Houston Ballet Principal Dancer Ian Casady retires after a 22-year professional career onstage. His next chapter begins in the same place he got his start, as he takes on his new role as Ballet Master for the Company during the reimagined 2020-2021 season, generously supported by Houston Methodist Hospital.
The announcement of his retirement was originally set for mere weeks after the pandemic struck. Casady’s final bows should have been after he performed the iconic leading male role in Romeo & Juliet one last time at the end of the 2019-2020 season. As with most things during the COVID-19 era, Houston Ballet and Casady had to pivot as 2020 unfolded.
“It’s disappointing, but a lot of people retiring during the pandemic are in the same boat,” expresses Casady. “I’m not alone. But mostly, it’s helpful for me to zoom out (no pun intended) and take a big-picture kind of perspective. In relation to what’s going on all around the world right now, it doesn’t feel like a tragedy that I didn’t get to finish the way I had planned. This is life right now, and, more than anything, I am thankful for my health and the health of my family and friends, and I feel for those who are being more impacted than myself. Some of my closest people have reminded me, too, that one ‘final’ show is not in itself some symbol for an entire career. The career was the career. Every day in the studio and every show on stage, and all the years of training that led up to it. Any one of our shows could be the last, and that is why it is important to give it all, every chance you get. Sounds like a cliché, but it’s true. I am just grateful to have had so many years, and so many shows, and to have worked with so many wonderful people.”
Casady’s unknowingly final performance was in Ben Stevenson’s The Sleeping Beauty on March 8. He still recalls fondly on the memory.
“I suppose it’s fitting that I did my last performance alongside Lauren Anderson, who was the first dancer that I really met the day I arrived in Houston,” reflects Casady. “She was so welcoming and kind, and I have looked up to her and learned so much from her over the years. I remember thinking in the show, as she and I sat on the thrones, watching all of our amazing dancers perform with such energy and artistry, that it felt like a ‘full-circle’ kind of moment – very special actually.”
While his reign as a Principal dancer has ended, a new chapter begins for Casady as a Ballet Master.
“I am looking forward to passing on the knowledge that I have accumulated over the years to my fellow dancers and the next generation. I want to help protect and nurture the art form as best I can. And I look forward to enjoying it all from the audience as well.”
Casady led an inspiring career as a professional dancer. He began ballet training at 9 years old at Dance Theater Seven in his hometown, Fairfax, California. He studied at Houston Ballet Academy before joining the professional Company in 1998 as a member of the Corps de Ballet. Casady rose through the ranks, becoming a Soloist in 2002 and a Principal in 2007. In his 22-year career, he danced many timeless roles and had original roles created on him by esteemed choreographers Christopher Bruce, Ben Stevenson OBE and Stanton Welch AM.
As for the audience he leaves behind, Casady concludes, “Thank you so much for supporting me and going along with me on this decades long journey. I can only hope that you have received from it a fraction of the joy that I have.”
Houston Ballet proudly congratulations Casady on his outstanding career as a professional dancer and warmly welcomes him to the Artistic Team.
by Jacalyn Lawton