To continue their heroic efforts, Texas Ballet Theater’s dancers are putting on a benefit program tomorrow (Thursday) at the Scott Theater in the Fort Worth Community Arts Center. The dancers have already raised about $180,000, and Dallas’ Meadows Foundation has given the company $500,000, a lot of dough but still not enough to get TBT into its comfort zone.
The program features four ballets, including the Fort Worth premiere of Dominic Walsh’s 1998 Flames of Eros, set to a score by Ennio di Barardo. A Houston-based protégé of TBT artistic director Ben Stevenson, Walsh left Houston in 2004 to devote himself full-time to his own contemporary group, Dominic Walsh Dance Theater.
Also on tap are two Stevenson ballets: Endangered Species, a solo piece for the company’s teenage wonder, Lonnie Weeks, and Bartok, an ensemble piece for six dancers. Rounding out the evening will be associate artistic director Tim O’Keefe’s African Waltz, an excerpt from a popular piece seen last season, Jazz Royalty.
FWCAC has donated the theater use, and all proceeds will benefit the company. General admission tickets are $35, and VIP tickets that include a backstage tour and champagne reception after the performance are $75. – Leonard Eureka
