One Ballet Internship, Still No Dance Skills

Houston Ballet Stage Managers Lindsay Byrne and Michelle Elliot

I am incredibly proud to say that, this summer, I did not just sit around at home all day, traipsing through the Internet or binge watching Netflix. 

Okay, maybe I did a little of that. But not exclusively. 

For the past two months, I’ve had the amazing experience of being a production intern at the Houston Ballet. 

Let me preface that by saying I’ve been a huge theater nerd for years. I started getting into the production side, and specifically stage management, back in middle school. Now, the summer before my senior year of high school, I’ve gotten to work one-on-one with both of Houston Ballet’s resident stage managers, both in the office and backs
 
(Ironically, I have two left feet. While my mother danced ballet for years, the extent of my skills is a clumsy pirouette.)

At the beginning of June, I was dropped right into the middle of Houston Ballet’s final show of the year, Taming of the Shrew, and pre-production for the massive six-week Summer Intensive Program. 

Lobby of the Houston Ballet Center for Dance

I’ve done just about everything short of actually calling sound and light cues for a show this summer. This has ranged from changing lights up on the tension grid to fixing the measured tape marks on the floors of the studios to assistant stage-managing the Houston Ballet II Graduation and Summer Intensive performances. 

This has been one of the best summers I’ve ever had. Though a bit hectic at times—such as the end of summer performances where 200 student dancers had to be wrangled and organized at one time - I’ve had so much fun. I truly feel like I’m part of the little production family here at Houston Ballet, and I’m so sad that I have to say goodbye in just a few weeks. 

But say goodbye I must, with school just on the horizon, and my last year at that. 

As this summer comes to a close, much like the Grand DeFile at the conclusion of the summer performances at Houston Ballet, I know I’ve got quite a lot ahead of me - hundreds of more bows to take before my final one.