Obituary: Ben Stevenson - British dancer, director, choreographer, who produced first black principal with Houston Ballet

Ben Stevenson OBE passed away on 29th March 2026 in Fort Worth, Texas, the Untied States, The Ben Stevenson Trust announced on the same day. He was 89 years old, just a few days shy of his 90th birthday.

Stevenson was born on 4th April 1936 in Portsmouth, the United Kingdom. The 18 year-old Stevenson joined Sadler’s Wells Royal Ballet, now The Royal Ballet, working with Frederick Ashton, Kenneth MacMillan, and John Cranko. Later, he became a principal dancer with London Festival Ballet, now English National Ballet.

In 1968, Stevenson moved to the United States to direct a few ballet companies. In 1976, he became Artistic Director of Houston Ballet. Over next 27 years, he transformed it from a small provincial troupe into one of the major professional ballet companies, as well as founding Houston Ballet Academy.

At Houston Ballet, he worked with world class dancers, including Lauren Anderson, Janie Parker, Carlos Acosta, and Li Cunxin. He promoted Anderson to the principal dancer of Houston Ballet in 1990, as the first black ballerina to reach the rank in the company's history, in an event which is widely regarded as a landmark moment in American ballet to this day.

Stevenson was also a prolific choreographer. His productions include Swan Lake, Romeo and Juliet, Cinderella, The Nutcracker, Coppelia, Don Quixote, Peer Gynt, Dracula, The Snow Maiden, and Cleopatra. Full catalogue can be found here.