Birthplace
Dover, New Hampshire
Dance Training
Portsmouth School of Ballet
Walnut Hill School for the Performing Arts
Houston Ballet Academy
Houston Ballet II
Year Joined
2011
Promotions
First Soloist - 2021
Soloist - 2017
Demi Soloist - 2016
Favorite Role
Adagio boy in Stanton Welch’s Clear
The choreography is beautifully challenging, so you always feel a sense of reward when completing it. That, paired with the motivation for creating the ballet, you always finish it feeling like you were a part of something incredibly special.
Favorite Ballet
Ulysses Dove’s Red Angels
The late Albert Evans was in the original cast of the ballet, and his final solo starts with him strutting forward. I was instantly mesmerized and also shocked that, as a ballet dancer, you could have that fierce of a moment onstage. His career and this ballet in particular has always been a driving force that motivates me. It would be a DREAM to dance this ballet.
A Defining Moment
Dancing 'The Shepherd' in Stanton Welch's Sylvia. It was my first three act ballet principal role and to dance it alongside a dancer who I was in HBII with was a full circle moment, and one that I'll never forget.
BIO
Originally from Dover, New Hampshire, Harper Watters trained at Portsmouth School of Ballet, Walnut Hill School for the Performing Arts, Washington Ballet and Houston Ballet Summer intensives. He was a member of Houston Ballet II from 2009 - 2011. In 2011, he competed at the Prix de Lausanne Ballet Competition where he won 6th overall as well as the contemporary dance award. Watters joined Houston Ballet as an apprentice in 2011. He rose through the ranks from corps de ballet in 2012, demi soloist in 2016 and soloist in 2017. Watters was promoted to first soloist in 2021.
Since then, Watters has danced a variety of roles from some of the world's leading dance choreographers. He has enjoyed dancing roles such as the Prince in Stanton Welch’s The Nutcracker, Performer in Stanton Welch's La Bayadère; Gopak and Lead Flower in Ben Stevenson's The Nutcracker, Sancho Panza and Espada in Stevenson’s Don Quixote as well as roles in Stevenson's Giselle and Romeo and Juliet. He has danced 'Theme 1' in George Balanchine's The Four Temperaments, as well as roles in Balanchine's Theme and Variations, Jewels and Ballet Imperial. His extensive repertoire includes Mark Morris's Drink to Me Only with Thine Eyes; Twyla Tharp's The Brahms-Haydn Variations; Stanton Welch's Divergence, Clear, Of Blessed Memory, Sons de l'âme (Sounds of the Soul), Maninyas (green couple) and Play; Jerome Robbin's The Concert; Ronald Hynd’s The Merry Widow (Camille); Trey McIntyre's Peter Pan; Hans Van Manen’s Grosse Fuge; William Forsythe’s Artifact Suite and Jiří Kylián’s Stepping Stones,Sinfonietta and Petite Mort. He performed in the World Premiere of Edwaard Liang's Murmuration and created roles in Aszure Barton's Angular Momentum and Come In; Garret Smith's Return; Justin Peck’s Reflections and Stanton Welch's Sylvia (Apollo), The Rite of Spring and The Young Persons Guide to the Orchestra (Trumpet).
Watters has performed in several tours including Stanton Welch’s Swan Lake in Dubai, UAE and Minneapolis, MN (2018); Stanton Welch’s Tapestry and Velocity in Bonn and Ludwigshafen, Germany (2017); and Stanton Welch’s world premiere of Just, Clear, Sons de L'âme and Trey McIntyre’s In Dreams at Jacob’s Pillow in Becket, MA (2018). As part of the Company’s 50th tour in October of 2019, he traveled to New York City’s City Center to reprise his original role in Justin Peck’s Reflections.
Chase O'Connell
Mónica Gómez