Beam me up: Houston Ballet tops off new building

An unusual pas de deux took place under balmy downtown Houston skies this morning as the last steel beam floated to its final resting place atop Houston Ballet's sparkling new Center for Dance. An adorable Liao Xiang, dressed in her sugar plum finery, waved her magic wand to hoist the beam while a crowd of several hundred ballet enthusiasts looked on. At 18, the 2010 Prix du Lausanne finalist represents the future of the nation's fourth largest dance company.

Houston Ballet reached a milestone in construction of the new $53 million center, scheduled to open in spring 2011. The 20-foot white beam, signed by the entire company, staff, donors, construction workers and friends, landed safely atop the 115,000-square-foot building in a tradition known as a "topping off ceremony." A small pine tree, anchored to the beam, symbolized the life and spirit of the building. The ceremony traces its origin to Finnish and Norwegian traditions beginning in 700 A. D.

The sleek glass and black granite six-story building doubles the ballet's current space on West Gray and will be the largest of its kind in the country, with nine studios and a black box dance lab. "It's built from the inside out," said Houston Ballet managing director C.C. Connor.

Most of the company's 53 dancers attended, including principal Connor Walsh, who will be dancing Balanchine masterwork, Apollo, Thursday night. "It's like putting your hand in cement or stone, our names will forever be a part of the building," Walsh said.  "I'm proud to be part of the first company to be dancing in the building. We will be the first to sweat and bleed in it. We will be breaking it in."

Artist director Stanton Welch, looking proud, added, "Houston will forever have a dance center at its heart."