Allegro Ballet of Houston

“A Tradition Of Teaching and Performing Excellence for Gifted Dancers”

Artistic Directors:  Glenda Brown & Vanessa Brown

Allegro Ballet of Houston is a non profit organization founded in 1951 by Emmamae Horn, and celebrates its 59th Anniversary this year.   The company has been a member of Regional Dance America/SW since 1963, and is an honor company of the Southwest. 

For the promising dancers selected to join Allegro, the company offers exceptional opportunities for advanced training, scholarship awards, and performing experiences in classical ballet and contemporary forms of dance.  Many former Allegro dancers have successfully advanced to careers with professional ballet companies, the Broadway stage, and in television and films as performers and choreographers.  Many have become teachers and artistic directors of their own companies.

In its 58 years of celebrated success, Allegro Ballet has won critical acclaim locally, nationally and internationally.  The company has represented Houston and the United States at the International Festival of Youth Orchestras and Performing Arts in the United Kingdom and Scotland two times and gave nine performances in Poland at the invitation of the Polish government. The Company performed at the 1996 Austrian Alps International Performing Arts Festival , and in 1998, 2000, and 2005 they performed at the Young! Tanzsommer/Austria Festival at the invitation of the city of Innsbruck, Austria.  Again in 2008, the dancerss performed in six concerts in Austria. 

Five ballets commissioned and performed by Allegro Ballet were chosen for the National Choreography Recognition Award from Regional Dance America.  In 1994 and 1998 Allegro was chosen by an adjudicator to represent the Southwest region on the Regional Dance America gala concert at the V & VI International Ballet Competition in Jackson , Mississippi.

The company presents an annual production of The Nutcracker to sold out performances, and hosts The Breakfast with the Sugar Plum Fairy. Auditions for casting are held in September and are open to dancers city wide.

Many dancers yearly have benefited from the Allegro experience since the company’s founding in 1951 to:

• serve as an avenue for gifted and technically advanced dancers by presenting them in concerts at home and abroad
• establish a concert group of dancers capable of performing traditional and original ballets on a high artistic level
• contribute to the cultural and artistic development of Houston
• award scholarships to deserving members for further study of dance