Ben Stevenson, a legend in choreography who led Texas Ballet Theater, dies at 89

Ben Stevenson, the renowned dancer and choreographer whose artistic leadership elevated the Houston Ballet and Fort Worth-based Texas Ballet Theater to international acclaim, died March 29. He was 89.

“Texas would not be the ballet powerhouse it is without Ben Stevenson,” said Nancy Wozny, a Houston-based dance critic and editor of Arts and Culture Texas magazine. “His impact on the art form was tremendous and so influential to so many people, from dancers to audience members.

“He built Houston Ballet into the internationally known company it is today, and then when he retired, he brought new life to Texas Ballet Theater,” Wozny said.

Born in Britain, Stevenson got his start with the Royal Ballet before moving to the United States in 1968. He served as a co-lead of the now closed National Ballet of Washington and staged “Cinderella,” a classic still performed by companies across the country.

He joined the Houston Ballet as artistic director in 1976. In 1999, he was named an Officer of the Order of British Empire by Queen Elizabeth II.

And in 2003, he eagerly became artistic director of Texas Ballet Theater in Fort Worth, where he stayed until his retirement in 2022.

Stevenson was a narrative choreographer, staging classics as well as the “gothic fun ballet Dracula to the understated elegance of Four Last Songs,” Wozny said.

“Stevenson’s ballets make up a potent part of the ballet canon,” she added.

New York Times journalist Anna Kisselgoff was also a fan. But in a 1996 profile, she described him as “not your everyday ballet director.”

Colleagues, friends and students recalled just as much.

Former students and successful dancers Lauren Anderson and Andre Silva remember Stevenson for being a masterful teacher, choreographer, mentor and person. He was a risk-taker, too, said Silva, who has been with Texas Ballet Theater since 2003.

Anderson got to know Stevenson when he was at Houston Ballet.

“The artistic director typically doesn’t teach youngsters,” she said. Anderson was 11 and about to give up on dance; when Stevenson came to class, she was suddenly reenergized.

“I felt like I could do anything. He let me jump with the boys. He made me feel comfortable in my own skin,” she said, “especially as a little Black girl in the ballet.”

In 1983, when Anderson graduated from high school and joined the company, Stevenson reprised his “Alice in Wonderland.” Anderson was stunned to land the lead role, typically portrayed by blonde, white girls. But he told her, “Darling, you’re a dancer and dancers dance. The only color in art is on a canvas.”

In 2004, Stevenson took another risk: He cast an 18-year-old Silva and 21-year-old John Henry Reid to alternatively lead a production of “Peer Gynt.”

Gynt’s not an easy role for even the most seasoned dancer — it requires spending nearly the entire two hours on stage combined with intense movement. Yet in his review, former Star-Telegram critic Wayne Lee Gay wrote that it paid off.

Stevenson nurtured talent when he saw it. But he was picky.

“He wanted to see you were living and breathing ballet. If you weren’t, he didn’t want you,” said Carrie Cheng. “He was looking for a person who needed ballet.”

Cheng is director of ballet and the Ballet Conservatory at Fort Worth Country Day School and a Texas Ballet Theater teacher who has trained dancers across the country. Yet she learned new things from Stevenson about dance and pedagogy.

Dancing was not about steps, she said, but how the dancer presented the steps.

“He balanced strict and regular rigor but also treated students as individuals.” The mentorship was inspiring, she said, “and his legacy is reflected in that.”

Stevenson is also remembered for his cooking (with lots of butter) and impeccable taste for gifts.

While Christmas is a chance for families to see “The Nutcracker,” it is lonely for the dancers who are working. So on Christmas Day, anyone who didn’t have family were invited to his house to eat.

“You weren’t going to stay skinny because of all the butter,” Anderson joked.

Silva was a consummate consumer of Stevenson’s meals. And even the gobs of butter had meaning. “He wanted you to have a second or third plate,” Silva said. (Now he eats like a bird.)

Stevenson cultivated a community and culture of caring for one another, Silva said. “It’s touching yet fitting then to see the tributes pouring in from around the world.”

Because to remember Stevenson requires remembering his ballets. “They were relevant and relatable. Even if you didn’t know ballet, you enjoyed it,” Silva said.

Famed choreographer George Balanchine, hardly one to freely give compliments, said as much of Stevenson’s “Cinderella,” which he saw as more straightforward. Balanchine may have been more about speed and rhythm, and Stevenson more narrative and abstract.

Silva described his style as “Benchine,” a combination of the two.

Stevenson’s influence stretches all the way to Beijing, China, which he visited in 1979 as part of Lincoln Center’s Arts Leaders Delegation after the death of Communist Party Chair Mao Zedong.

He visited China’s largest dance company, the Central Ballet of China, where he was impressed by the artistry despite government restrictions and bare facilities.

He would later spend decades volunteering to choreograph and teach at its academy. One of those students was Jiabin Pan.

“Meeting Ben back then was a stroke of luck for those who dreamt of walking, running, jumping, or fleeing. It was the beginning of seeing the wider world; we realized our own insignificance and developed a sense of awe,” Pan wrote on Facebook. “We dreamed of manifesting the professionalism of our craft to an infinite degree—to be like Ben, or perhaps, to even surpass him. Clearly, Ben inspired the vitality of people at that time and at that place.”

His influence spanned beyond ballet.

Travis Wood and Bradley Pecherek, who own Fort Worth-based Wood Filmmakers, were early in their careers when former Texas Ballet Theater director Margo McCann approached them about making a documentary.

“Révérence: The Life and Works of Ben Stevenson, O.B.E.” is now in post-production. It’s one of many projects in their now prolific career documenting the arts.

Anderson retired in 2006 and is now a teacher at Houston Ballet’s Ben Stevenson Academy. As she recalled, “there’s not a step that I teach that didn’t come from him, and the people he put in his place to teach us did the same. I thought that I’d be a great ballerina. But I’m also a great teacher. That’s because of Ben.”

This story was originally published April 2, 2026 at 2:08 PM.