Ben Stevenson, the longest serving artistic director at Texas Ballet Theater, died March 29 — just days before his birthday. He was 89.
Stevenson was a legendary ballet dancer who led the North Texas company from 2003 to 2022 and established the group’s residencies at Bass Performance Hall and AT&T Performing Arts Center’s Winspear Opera House in Dallas.
He led some of the company’s most successful productions, including “Swan Lake,” “Romeo and Juliet,” “Dracula” and “The Nutty Nutcracker.”
Texas Ballet Theater elevated him to artistic director laureate — an honorary title — in June 2022. He remained involved with the company’s schools, choreographed new works and provided artistic coaching to students.
Current artistic director Tim O’Keefe said Stevenson was not only a mentor but a family member whose artistry, generosity and vision shaped “the very heart of Texas Ballet Theater.”
“I will miss his wisdom, his humor, and his boundless passion for storytelling through dance,” he said in a statement. “While my heart is heavy with grief, I am profoundly grateful for the decades of inspiration and love he shared with me and with this company. His spirit will live on in every performance, every dancer, and every audience moved by his work.”
In a 2023 video with KERA, Stevenson said his mission was to spread ballet across Fort Worth and “educate the public” about the art form.
“People go, ‘Oh I saw that ballet. I don’t like it,’” he said. “But you don’t go to one movie and say, ‘I’m never going back again.’ There’s all sorts of new works that are coming out. … Dance is so exciting. Movement is exciting.”
Stevenson was born on April 4, 1936, in Portsmouth, England. He trained at London’s Arts Educational School and was awarded the Adeline Genée Gold Medal, the highest honor from the Royal Academy of Dance.
At 18, he joined Sadler’s Wells Royal Ballet, now known as The Royal Ballet.
The dancer’s arrival to the U.S. came in 1968 when he led the Harkness Youth Dancers in New York. Two years later, he choreographed works for the inaugural season of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.
In 1976, a 38-year old Stevenson made his way to Texas as artistic director of Houston Ballet. For nearly three decades, he transformed the small troupe into one of the world’s leading companies and founded the Houston Ballet Academy, according to a press release.
Around this time, he became an honorary faculty member with the Beijing Dance Academy. He was the only foreigner to receive the distinction at the academy and the ShenYang Conservatory of Music.
Stevenson’s international acclaim stretched back to his home country where he was named an Officer of the Order of the British Empire by Queen Elizabeth II in 1999.
The dancer’s tenure at Texas Ballet Theater started after he was approached by the company’s board to be a “temporary advisor” and help find a permanent artistic director after its former leader Paul Mejia stepped down, according to a 2004 article from D Magazine.
He was honored with the Texas Medal of Arts in 2005.
Stevenson is survived by his extended family in Portsmouth. Memorial service details will be announced at a later date.
David Moreno is the arts and culture reporter for the Fort Worth Report. Contact him at david.moreno@fortworthreport.org or @davidmreports.
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