Texas Ballet Theater
Ballet has many faces, and Texas Ballet Theater Artistic Director Ben Stevenson finds himself drawn to scores of them. “I love doing abstract work and one-act ballets,” Stephenson begins. So how have story ballets become so central to his company? “Doing musicals and working with theater directors gave me a way to tell stories. I got into doing story ballets, and people know me for them. If you do something and do it well, people want you to keep doing it,” he says.
Whether elegant, tortured, explosive, or romantic, Stevenson’s full-length story ballets have become the essence of TBT’s repertoire. As artistic director, Stevenson shepherds his dancers as a company of passionate, thinking artists. “It’s not only about the steps,” TBT dancer André Silva explains. “It’s not just about how many turns you can do or how high you can jump. You can’t just be a technician—you have to be the whole package.”
Silva’s words echo Stevenson’s lifelong adoration of the dramatics of performance, which is reflected in the many story ballets that now comprise the TBT repertoire, including Giselle, Coppélia, Cleopatra and Peer Gynt. Stevenson’s vision for the future of TBT reveals an unwavering dedication to both dancers and the art of dance. “What I want is to make a good place for dancers with stronger contracts—longer contracts with better pay. Dancers work incredibly hard. Without them there is no company,” Stevenson says emphatically. “And, eventually, I hope to build a repertoire all our own.”
The dancers of TBT are consummate performers, infused with Stevenson’s infectious spirit. “Even without a plot, dancers have to have something in their heads [to draw from],” he explains. The dancers of TBT take Stevenson’s sentiment to heart. “Our strength is performing, and that’s because of Ben—straight out because of Ben,” says TBT dancer Carolyn Judson. “He is so involved and so excited. You can tell he wants to be here, and that makes us all excited to be here too. What the audience [experiences] is our energy.”
TBT dates back to 1961, when it was a civic company known as the Fort Worth Ballet. In 1984, it began working toward attaining professional status, and in 1988, when the Dallas Ballet dissolved, it expanded its season into Dallas. In 1993, the name was changed to Fort Worth Dallas Ballet, and two separate boards were formed (one responsible for fundraising for the Dallas season). Finally in early May 2003, the name was officially changed to TBT and the boards merged, reflecting the company’s desire to serve North Texas as well as the state at large.
TBT is the second-largest professional dance company in Texas, with a budget of $5 million and an audience of more than 100,000 each year. The company performs regularly at both the Bass Performance Hall in Fort Worth and the Music Hall at Fair Park in Dallas. TBT’s 2005-06 season included Stevenson’s Romeo and Juliet, The Nutcracker, Cinderella and a mixed rep program.
“Artistry. That’s what TBT is really about,” says Silva. “We’re a small company. We’re good dancers. But best of all is our heart, our passion and our artistry.”
Jenny Block writes for a variety of regional and national publications. Her latest work appears in the new anthology It’s A Girl: Women Writers on Raising Daughters.
