Melody Mennite

Melody Mennite is Houston Ballet's principal dancer. She is a renowned ballerina born and raised in Santa Cruz, California. She trained at Santa Cruz Ballet Theatre, Pacific Northwest Ballet, and Houston Ballet's Ben Stevenson Academy. Ms. Mennite joined Houston Ballet at the age of 17 as an apprentice and quickly rose through the ranks, becoming a principal in 2008. Her repertoire includes leading roles in works by notable choreographers such as Stanton Welch AM, George Balanchine, and Justin Peck. Ms. Mennite is also a choreographer and founded REACH, a project that raises funds for arts education in schools. She frequently appears as a guest artist with companies nationally and internationally, including Whim W'Him in Seattle.

Before joining Houston Ballet, Ms. Mennite performed numerous leading roles with Santa Cruz Ballet Theatre and was invited to tour with the company through Tansonmer, Austria. She has also performed the role of the Sugar Plum Fairy as a guest artist with Santa Cruz Ballet Theatre in The Nutcracker productions since 2006. Stanton Welch has choreographed many works on her, including the full-length Marie, in which she played the title character of Marie Antoinette. Ms. Mennite is known for her artistic leadership, as demonstrated by her involvement with REACH and her collaboration with Oliver Halkowich and Connor Walsh on the world premiere of What we keep for Houston Ballet in 2018.