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AUGUST 11, 2009                                                         KIM ESPINOSA
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Jubilee of Dance: A 40^th Anniversary Celebration

On Friday, December 4, 2009, Houston Ballet presents its sixth annual Jubilee of Dance: A 40^th Anniversary Celebration, a special one-night only performance showcasing the talent and artistry of the company dancers in a program of high-energy excerpts from signature works and beloved classics. Houston Chronicle dance critic Molly Glentzer called the 2006 Jubilee of Dance "the event of the season," noting, "The audience gave it a rousing standing ovation." This year's Jubilee of Dance will mark the high point of the celebration of the company's fortieth anniversary: 

The 2009 Jubilee of Dance will also pay tribute to Barbara Bears, a beloved company star for over two decades who will be retiring from the stage at the end of 2009.  Winner of the silver medal at the 1991 International Ballet Competition, Ms. Bears joined the company in 1988, and immediately caught the eye of the legendary British choreographer Sir Kenneth MacMillan, who cast her in the leading female role in his Gloria as a seventeen year-old member of the corps de ballet.  She has displayed a particular affinity for the works MacMillan, giving memorable interpretations of the leading female roles in his ballets Manon, Solitaire and Elite Syncopations.  She has had numerous roles created for her by such choreographers as Ben Stevenson (Svetlana, the female lead in Dracula in 1997) and Stanton Welch (Indigo in 1999 and the Big Sky and Cline Time sections of his evening-length work Tales of Texas in 2004).  She was twice selected "best dancer" in the city of Houston by The Houston Press, first in 2001 and again in 2004.  Reviewing her performance in Ben Stevenson's Five Poems, dance critic Lauren Kern observed, "Five Poems is an ensemble piece, but Barbara Bears steals the show.  She captures the frustrated passion of Wagner's score, lingering in Stevenson's sad and sensual choreography.  You can't buy moments like these."