Houston Ballet Announces New Dancers for 2012-13 Season

Houston Ballet Artistic Director Stanton Welch announced Thursday the additions of new dancers for the company's 2012-13 season.

Aaron Robison, principal dancer at Corella Ballet, will start his first full season as a soloist with Houston Ballet. Soo Youn Cho, former principal dancer at Tulsa Ballet, also joins the company as a demi soloist.

"I have known Aaron since he was a student at the Royal Ballet School. Even then, he has always had a great deal of potential with strong classical technique. ... He dances with a compelling poignancy and with each performance he continues to astonish the audience with the elevation of his jumps," said Welch.

Ballet Master Steven Woodgate commented about Cho, "What initially impressed me about Soo Youn Cho was her charming demeanor. As rehearsals continued I noticed she had a very strong and natural acting ability plus a strong clean classical technique. She has an enormous amount of experience in performing many principal and soloist roles and possesses a great artistic maturity in her work."

British dancer Robison, who formerly danced with Birmingham Royal Ballet, received a number of prestigious awards, including Young British Dancer of the Year, Seoul International Ballet Competition, and the Prix de Lausanne.

Korean-born ballerina Cho trained at Canada National Ballet School and John-Cranko Ballet School in Stuttgart, Germany. She received numerous awards, including  the Korea Ballet Competition, 2002 Varna Competition in Bulgaria, and the Tanzolymp in Berlin. She danced with Leipziger Ballet in Germany before joining Tulsa Ballet in 2007.

Houston Ballet, which now consists of 55 dancers, will open its 43th season on September 6 with Stanton Welch's "Madame Butterfly".