Houston Ballet, operated by Houston Ballet Foundation, is a professional ballet company based in Houston, Texas. The company consists of 59 dancers and produces over 85 performances per year. History Tatiana Semenova (1955–1967) Houston developed its style for professional ballet beginning in the 1930s, with Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo. For eleven years, Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo spent a week during the Christmas season in Houston performing for Houston audiences. From this exposure grew a desire among patrons for a resident dance company. In the spring of 1955, Tatiana Semenova, a former dancer with Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo, was invited to start a ballet school in Houston. Semenova accepted, and a state charter was obtained to establish a Houston Foundation for Ballet on July 26, 1955. Under Semenova's direction, the Foundation trained young dancers in ballet technique and reached out to under-served students. It established a scholarship program with the Neighborhood Centers Association to train students at Ripley House in Houston's East End, later advancing selected students into the school. Semenova remained the director until 1966. Nina Popova (1967–1976) In 1967, Nina Popova, another alumna of Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo, was selected as the Foundation's next Artistic Director with the understanding that she was to create a company of professional dancers. By mid-December 1967, Popova had trained a corps of students and recruited students from other Houston dance studios to perform in an elegant full-length production of Giselle, featuring star dancers from American Ballet Theatre: Carla Fracci and Erik Bruhn as Giselle and Albrecht, Cynthia Gregory as Myrtha, and Terry Orr and Mariana Tcherkassky dancing the Peasant pas de deux. By 1968, Popova began selecting and training dancers for a professional company. Auditions for dancers were held during the fall of 1968 in Houston, Dallas, New York and Los Angeles. Sixteen dancers began the first season and made their debut on February 17, 1969, at Sam Houston State Teachers College in Huntsville, Texas. This performance launched their statewide tour to 23 cities, which concluded with their Jones Hall premiere on May 14, 1969. The company included four Academy-trained Houstonians, with imported dancers Judith Aaen and Anthony Sellers as Principals. In April 1972, Henry Holth, former Manager of Boston Ballet, was appointed as the executive head of the Houston Ballet Foundation. That same year, Houston Ballet performed Frederic Franklin’s Nutcracker for six post-Christmas performances in Jones Hall. These