(483) Stanton Welch and Julie Kent on Houston Ballet’s Creative Culture and the Season Ahead

About this episode

Stanton Welch and Julie Kent discuss their leadership at Houston Ballet and the upcoming season's performances.

Stanton Welch and Julie Kent join the Conversations on Dance podcast this week and reflect on nearly three years leading Houston Ballet, praising the dancers’ versatility, focus, and the engaged Houston community, and describing the value of sharing leadership. They discuss how the company’s identity is shaped by having a prolific choreographer as artistic director in Stanton and what they look for in dancers. Looking ahead, they highlight a variety of works still to come this season including Welch’s new 12-minute piece to Mason Bates featuring electronics and live percussion, and they outline how Welch’s Giselle differs musically and dramatically, with expanded characters and staging, while Kent coaches intention and relationships. For more information on performances still to come this season, visit houstonballet.org. Houston Ballet 25/27 Season announced here: https://www.houstonballet.org/seasontickets/2026-2027-season-announced/ Listen to Conversations on Dance ad-free on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/cw/conversationsondance TIMESTAMPS: 00:00 Welcome Back Catch Up 02:14 Partnership Leading Together 03:01 Studio Time And Support 04:21 Choreographic Hub Culture 07:54…

People in this episode

Guests: Stanton Welch, Julie Kent

Topics covered

• Houston Ballet
• creative culture
• leadership
• choreography
• auditions
• season preview

Keywords

• dance
• performances
• artistic direction
• Giselle
• Mason Bates

Mentioned in this episode

Products: Giselle, Mason Bates

Books & works: Creative Culture and the Season Ahead, Conversations on Dance

Places: Houston

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