Vitacca Ballet Welcomes Renowned Ballerina Melody Mennite As A Company Artist

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                            

Vitacca Ballet Welcomes Renowned Ballerina Melody Mennite As A Company Artist

Mennite is a Houston Dance Icon who has graced the covers of Dance Magazine and Dance Europe

Meet Mennite at the 2024/25 Season Kickoff Party on September 6th

August 6, 2024: HOUSTON, TEXAS – Vitacca Ballet Artistic Director + Founder Kelly Ann Vitacca welcomes renowned ballerina Melody Mennite as a company artist. Mennite has graced the covers of Dance Magazine and Dance Europe. She is celebrated as the Audrey Hepburn of ballet due to her dynamic acting and a predisposition for comedic roles. Melody is former Houston Ballet Principal and Vitacca School Resident Artist Program Choreographer.

Mennite has built her vast dance career in Houston and rooted her reputation as a remarkable artist over the years. We are beyond thrilled to have a homegrown artist and ballet matriarch join Vitacca Ballet this season.

Much excitement surrounds Mennite joining Vitacca Ballet. Mennite remarks, “I have been completely blown away by [Vitacca Ballet’s] performances and by these artists courage, skill, and energy onstage the last two years.

I am honored and excited to be joining the roster of dancers for Vitacca Ballet this coming season for 2024/2025 creations here in Houston and on tour.

I have a tremendous respect for Kelly Ann Vitacca as a longtime leader in the dance community, as a fellow mother and dancer, and as a passionate and innovative trail blazer who keeps the well-being and experience of her artists core to her value system as she grows her organization. I am tremendously grateful to have the opportunity to work under her directorship as I continue my performance career in Houston.

I am also incredibly excited to be working again with Vitacca’s Resident Choreographer, a longtime creative collaborator, and former coworker Garrett Smith.”

Artistic Director Vitacca states, “Vitacca Ballet is thrilled to have a Houston icon join as a company artist this season and further complement our company roster. Ms. Mennite has built her vast dance career in Houston and rooted her reputation as a remarkable artist, which patrons have seen and respected over the years. We are elated to have such a beloved dancer join our artistic family.”

2024/25 Season Kickoff Party
Vitacca Ballet invites Houston arts patrons to the 2024/25 Season Kickoff Party where they can meet the Artists on Friday, September 6 at 7:30pm at Vitacca Ballet (2311 Dunlavy St. Houston, TX 77006). The festive evening will feature live music, raffle prizes, drinks, lite bites, and a special curated exhibition to celebrate the new season.

Patrons will hear remarks from Artistic Director Kelly Ann Vitacca, new company artist Melody Mennite, and returning company artist Jordan Hooks at 8:00pm. The curated exhibition will feature collaborations with Houston mixed-media artists Carissa Barcus, Megan Hendrix, and Heidi Shay.

Artist Melody Mennite Biography
Melody Mennite has graced the cover of both Dance Magazine and Dance Europe and is celebrated as the Audrey Hepburn of ballet due to her dynamic acting and a predisposition for comedic roles. As an actor Mennite has achieved two award winning performances in film including her role in Self Sabotage and in Bryan. Mennite danced as a Principal ballerina with Houston Ballet. She has toured internationally to perform the classics as well as contemporary work in dance. Some of her classical Principal roles include Odette/Odile, Aurora, Kitri, Sugar Plum Fairy in The Nutcracker, Cinderella, Manon, Juliet, The Sylph in Bournanville’s La Sylphide, Marie in the ballet Marie, Tatiana and Olga in Onegin, Stephanie and Mary Vetsera in Meyerling, Swanhilda in Coppelia, Valencienne in The Merry Widow, and Lise in La Fille mal gardee.

Mennite has choreographed over 13 commissioned ballets and been the choreographer for several films and spoken at many events on embodied movement and trauma resolution. She is certified as an integrative somatic trauma therapy practitioner and integrates that skillset into her movement practices and leadership positions, making her a trauma informed choreographer and teacher.

Her hobbies include spending time in the outdoors and with her son and two dogs, singing/making music, reading, writing, and practicing new ways to make art.

Vitacca Ballet Biography
Vitacca Ballet was founded in 2020 by Kelly Ann Vitacca as a creation-based repertoire company in the Houston area. As the pandemic brought artists home to Houston, Vitacca committed to keep artists employed and the Houston arts scene alive with project-based work. This experience laid the framework for the launch of Vitacca Ballet in 2021, which now works diligently to operate a 34-week season and employ local, national, and international artists.

Vitacca Ballet is the parent company of Vitacca Ballet School for Dance. The school was founded in 2012 as a cross-training dance program for aspiring artists ages 10–19 in Houston and The Woodlands, Texas. The project quickly grew into an all-encompassing and leading dance institution that offers a home for primary to professional training programs.

For more information on Vitacca Ballet visit www.VitaccaBallet.org.