High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! The Houston Ballet, operated by the Houston Ballet Foundation, is the fourth-largest professional ballet company in the United States, based in Houston, Texas. The foundation also maintains a ballet academy, the Ben Stevenson Academy, which trains more than half of the company`s dancers. As of 2011, the Houston Ballet`s endowment at more than $55 million is considered among the largest endowments held for a dance company in the US. The company, which New York City newspaper The New York Times called "one of the nation’s best ballet companies", produces over 75 performances each year and consists of 54 dancers.