Texas Ballet Theater dancers
André Silva and Lonnie Weeks win Silver and Bronze Medals
at Shanghai International Ballet Competition
Elite ballet competition honors the world’s most outstanding dancers
North Texas – Ben Stevenson, artistic director of Texas Ballet Theater, today announced company dancers André Silva and Lonnie Weeks were awarded the Silver and Bronze Medals, respectively, at the 4th Annual Shanghai China International Ballet Competition August 9 – 20, 2007. Silva and Weeks were recognized and awarded in a ceremony on August 20 following a rigorous competitive process. Stevenson also traveled to Shanghai to rehearse and coach both dancers during the competition.
Professional dancers from around the world represented the United States, China, Korea, Belarus, Russia, Australia, Cuba, Bulgaria, Brazil, Venezuela, Canada, Uzbekistan and the Philippines during the competition. Each competitor was required to prepare and perform four classical variations and two contemporary works.
Silva, in his fifth season with Texas Ballet Theater, competed in the Senior Male Division. He performed variations from the ballets Le Corsaire, Don Quixote, Swan Lake and Esmeralda. Silva’s contemporary pieces were “Twelfth Movement” from Stevenson’s Mozart Requiem and “Nut Bush City Limits” from Texas Ballet Theater Associate Artistic Director Tim O’Keefe’s Love Thing.
Weeks, in his second season with the Company, competed in the Junior Male Division. His performances included variations from La Sylphide, “Bluebird” and “Act III Prince” from The Sleeping Beauty and Napoli. Weeks’ performed, “Maple Leaf Rag” from O’Keefe’s Ragtime Dance and Stevenson’s Crazy Little Thing Called Love as his contemporary works.
The 1st Annual Shanghai International Ballet Competition was held in 1995. Additional information on the Competition is available by visiting www.shanghaiibc.com/en/.
About André Silva
A native of Brasilia, Brazil, Silva trained at the Academia de Dança Royal of Brazil, The Harid Conservatory and Houston Ballet’s Ben Stevenson Academy. He has performed with National Ballet of Cuba, Dominic Walsh Dance Theater, Houston Ballet, TITAS and the Dance Salad Festival in Houston. His favorite performances include principal roles in Peer Gynt, Romeo and Juliet, Swan Lake and Ben Stevenson’s Mozart Requiem. Silva was the recipient of the inaugural Ben Stevenson Rising Star Award, an international honor given for excellence in dance. He also received the Outstanding Choreographer Award at the 2007 Youth America Grand Prix regional competition. He was recently profiled in the April/May issue of Pointe Magazine. Silva earned the Silver Medal at the 4th Annual Shanghai International Ballet Competition in August 2007. This is his fifth season with Texas Ballet Theater.
About Lonnie Weeks
A native of Chicago, Weeks trained on full merit scholarship at the Faubourg School of Ballet in Hanover Park, Illinois and the Ruth Page Center for the Arts in Chicago, as well as Texas Ballet Theater School before joining Texas Ballet Theater under the direction of Ben Stevenson. He has most enjoyed performing the “Pas de Deux” from Flower Festival in Texas Ballet Theater’s Mozart at the Majestic last season. In August 2007, Weeks was awarded the Bronze Medal at the 4th Annual Shanghai International Ballet Competition. He looks forward to his second season with Texas Ballet Theater.
Texas Ballet Theater Artistic Staff
Ben Stevenson, O.B.E., Artistic Director
Tim O’Keefe, Associate Artistic Director
Li Anlin, Assistant Artistic Director
Anna Donovan, Principal Ballet Master
Jack Buckhannan, Music Director and Conductor
ABOUT TEXAS BALLET THEATER
Founded in 1961, Texas Ballet Theater is the premier resident professional Ballet Company of North Texas. Under the direction of artistic director Ben Stevenson, O.B.E., the ballet brings unprecedented talent, beauty and artistic expression to the stages of Fort Worth's Bass Performance Hall, Dallas' Music Hall at Fair Park and the historic Majestic Theatre in downtown Dallas. Texas Ballet Theater will become the resident ballet company for the Margot and Bill Winspear Opera House at the Dallas Center for the Performing Arts when it opens in 2009. Season sponsors include Star-Telegram, American Airlines, Steinway Hall of Fort Worth, The Dallas Morning News, Arts Council of Fort Worth and Tarrant County, TACA and Dallas Office of Cultural Affairs. For more information, go to www.texasballettheater.org.
Photo Credit
Artist: Carolyn Judson. Photo: Ellen Appel.