“We are so proud of Lonnie and his accomplishments at the Helsinki competition,” states TBT Artistic Director Ben Stevenson, O.B.E.. “He is truly one of the rising stars in American ballet and we are so fortunate to have him as a member of the company at Texas Ballet Theater.”
Lonnie Weeks, age 18, has just completed his third full season as a dancer for Texas Ballet Theater. Prior to joining the company, he trained on full merit scholarship at the Faubourg School of Ballet and the Ruth Page Center for the Arts in Chicago. In 2005, Lonnie and his family relocated to Fort Worth to train under Mr. Stevenson’s direction at Texas Ballet Theater School’s Fort Worth Academy on full scholarship. In 2006 at age 15, Lonnie was the youngest male dancer to be promoted to full company status. In August 2007, Lonnie won the Bronze Medal in the Junior Division at the Shanghai International Ballet Competition.
The Helsinki International Ballet Competition is the most prestigious international ballet competition in the world. Over 70 dancers from 25 countries including Russia, China, France, Japan, Germany, Korea, South Africa and the United States were invited to participate in the competition. Dancers are separated by gender and age into the Junior (ages 15 – 18) and Senior (ages 19 – 25) Divisions and compete through a series of three rounds that showcase their individual skills. The distinguished panel of judges from Germany, Belgium, Finland, Japan, China and Italy critique each performance and award Gold, Silver and Bronze medals to the best male and female dancers in each division. The International Ballet Competition is the “Olympics” of ballet and tours annually to: Helsinki, Finland; Varna, Bulgaria; Moscow, Russia; and Jackson, Mississippi. Mikhail Baryshnikov won the Gold Medal in the Junior Division at the Varna International Ballet Competition in 1966.
