Houston Ballet To Give A Performance In The Woodlands, Tx

Houston Ballet will hit the road, traveling just north of their home venue to perform an exciting mixed repertory program at The Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion in The Woodlands, TX on Friday, May 4, 2018. The evening will include four enthrallingly diverse ballets that will highlight the company's extraordinary range, artistic depth, and technical excellence. Lawn and mezzanine seating are free for the performance and reserved orchestra seats are available for $20. The event is generously sponsored by The Humphreys Foundation.

Artistic Director Stanton Welch AM's Clear, set for seven men and one woman, was created to showcase the company's strong male dancers. This abstract ballet with explosive and dynamic choreography is set to the music of Bach, and noted fashion designer Michael Kors created the costumes for Clear.

Also, by Stanton Welch is the statuesque and intimate duet, La Cathedrale Engloutie. Set to music by Claude Debussy, this beautiful ballet is new to Houston Ballet's repertoire, having just made it's Houston premiere in March of this year.

The evening takes an energetic turn with the performance of Trey McIntyre's In Dreams set to music by the legendary Roy Orbison. McIntyre's bold choreography pairs the movement of ballet with the soul of bluegrass and the swagger of rockabilly.

The program is rounded out with a tribute to the "father of American ballet" with George Balanchine's exquisite Symphony in C. Set to music by Georges Bizet, this grand classical masterpiece showcases nearly every member of the company.

Houston Ballet's program is sponsored in part by United Airlines and Houston Methodist Hospital.

Pre-performance activities in the North Plaza will begin when the gates open at 7:00 PM. Activities include The Pavilion Partners arts & crafts booth and Instrument Petting Zoo as well as activities by Houston Ballet, Fidelity, Tommy Bahama, Texas Children's Hospital - The Woodlands, and more.

Guests are welcome to bring a picnic from home or their favorite restaurant to enjoy in their seat or on the lawn. Keep in mind however, that beverages are not allowed to be brought into The Pavilion and picnics must comply with The Pavilion's bag size restriction and/or be in original packaging. Please visit The Pavilion's website for more information on these restrictions. Lawn chairs also are provided free for this event!

Preferred paid parking is available in the on-site Town Center Garage, located along Six Pines Drive. Tickets for on-site parking can be purchased in advance at Ticketmaster.com and The Pavilion Box Office. Guests also may park in any of the five free parking lots located off of Timberloch Place.

About Houston Ballet

Houston Ballet has evolved into a company of 60 dancers with a budget of $33 million, making it the country's fifth largest ballet company. With a state-of-the-art performance space built especially for the company-also the largest professional dance facility in America-Houston Ballet's $46.6 million Center for Dance opened in April 2011, with an endowment of just over $74.1 million (as of July 2017).

Australian choreographer Stanton Welch AM has served as Artistic Director of Houston Ballet since 2003, raising the level of the company's classical technique and commissioning works from dance makers such as Christopher Bruce, Alexander Ekman, William Forsythe, Ji?í Kylián, Trey McIntyre, Julia Adam, Edwaard Liang and George Balanchine. 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 more than a decade.

Houston Ballet has toured extensively both nationally and internationally. Over the past fifteen years, the company has appeared in renowned theaters in London, Paris, Moscow, Spain, Montréal, Ottawa, Melbourne, New York City, Washington, D.C., Los Angeles, and in cities large and small across the United States.

Houston Ballet's Education and Community Engagement Program reaches more than 60,000 individuals in the Houston area annually. Houston Ballet Academy teaches more than one thousand students every year, and approximately 50 percent of the current company was trained by the Academy.

For more information on Houston Ballet visit www.houstonballet.org.

About Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion

Opened in 1990, The Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion is part of The Center for the Performing Arts at The Woodlands, a nonprofit 501 (c)(3) organization that provides diverse, high-quality performing arts events for the entertainment and enrichment of a broad regional audience. Through numerous educational and community outreach programs, The Pavilion is a catalyst for attracting new audiences to the performing arts and building strong ties between the arts and educational institutions.

For more information about The Pavilion, please visit our website at www.woodlandscenter.org. Look for The Pavilion on Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat, YouTube and Instagram, or download The Pavilion's iOS or Android app.