BALLET ENSEMBLE OF TEXAS announces 2023 GUEST ARTISTS
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: November 6, 2023 Ballet Ensemble of Texas (BET), one of Dallas’ best-reviewed pre-professional ballet companies, today announced the Guest Artists for the company’s 2023 production of THE NUTCRACKER. After performing this summer for thousands of European spectators with the Stars of Tomorrow International, this year’s production of the classic holiday celebration THE NUTCRACKER will be presented in four performances, on December 1-2 at 7:00 p.m., with matinee performances Dec 2-3 at 2:00 p.m. Updated in 2022, the production rings in the holiday season with humor, tradition, and splendor. Guests Artists will include Melody Mennite, Principal Dancer with the Houston Ballet, Sterling Baca, Principal Dancer with Pennsylvania Ballet, and Alumni Adrian Fite, from the Ballet West Academy. More than 200 young dancers from the Ballet Academy of Texas will join BET for this production. Melody Mennite is Principal ballerina with Houston Ballet. She has toured internationally to perform the classics as well as contemporary work in dance. Some of her classical Principal roles include Odette/Odile, Aurora, Kitri, Sugar Plum Fairy and Clara in The Nutcracker, Cinderella, Manon, Juliet, The Sylph in Bournanville’s La Sylphide, Nikya in La Bayadere, Ciao Ciao San in Madame Butterfly, Marie in the ballet Marie, Tatiana and Olga in Onegin, Stephanie and Mary Vetsera in Meyerling, Swanhilda in Coppelia, Valencienne in The Merry Widow, and Lise in La Fille mal Gardee. Melody’s most recent international appearance was in the role of Juliet for the Houston Ballet’s Romeo and Juliet tour to Melbourne, Australia. During Melody’s professional career she has also originated roles in new classical and contemporary productions by choreographers Christopher Wheeldon, Justin Peck, Stanton Welch, Ben Stevenson, Christopher Bruce, Jorma Elo, Cathy Marston, Paul Taylor, Aszure Barton, Nicole Fonte, Annabelle Lopez Ochoa, Olivier Wevers, Oliver Halkowich, Jane Weiner, and Garret Smith as well as in her dual role as dancer/choreographer for several films. Melody enjoys all forms of dance and has extensive training and experience with styles rooted in classical ballet, contemporary, jazz, and hip hop. She is passionate about both learning and teaching what she has learned with others. Ms. Mennite has graced the cover of both Dance Magazine and Dance Europe and is celebrated as the Audrey Hepburn of ballet due to her dynamic acting and a predisposition for comedic roles. As an actor Melody has achieved two award winning performances in film and continues to build this part of her resume. Also from a musical family Ms. Mennite was singing onstage before she ever started training in dance. She has been professionally recorded and released and has performed leading singing roles in regional productions of both West Side Story and Oklahoma. Melody’s choreography has been featured on film, in music videos, and on ballet stages throughout the United States. In the last ten years she has been commissioned to create thirteen separate works nationally. Her hobbies include spending time in the outdoors, spending time with her son and two dogs, singing/making music, reading, writing, and practicing new ways to make art. Sterling Baca is from Larkspur, CO and began his ballet training at the Academy of Colorado Ballet. He attended the Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis School at American Ballet Theatre on full scholarship in 2009 prior to joining ABTII in the Fall of 2010. Sterling joined ABT as an Apprentice in May of 2011 and was promoted to the Corps de Ballet later that year. Sterling danced numerous Soloist and Principal roles while at ABT before joining the Philadelphia Ballet as a Principal Dancer under the directorship of Ángel Corella in August of 2016. Since then, he has danced leads in most Classical and Balanchine repertoire as well as new works by world renowned choreographers. Follow @sterlingbaca to keep up with his upcoming performances and more! Adrian Fite was born in Dallas, Texas. He started his ballet training at age 9 with the Ballet Academy of Texas. He trained under Lisa Slagle, a former member of the Joffrey Ballet, soloist at Ballet du Grande Theatre de Geneve in Switzerland, and principle at the Tulsa Ballet Theatre, as well as Thom Clower, former dancer with Dallas Ballet, as well as the former artistic director of Ballet Dallas. With the Ballet Academy of Texas, Adrian danced many roles, most notably Russian and Arabian in The Nutcracker and Ivan in Firebird. In 2021, Adrian joined the Professional Training Division Men’s Program at Ballet West under Jeffery Rogers and Evelyn Cisneros-Legate. He is currently in his second year in the Trainee Division under James Payne and has performed works such as Balanchine’s Who Cares? and excerpts from Nureyev’s Swan Lake with Ballet West Academy. Adrian appears courtesy of Ballet West Academy. BET is the official performing company of the Ballet Academy of Texas and trains dancers who are recognized by prestigious pre-professional training programs across the country. Professional alumni also dance with companies around the country, including Colorado Ballet, Ballet West, Ballet Arkansas, and four former BET dancers currently performing with American Ballet Theatre, America’s National Ballet Company. As a non-profit 501 (c)(3) organization, the company is funded largely by donations, and is supported by the National Endowment for the Arts, Texas Commission on the Arts, and the City of Coppell. Please visit the company website at www.balletensembleoftexas.org or on Facebook and Instagram @balletensembleoftexas for giving opportunities and ticket information. (Photo credit Cathy Vanover) # # #