Alberta Ballet and Houston Ballet's International Partnership

Plains Midstream Canada, an energy company located in Calgary, Alberta, will sponsor a new international partnership between Alberta Ballet and Houston Ballet. Though Alberta Ballet is Canada’s second largest ballet company, the organization is seeking to raise its international profile. Houston Ballet will perform in Edmonton and Calgary in late April and early May, while Alberta Ballet performed in Houston in January, 2015. At that point, it wasn’t clear that the tour would develop into its current partnership between the companies.

While The Royal Ballet in London and the National Ballet of Canada jointly finance productions, the Alberta/Houston partnership hasn’t yet described what it will create, beyond mutual touring opportunities.

As funding for the arts grows ever more grim, ballet companies are building new, global relationships. Hopefully these partnerships will result in the preservation of elaborate, full-length ballets as well as leaving room for artistic freedom and innovation.