Hong Kong Ballet: Romeo + Juliet

During Webre’s tenure at The Washington Ballet, the institution’s budget grew by 500%, and it enjoyed unprecedented advances in the scope and quality of its work on stage, in the size and reach of its professional school and in the development of several far-reaching community engagement programs that he founded. Webre also launched an array of artistic initiatives, including The American Experience, which developed great works of literature like “The Great Gatsby” and Hemingway’s “The Sun Also Rises” into full-length ballets.  

As a choreographer, Webre’s works appear in the repertoires of ballet companies globally, including Pacific Northwest Ballet, Les Grands Ballets Canadiens, Colorado Ballet, Ballet West, Atlanta Ballet, Cincinnati Ballet, Ballet Austin, Ballet Memphis, Milwaukee Ballet, Kansas City Ballet, Ballet Concierto de Puerto Rico, and many others, and he has worked frequently in theatre as well as opera. His new works for HKB, Romeo + Juliet, set in 1960s Hong Kong, and The Nutcracker, set in early 20^th century Hong Kong, world premiered in June and December 2021, respectively. As a dancer, Webre was featured in solo and principal roles from the classical repertoire as well as in contemporary works by choreographers such as Twyla Tharp, Paul Taylor, and Merce Cunningham. He has served on the board of Dance/USA and on the juries of a number of international ballet competitions, including those in Varna, Bulgaria, Istanbul, Cape Town, New York, and Seoul. Webre’s work has received numerous honors, grants, and awards. He holds a degree in History/Pre-Law from the University of Texas at Austin and is the seventh son in a large, boisterous Cuban-American family. 

With nearly 50 dancers from all over the globe — Hong Kong, Mainland China and other parts of Asia, Australia, New Zealand, Europe and throughout North America — HKB has won recognition both regionally and internationally. HKB’s repertoire includes celebrated re-stagings of the classics, neo-classical masterworks by George Balanchine, original full-lengths created for HKB and an award-winning series of ballets for young audiences. In addition, HKB performs works by some of today’s most sought-after choreographers, including Alexei Ratmansky, Christopher Wheeldon, Wayne McGregor, Justin Peck, Jirˇí Kylian, Nacho Duato, Annabelle Lopez Ochoa as well as dynamic new works by HKB’s Choreographer-in-Residence Hu Song Wei Ricky, Yuh Egami, as well as numerous emerging Hong Kong choreographers. 

With almost 50 tours to 11 countries, HKB most recently toured throughout Europe, Mainland China and the US, at Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival and in New York at the Joyce Theatre and the renowned Fall for Dance Festival. In addition to its performances on stage at home and abroad, HKB maintains a full schedule of community engagement initiatives throughout Hong Kong to ensure the art of ballet is accessible to all. Since its debut in 2020, the HKBALLET@HOME online channel has garnered over 2 million views, connecting with ballet lovers across the globe.