Hurricane Harvey Has Canceled Houston Ballet's Opening Performance—Here's How Dancers Are Working to Rebuild

The recovery process has begun for much of Texas following the destruction of Hurricane Harvey, and that includes the dance community. Earlier this week, Houston Ballet’s executive director Jim Nelson and artistic director Stanton Welch released a statement updating us on the company. “We are grateful to be able to share with you that our dancers, artists, and staff are safe, although many have been displaced and otherwise affected by this terrible storm.” They then announced some more difficult news, saying, “Our season-opening performances of Poetry in Motion, scheduled for September 8-17, have been unavoidably canceled.”

Despite how disappointing it is for the dancers and audience to be missing out, Houston Ballet is hopeful that its North American premiere of Sir Kenneth Macmillan’s Mayerling, which is scheduled to begin on September 21, will still take place. And in the meantime, we’ve been seeing so many acts of kindness to lift everyones’ spirits.

HB principal dancer Connor Walsh shared on his Facebook page that he rescued kittens from drowning in his backyard during the storm.

Miami City Ballet made this heartfelt video.

The Actors Fund
and the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) provide assistance to and funding for affected arts organizations.

And Stagestep also announced that they will contribute 50% of the cost of its dance floor systems to dance companies, schools and centers trying to rebuild damaged facilities.