Dance

Martha Butler Long

Princess Grace Award:
Dance Fellowship, 1984

Martha Butler-Long received all her training at the Houston Ballet Academy and joined the Houston Ballet in 1984, where she was promoted to soloist in 1986 and to principal in 1990. In 1984, she won the silver medal at the Tokyo International Ballet Competition, dancing with Li Cunxin, and was awarded a Dance Fellowship Grant from the Princess Grace Foundation. In 1990, Miss Butler won a gold medal in the senior women's division at the Fourth USA International Ballet Competition in Jackson, Mississippi. Miss Butler's repertoire with Houston Ballet included Odette-Odile in Swan Lake, Juliet in Romeo and Juliet, Swanhilda in Coppelia, the title roles in Cinderella and Giselle, and Princess Aurora in The Sleeping Beauty. Her contemporary repertoire included Christopher Bruce's Ghost Dances, Journey, and Swansong, as well as Kenneth MacMillian's Manon, Song of the Earth, and Solitaire. Miss Butler joined American Ballet Theater as a member of the corps de ballet in 1984, and was appointed a soloist in May, 1995. Her repertoire with the Company includes Calliope in Apollo, the second ballerina in Ballet Imperial, Swanhilda and Aurora in Coppelia, the Cowgirl in Rodeo, Nurse in Romeo and Juliet, the pas de deux Variations on 'America', and featured roles in Cruel World and The Leaves are Fading. She created Emilia in Lar Lubovitch's Othello and leading roles in Twyla Tharp's The Elements and Jump Start.