Julie Kent became the Artistic Director of Houston Ballet in July 2023, joining Stanton Welch AM as co-artistic leadership of America’s fourth largest classical ballet company. Kent was the longest serving Ballerina in American Ballet Theatre’s 85-year history, dancing a vast repertoire of classical and neo-classical roles from 1985-2015, and working closely with choreographers John Neumeier, Twyla Tharp, Lar Lubovitch, Stanton Welch AM, Alexei Ratmansky, Mark Morris, Nacho Duato, James Kudelka, Jorma Elo, Kevin McKenzie and others. Ms. Kent also danced as an international Guest Artist with the Mariinsky Ballet, New York City Ballet, Teatro alla Scala, Stuttgart Ballet, Berlin Staatsballett, The Australian Ballet, Houston Ballet, Bayerisches Staatsballett, Teatro Colon, Ballet de Santiago, Tokyo Ballet, and others. 

She won the Prix de Lausanne (1986), Erik Bruhn Prize (1993), and was the first American dancer ever to win the Prix Benois de la Danse (2000). In 2012, she received an Honorary Doctorate of Performing Arts from the University of North Carolina School of the Arts and a “Lifetime Achievement Award” from Dance Magazine and was conferred an Honorary Doctorate from American University’s College of Arts and Sciences in 2023. Ms. Kent also starred in the films Dancers (1987) and Centerstage (2000). In August of 2015, after a 30-year performing career, Kent was named Artistic Director of ABT’s Summer Intensive, a comprehensive summer dance program for 1,400 students at five campuses across the US. From 2016-2023, she was Artistic Director of The Washington Ballet where she brought important classical and contemporary masterworks into the repertoire, commissioning over 26 world premieres.

Ms. Kent married former ABT Associate Artistic Director and Principal Dancer Victor Barbee in 1996, and, as a mother of two children, she has helped redefine the image of the American Ballerina.

Photo by Julie Soefer