Hayden Stark

Hayden Stark was born in Dallas, Texas and grew up in Lincoln, Nebraska.  He started classical ballet at the age of 3 at the Cheryl Priess Dickey Performing Dance Company in Lincoln, Nebraska.  He trained at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts and attended Houston Ballet’s Summer Intensive Program.  In 2012, he was offered a position with Houston Ballet II.  Mr. Stark became an apprentice with the professional company in 2013.  He rose through the ranks from corps de ballet in 2014 to demi soloist in 2016 and was promoted to soloist in 2017.

Mr. Stark has been featured in a variety of classic and contemporary ballet roles including Franz in Ben Stevenson’s Coppélia; Ariel in Sir David Bintley’s The Tempest; Fire God in Stanton Welch’s La Bayadère; Bluebird and Ivans in Ben Stevenson’s The Sleeping Beauty; Edwaard Liang’s Murmuration; Step Sister in Stanton Welch’s Cinderella; Charles, Count d'Artois in Stanton Welch’s Marie; Aszure Barton’s Come In and Mark Morris’ The Letter V.  For the Company’s 50^th anniversary, Mr. Stark was featured in an original role for Chinese choreographer Disha Zhang’s first American ballet commission Elapse.

He has danced in several tours including Stanton Welch’s Swan Lake in Dubai, UAE and Minneapolis, MN (2018); and Stanton Welch’s Tapestry and Velocity in Bonn and Ludwigshafen, Germany (2017).  As part of the Company’s 50^th Anniversary tour in October of 2019, he traveled to New York City’s City Center to reprise his original role in Justin Peck’s Reflections.