A native of Portsmouth, England, Ben Stevenson received his dance training at the Arts Educational School in London. Upon his graduation, he was awarded the prestigious Adeline Genee Gold Medal, the highest award given to a dancer by the Royal Academy of Dancing.
At the age of 18 Stevenson performed with Alicia Markova in Where the Rainbow Ends and soon after was invited to join the Sadler's Wells Royal Ballet.
A few years later, he joined the London Festival Ballet where, as a principal dancer, he performed leading roles in all the classics.
In 1967, he choreographed his first and highly successful production of The Sleeping Beauty for the London Festival Ballet, which starred Margot Fonteyn.
Before he was appointed the artistic director of the Houston Ballet in 1976, Stevenson once directed the newly formed Harkness Youth Dancers in New York in 1968 and worked as co-director at the National Ballet in Washington, D C since 1971.
For the past 26 years, Stevenson has nurtured the Houston Ballet from an emerging regional ensemble to one of the nation's largest dance companies that has performed to critical acclaim throughout the world.
During his tenure, he has developed Houston Ballet's repertory by acquiring the works of the world's most respected choreographers, commissioning new works, staging the classics and choreographing original works.
Throughout his career with the Houston Ballet, Stevenson has had a long history of sharing his time and talents with other dance companies across the globe including the English National Ballet, the American Ballet Theatre, the Paris Opera Ballet, the National Ballet of Canada, La Scala in Milan, the London City Ballet, and the Russian Perm Ballet.
He has received numerous awards for his choreography, including three gold medals at the International Ballet Competition in 1972, 1982 and 1986.
(China Daily October 10, 2002)
