Dual-generation teams share a unique bond through dance

By Nancy Wozny

Jill and Richard d’Alton
Mother/son stories are common in the dance world. Boys learn to dance from their mothers, leave for distant places, then return and help their mothers teach. That, and more, happened to Jill and Richard d’Alton. They have shared success, the disappointment of divorce, and change together. Their story is still unfolding, and recently, a new chapter opened in Houston.

At their newly launched joint venture, International Ballet of Houston (IBH), mother and son make a synergistic duo even though they are as different as night and day. “We work together extraordinarily well,” says Richard. “We bounce off each other and spark new ideas. That way we can formulate the best plan.”

Richard grew up watching his parents dance in Ireland. Jill danced with the now defunct Irish National Ballet from 1972 to 1979, then spent the next decade dancing in Belgium and the Netherlands. She and her husband, Babil Gandaral, moved to McAllen, TX, to take over the McAllen Ballet Studio in 1990.

Richard took his time following in his family’s footsteps. At 12 he tried flamenco and jazz. “I didn’t care much for ballet,” he says. “I used to hide so I didn’t have to go to class.” Eventually he figured out that in order to improve his jazz dancing he would need classical training. He was hooked after his first ballet class. Jill was his first teacher. “In the studio I was a student,” Richard says. “And at home I was her son. That was the best way for me to learn to dance.”

Graduating early from high school, at 16 he headed to Houston Ballet Academy. There he met respected Cuban teacher Lazaro Carreño, who suggested he finish his training in Cuba. In awe of Carlos Acosta, who was dancing with Houston Ballet at the time, Richard wanted the same training. “Although Cuba was my idea, my mother was instrumental in all of my career decisions,” he says.

The young dancer left for Cuba in 1996 not knowing a word of Spanish. “When you have this Cuban teacher yelling at you at the top of her lungs, you learn Spanish really quickly,” he says. “Although the written methodology exam was a huge struggle for me in Spanish, I managed to pass.” He spent four years in Cuba and graduated second in his class (below Rolando Sarabia, now a Houston Ballet principal dancer). After receiving his diploma from Ramona de Sáa (see “Making Mirror Dance,” January/February), he danced with National Ballet of Cuba for a year, then joined Orlando Ballet. He says the decision to work with Fernando Bujones (OB’s former director, who died in 2005) was a crucial move in his career; Bujones’ wisdom has informed his choices ever since.

In 2003 Jill needed her son by her side to weather a difficult divorce and run the studio. Richard returned to Texas to help pick up the pieces. “Richard’s return was a blessing in disguise because I was able to witness his success firsthand instead of from afar,” says Jill. “I recognized that we were a great team that would achieve great things working side by side.” The timing proved right for Richard, who felt he had reached a turning point at Orlando Ballet and was looking for his next challenge.

During that difficult time for both mother and son, Richard contributed to the health of the studio, forming the McAllen Studio Ensemble, a pre-professional performance group, in 2004. But eventually the d’Altons were ready for a change. Richard missed the buzz of a larger city, so they closed the studio and headed to Houston to start fresh. Both knew the city well and thought it would be the ideal place to set up shop. In September 2006 they opened their new studio, in a prime location near Houston’s theater district. “Dancers need to be around all the arts,” says Jill. “Our dancers did not get that kind of exposure in McAllen.”

In their cozy studios at IBH, the d’Altons utilize the best of Cuban and RAD training systems in working with their students, some of whom relocated to Houston to continue studying with the mother–son team. The whip-fast turns and footwork of the Cuban technique and the RAD’s cleanliness make a good match. “Richard gives them that Cuban bravado,” says Jill. “And I’m the one who cleans up the little messes and pulls them back to reality.” The school’s training includes helping pre-professional dancers prepare for auditions and ballet competitions. Classes in pointe, variations, pas de deux, and repertoire are augmented by private lessons that give students the extra help they need to move to the next level.

Jill and Richard d’Alton, mother and son, make a synergistic duo even though they are as different as night and day.

After running a studio for many years, Jill likes being second in command to her son. Although at times she misses teaching young children, at this stage of her life she prefers to teach career-track students. The two directors share business responsibilities as well: Jill takes care of the bills and office duties while Richard handles the PR. Their tasks mirror their respective training; Jill is detail oriented and Richard takes a big-vision approach.

The d’Altons have made a serious mark on the Texas dance scene. Former students now attend several company-affiliated academies, including those at Houston Ballet, American Ballet Theatre, Orlando Ballet, The Washington Ballet, and Miami City Ballet. Four current students attended the final round of the Youth America Grand Prix, held in New York City. (Richard received the regional competition’s Outstanding Choreographer award for the third year in a row.) The d’Altons seek out performance opportunities for their young troupe; as Richard says, “the best teacher is the stage.”

He maintains his ties with his Cuban friends, and last summer he produced a gala, International Stars of the Cuban Ballet, with Carreño. In addition, he manages Rolando and Daniel Sarabia’s careers (the latter dances with Boston Ballet) and has joined the faculty of Houston Metropolitan Dance Company.

The d’Altons’ respect for each other—and the fact that they simply like working together —is apparent. Jill missed Richard’s teen years, but she is making up for that by sharing a dream with him. They are happy to be making a difference to young dancers.

Debbie Allen and Vivian Nixon
Emmy Award-winning choreographer, performer, and director Debbie Allen and her rising-star daughter, Vivian Nixon, make a stunning team both on and off the stage. Last fall Nixon, who has danced on Broadway, went to her mother’s hometown of Houston, TX, to perform in a Theater Under the Stars (TUTS) production of West Side Story. She played Anita, as her mother did some 20 years ago on the same TUTS stage, and mother and daughter had a celebratory reunion.

 “Dance was Vivian’s world from the moment she took her first breath,” says Allen. She describes bringing her young daughter to rehearsals when she was choreographing the musical Carrie for the Royal Shakespeare Company in 1988. “Of course I wanted her to dance,” says the proud mom, “but it was never something I made her do. Dance training is great for everyone.”

Nixon, 23, started in ballet and tap and showed talent in gymnastics. “The way she used her body she could have been an Olympic champion,” says Allen, who had her daughter train with Russian coaches. Mother and daughter began performing together when Nixon was quite young, including in a production of Allen’s Chocolate Nutcracker at the Vision Theater in Los Angeles when Nixon was 8. Even so, the young dancer felt that her choices were wide open when it came to her mother’s wishes and her future. “I felt the freedom to not be a dancer,” she says.

At 13, Nixon began training at the Kirov Academy in Washington, DC. “It’s a premier training school, and part of my inspiration for starting my school,” says Allen, referring to the Debbie Allen Dance Academy, which she opened in 2001 in Culver City, CA. A year later, Nixon returned home to complete her last two years of high school at her mother’s school. “Vivian was my muse for starting this school,” continues Allen. “I also took part of the Kirov home with me because I stole Madame Adrienne Dellas-Thornton,” one of Nixon’s favorite teachers.

“I didn’t actually take class with my mom, but I took classes at the studio all the time,” says Nixon. She also danced much of her mother’s choreography in Allen’s shows. Observers say they see the connection between mother and daughter in their style more than in their dancing; Nixon has had more ballet training while Allen had more theater arts experience. “We attack everything with fire and passion,” says Nixon. “Plus we kick the same—our battements are identical.”

“She has lots of power and energy onstage,” says Allen. “That reminds people of me.”

As a member of Ailey II, Nixon attended Fordham University through a program that allows the dancers to continue their studies online when they go on tour. Maurice Hines got wind of her talent and popped in one day to watch her in class at the Ailey studio. An offer to star in Hines’ Broadway show Hot Feet followed in 2006. The show lasted only a few months, but Nixon loved it and has been studying voice ever since.

When Nixon played Anita in West Side Story in Houston, mother–daughter comparisons were flying at high speed. TUTS founder and producing artistic director Frank Young, who remembers the young Allen as Anita, was delighted to see Nixon triumph in the role. “At the opening, I didn’t know who was more nervous, mother or daughter,” he says. “I have never seen an artist seize a role with such passion and artistry and make it her own—except, of course, in 1980, when her mother [did].”

When she accepted the role, Nixon says, she knew she would have to be strong to manage the inevitable slew of comparisons to her mother. “We talked about it, but I was just there to be a guide,” says Allen. She worked closely with Nixon on “A Boy Like That.” “It’s not a song; it’s a scene,” she told her. She says it was incredibly exciting to watch her daughter play the same part she had done—“the ultimate full-circle experience.”

On opening night she gave Nixon a purple dress, the costume she had worn on her opening night as Anita. It fit like a dream. “The dress has so much history. And it fit so much better—I could breathe in it,” says Nixon.

Having a legend for a mom is no piece of cake. “The hardest part is the pressure I put on myself,” says Nixon. Still, she has had no trouble standing up to her mother’s legacy. “My mother is so amazing at everything at she does,” she says. “It’s special to be able to follow in her footsteps.” Regardless of her mother’s accomplishments, Nixon likes to commend her for being a great parent. “When I am sick, she’s there just like any other mom.”

Allen’s dreams for her daughter, who was named one of Dance Magazine’s “25 to Watch” in January 2007, include wishing for her “everything she wants to be. I hope she is able to see herself in the universe. I want to be there to watch, to be the angel in the wings.”

As for Nixon, she’s happy that one of the people watching her will be her mom.

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