhibiting various different styles and standards. Dance may also be participated in alone as a form of exercise or self expression. Dancing is ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |