Services for Ben Stevenson, the longest serving artistic director for Texas Ballet Theater, will be held this weekend.
Stevenson died Sunday. He was 89.
A private service will be held in person. But the public is invited to join a virtual celebration of life at 3 p.m. on April 4, which would have been his 90th birthday. The link to join the program will appear on his obituary, above “service schedule” shortly before the ceremony.
It’s fitting that Stevenson’s service would be accessible around the world.
He has staged works for ballet companies based in France, Germany, Italy, and Chile among others, and his career began in his native England.
Originally from Portsmouth, Stevenson remembered hiding in air raid shelters during World War II.
He started ballet classes at age seven to correct an issue with his feet but fell in love with the artform. He eventually became a company member at the Royal Ballet.
But for most of his career, he was based in Texas.
In 1976 he was hired as artistic director of the Houston Ballet. He spent nearly three decades there before moving to North Texas. He was artistic director of Texas Ballet Theater for about 20 years and was named artistic director laureate in 2022.
“I’m very lucky to have such a life, filled with something I loved to do,” he told KERA in a 2023 interview. “If we all had that in the world, whether you’re serving fish and chips or hamburgers, if you love doing it and you have a wonderful family or something, that’s important, I think. That’s what it’s about.”
Stevenson drew audiences into the theater through his storytelling and choreography in productions like Dracula, Cleopatra and Cinderella.
His work took him around the world. Queen Elizabeth the Second named him an Officer of the Order of the British Empire in 1999. After years of cultural exchanges in Beijing, the Chinese government recognized his contributions to ballet in 2018.
Throughout his career he mentored countless dancers and worked with celebrities like Elton John, John Travolta, and Chita Rivera.
Jane Seymour mourned the loss of Stevenson, whom she called a mentor and dear friend, on Facebook.
“He cast me in one of his early ballets when I was still a student, a moment that shaped so much of my journey. Ben was not only a remarkable dancer, but an extraordinary choreographer and leader, guiding Houston Ballet for 25 years and later Ballet Texas [sic] with such passion and vision,” she wrote.
When he could no longer perform, teaching and mentorship became all the more important to him.“Somehow I feel I’m still dancing, but through other people,” Stevenson told KERA in 2023.
On its website, Texas Ballet Theater said his legacy will continue to live on in all of its performances and the company’s studios, which are currently under construction, will soon be called the “Fort Worth Ben Stevenson Campus.”
Got a tip? Email Marcheta Fornoff at mfornoff@kera.org.
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