Ashley Clos

The Setup: Since its premiere in 1987, Ben Stevenson's version of The Nutcracker performed by the Houston Ballet has become a constant for the city of Houston during the holiday season. As previously announced, this year is the the last time audiences will be able to see Stevenson’s version of...

In 1842, ballet-mad fans in Russia made a soup with famed prima ballerina Marie Taglioni’s pointe shoes (yes, they ate it!). It’s been 173 years since the shoe-soup incident, and Russia continues to produce dancers who deserve such wild devotion — among them members of the renowned Saint Petersburg State...

It's no secret that Russia adores its ballet. Nothing from history illustrates this devotion quite as much as when Russian fans of Marie Taglioni made a soup out of her used pointe shoes in 1842. (Yes, they ate it.) But now, more than a century and a half after the...

Li Cunxin, a former member of the Houston Ballet, is set to attend the 20th annual Dance Salad Festival. He won’t be dancing; he’s here as the artistic director of Australia’s Queensland Ballet, one of the companies showcased in the festival. “[This] city holds so many wonderful memories for me…the...

The conflict between 21st-century technology and 19th-century morality is at the center of Dancing with the Machine, FrenetiCore Dance’s first full-length narrative production in two years. “[Our current] humanity is in an era of high technological advancement, but socially and morally, many people are stuck in the 1800s. There are...