Houston Ballet

Stanton Welch, a 32-year-old Australian choreographer who most recently served as artistic associate at BalletMet in Columbus, Ohio, will take over as artistic director of Houston Ballet in July. Welch succeeds Ben Stevenson, who led the Texas company from regional to international prominence during his 27-year tenure. Houston Ballet will dance a tribute to Stevenson at the Wortham Theater Center in Houston on Sunday. Welch has choreographed about 20 works.

There's no shortage of dramatic sweep in the story of Li Cunxin. The peasants' child became an international ballet star, but not before his 1981 defection from China to the United States sparked a diplomatic showdown and front-page headlines. In "Mao's Last Dancer," the film adaptation of his autobiography, that story comes to life only in fits and starts. Director Bruce Beresford ("Driving Miss Daisy") knows how to tug heartstrings but as he moves the inspirational material toward its tear-jerker finale, it's often hampered by awkward melodrama.

Lavish and lively to excess, Ben Stevenson's 100th anniversary staging of "The Sleeping Beauty" not only summarizes the performance history of this Petipa/Tchaikovsky classic but suggests controversial options for keeping the ballet fresh in its second century. Three Houston Ballet casts embodied Stevenson's bold and essentially redemptive approach in weekend performances at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion.

Try summing up the themes of August Bournonville's romantic 1836 ballet, "La Sylphide." You might get a list something like this: dreams, illusions, ideals versus reality and worse -- irrational, implacable evil. No wonder the ballet survives, not only to entertain but also to trouble, even deeply disturb. Los Angeles Ballet, founded in 2006, marked its latest stage of artistic growth by mounting a handsome production of "La Sylphide" on Saturday at the Redondo Beach Performing Arts Center, with period sets and costumes borrowed from the Houston Ballet.

In the good old days--which, in retrospect, may not have been all that good--American ballet existed in two basic places: New York and Out of Town. New York meant Balanchine. It also meant American Ballet Theatre and the Joffrey. The latter two may have spent a lot of time on the road, but Manhattan remained home base. It represented Establishment approval, security, snob appeal and glamour. For better or worse, New York was where the action came from. Also the money. Attention had to be paid.

Seven Americans have a chance to become one of the wonders of the international ballet world. They are among 27 finalists dancing toward that dream in the third round of the International Ballet Competition. The international jury will announce prize winners in four divisions Friday. Winners will receive gold, silver and bronze medals and cash awards from $500 to $10,000. The U.S. finalists are three senior women, three junior women and one senior man.

Houston's new $70-million Wortham Theater Center opened Saturday night with an invitation-only black-tie gala. With actor Tony Randall as master of ceremonies, more than 2,000 people watched performances by the Houston Ballet, Houston Grand Opera, Tommy Tune, Diahann Carroll and the Tango Argentina dancers. Emmy Award-winning producer George Stevens Jr. staged the performance.

Top Ballet Honors: A Cuban dancer on Friday won first prize at the International Ballet Competition in Jackson, Miss., while the principal dancer of the Houston Ballet took the top female award. Jose Manuel Carreno of Havana said that winning the Grand Prix City of Jackson award of excellence was a fitting end to two weeks of intense competition.

Houston Drops N.Y.C.: The Houston Ballet, which played Los Angeles earlier this year as part of a national tour, has canceled a planned one-week engagement at New York's City Center Theater. In a statement, company officials said that while overall finances remain solid, the decision to drop the November date in New York was made "to ensure the fiscal health of the organization and preserve the wide range of artistic goals established for this and future seasons."

What's happening in the next few weeks: * The Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo is this city's version of Mardi Gras, with roping, bareback and bronco rodeo action, parades, a world championship barbecue competition and concert performances by Clint Black, left, LeAnn Rimes, Brooks & Dunn, Tanya Tucker, Reba McEntire, Vince Gill and others. Events surrounding the rodeo run from Feb. 12 through March 8. Houston Astrodome. (800) 726-1313.

TREY MCINTYRE'S initial experience with ballet did not augur well for a career in dance. "I would skip class a lot. My mom would drop me off, and I would go get a Slurpee next door." Ballet class, to this 11-year-old in Wichita, Kan., "felt so square and confining." But an enlightened teacher noticed that while her less-than-stellar student was spending time in the parking lot, he was also busy teaching steps he had invented to some friends.

Stanton Welch, a 32-year-old Australian choreographer who most recently served as artistic associate at BalletMet in Columbus, Ohio, will take over as artistic director of Houston Ballet in July. Welch succeeds Ben Stevenson, who led the Texas company from regional to international prominence during his 27-year tenure. Houston Ballet will dance a tribute to Stevenson at the Wortham Theater Center in Houston on Sunday. Welch has choreographed about 20 works.

What's happening the next few weeks: * Ray Charles, above, performs classical hits and personal favorites with the Houston Symphony as part of the Exxon Pops series Sept. 3-4, 8 p.m., and Sept. 5, 7:30 p.m. $21 to $65. Jones Hall, 615 Louisiana St. (800) 828-ARTS. * Theatre Under the Stars presents "The Scarlet Pimpernel," a musical by Frank Wildhorn with book and lyrics by Nan Knighton. Aug. 10 to 22 in the Brown Theater at Wortham Center, 510 Preston. $15 to $75. (713) 558-8887.

What's happening in the next few weeks: * The Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo is this city's version of Mardi Gras, with roping, bareback and bronco rodeo action, parades, a world championship barbecue competition and concert performances by Clint Black, left, LeAnn Rimes, Brooks & Dunn, Tanya Tucker, Reba McEntire, Vince Gill and others. Events surrounding the rodeo run from Feb. 12 through March 8. Houston Astrodome. (800) 726-1313.

The undead no longer walk among us--they dance. Restlessly, endlessly, purposelessly they dance, in choreography without distinction to music without a pulse. Every hour or so they claim a new victim, which initiates an orgy of over-the-top pantomime and flamboyant stagecraft. Then it's back to the dancing: a wan, dim, never-ceasing classical hell-on-earth set amid the bat-gargoyles and bat-tapestries and blood-red swag curtains the undead call home.

Ben Stevenson, the artistic director of Houston Ballet, has always been a practitioner and a proponent of narrative in ballet. Stevenson's first original full-length "ballet ballet," as he puts it, was "Cinderella," made in 1970 for the National Ballet in Washington, and restaged in 1989 for American Ballet Theatre (which will perform it Aug. 1-3 at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion).

Clearly, the folks of the Houston Ballet know what they're doing, carefully budgeting just one out-of-town trip this year, and that to Los Angeles, the city where dance companies come to die. And people say this is the year not to underestimate anyone from Texas? The Houstonians, however, have evolved as Darwinians of dance, fit and hip survivors.

What's happening the next few weeks: * Ray Charles, above, performs classical hits and personal favorites with the Houston Symphony as part of the Exxon Pops series Sept. 3-4, 8 p.m., and Sept. 5, 7:30 p.m. $21 to $65. Jones Hall, 615 Louisiana St. (800) 828-ARTS. * Theatre Under the Stars presents "The Scarlet Pimpernel," a musical by Frank Wildhorn with book and lyrics by Nan Knighton. Aug. 10 to 22 in the Brown Theater at Wortham Center, 510 Preston. $15 to $75. (713) 558-8887.

Houston Drops N.Y.C.: The Houston Ballet, which played Los Angeles earlier this year as part of a national tour, has canceled a planned one-week engagement at New York's City Center Theater. In a statement, company officials said that while overall finances remain solid, the decision to drop the November date in New York was made "to ensure the fiscal health of the organization and preserve the wide range of artistic goals established for this and future seasons."