The first triple bill of Houston Ballet's season sets the stage with a playful look at classical ballet. Welch's Tu Tu is full of agility and speed, with tongue-in-cheek choreography that showcases superb classical technique. Set to Ravel's Concerto for Piano in G major, the dancers are outfitted in brilliantly colored costumes inspired by Gustav Klimt's gold-hued paintings. The Company adds a new Balanchine work to its repertoire with the Houston Ballet premiere of the iconic Stars and Stripes. In all-American costumes with exuberant patriotic touches, this classic Balanchine work is set to five rousing marches from composer John Phillip Sousa.

The program is capped with a world premiere by Annabelle Lopez Ochoa, a Colombian-Belgian choreographer who has created works for internationally renowned companies such as Dutch National Ballet, Scottish Ballet, and Les Grand Ballet Canadiens. Her first commission for Houston Ballet, this new work is inspired by the life of the famous 20th-century Uruguayan poet Delmira Agustini, known as one of the first female poets of the modernist era.