Houston Ballet Academy graduates and current Corps de Ballet dancers Neal Burks as Basilio and Magnoly Batista as Kitri in Houston Ballet Academy's Ben Stevenson's Don Quixote. Photo by Amitava Sarkar (2019). Courtesy of Houston Ballet. Neal Burks was a promising young dancer in 2013. Ten years on, that promise is being fulfilled. But for... Continue Reading →
Many Steps, Many Styles: Dance Offers Views of Other Cultures
When dancers take to one of the Straz Center’s stages, they display the skills they’ve honed through hours and hours of practice. They also can offer a glimpse into another culture. “Dance is education as well as entertainment,” said Kelly King, lead contemporary dance teacher at the Patel Conservatory. Case in point: Flamenco Vivo Carlota... Continue Reading →
Five Questions for Next Generation Ballet Alum Hector Jain
A teenager in a foreign land during a global pandemic, Hector Jain is well beyond his years. The Next Generation Ballet (NGB) alum and Lakeland, Fla., resident has been studying at Les Ballet de Monte Carlo’s Princess Grace Academy since early in 2020 and soaking up all the experience has to offer. Caught in the... Continue Reading →