CACrown ArchivesThe cinema collection
EN/FR
Search
Menu
Research dossier · Arts & Letters

Ben Stevenson (dancer)

British ballet dancer

Manuscripts, fine bindings, an engraving plate and preserved performance ephemera
Arts and lettersInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionMay 20, 2026
Entity authorityQ4886517 ↗
Source-derived summary

Benjamin Stevenson (4 April 1936 – 29 March 2026) was a British ballet dancer with The Royal Ballet and English National Ballet, co-director of National Ballet of Washington, D.C. (1971–1974), artistic director of Chicago Ballet (1974–1975), artistic director of Houston Ballet (1976–2003), and artistic director of Texas Ballet Theater (2003–2022).

Early life

A native of Portsmouth, England, Stevenson received his dance training at the Arts Educational Schools in London. Upon graduation, he was awarded the Adeline Genée Gold Medal.

Career

At the age of 18, Stevenson was invited to join the Sadler's Wells Royal Ballet by Dame Ninette de Valois. A few years later, Anton Dolin invited him to dance with the London Festival Ballet, where, as a principal dancer, he performed leading roles in all the classics.

In 1967, the English National Ballet asked him to stage his first ballet, the production of The Sleeping Beauty, which starred Dame Margot Fonteyn. A year after staging the ballet in England, Stevenson arrived in the United States, and assisted other productions. At the request of Rebekah Harkness, he assumed the position of Artistic Director of the Harkness Ballet in New York City.

After choreographing Cinderella in 1970 for the National Ballet of Washington, D.C., he joined the company in 1971 as co-director with Frederic Franklin. That same year, he staged a new production of The Sleeping Beauty in observance of the inaugural season of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.

Editorial summary

The public source identifies “Ben Stevenson (dancer)” as british ballet dancer. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Stevenson, dancer and British.

Editorial reviewA productive route into publication, performance and collection histories when the underlying object or edition remains clearly identified. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1936, 2026, 1971, 1974—that can be checked directly. The authority record carries competing date values—1936-04-04, 1936—which should remain separate until their references and qualifiers are resolved. Its value is orientation rather than verdict, with Stevenson, dancer and British providing the first useful test.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

A short description can identify a subject without explaining its stakes. For “Ben Stevenson (dancer)”, the useful work is to connect “british ballet dancer” to the records capable of establishing context and consequence.

Evidence profile

Attribution, date and provenance are strongest when supported by the original work, a catalogue record and documented transmission. The source revision retrieved here is dated May 20, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q4886517. VIAF identifies the subject as 962156497242617740001. 2 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 1 carry qualifiers and 1 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1936, 2026, 1971 and 1974.

Critical limits

Later fame can flatten the distinction between original context, subsequent adaptation and institutional collecting history. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Separate the work, its editions or performances, and its later reception. Catalogue records, publication histories and object files often preserve different parts of that story.

Best used for
  • Identifying works and editions
  • Tracing reception history
  • Finding collection records
Verify next

The original object or edition, catalogue raisonné, performance record, rights file and holding institution.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Ben Stevenson (dancer)”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Ben Stevenson (dancer) primary sources, Ben Stevenson (dancer) archive and Stevenson research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Ben Stevenson (dancer)”?
  2. Where is authorship, date or provenance documented?
  3. How did later circulation or interpretation alter the work’s reception?
Subject index

Search terms from this dossier

Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from “Ben Stevenson (dancer)” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.