Sandra Organ-Solis, was a soloist with Houston Ballet and its first African-American female ballerina, leaving the company after fifteen seasons to work as a guest artist, independent choreographer, and become Artistic Director of Sandra Organ Dance Company (SODC), a contemporary ballet ensemble in Houston, Texas, founded in 1997. She was taught by Valerie Roche in her hometown of Omaha, Nebraska, passed examinations taken through all levels of the Royal Academy of Dancing syllabus, and graduated valedictorian form Duchesne Academy before entering Houston Ballet Academy as a scholarship student. Her international career with the Houston Ballet encompassed a diverse range of roles in the classical and contemporary realm, from choreographers Ben Stevenson, Frederick Ashton, George Balanchine, and Sir Kenneth MacMillian to Christopher Bruce, James Kudelka and Paul Taylor. She is on the faculty of Houston Ballet Academy, Houston High School for the Performing and Visual Arts, and most recently at St. Johns School. Ms. Organ has participated in Regional Dance America’s Choreography Institute, and has choreographed works on Kingwood Ballet Theatre, City Ballet of Houston, North Ballet Center of Houston, Gwinnett Ballet Theatre, Houston Repertory Ballet, and Houston Ballet Academy. Ms Organ has also danced as a guest artist with Corpus Christi Ballet, Houston Metropolitan Dance Company and Houston Grand Opera. For her choreography, she has been awarded an Individual Artist’s Grant from the Cultural Arts Council Houston/Harris County as well as the Monticello scholarship and National Choreography award in the Southwest by Regional Dance America. Having choreographed nearly forty- five ballets in the last 7 years, Ms. Organ has also staged works for Houston Grand Opera, Television commercials, improvisational studies with elementary through high school students and with elderly populations and as team building exercises at conferences. Ms. Organ also has an extensive solo sacred dance repertoire, and also offers church communities meditations and creative movement workshops in retreat settings. She has received awards and recognition from the Houston chapters of the United Negro College Fund, Alpha Kappa Alpha Sororities Inc., and the Knights of St. Peter Clavier for her outstanding contributions to the arts. She has served as a Grants Panelist for Cultural Arts Council Houston /Harris County and sits on Board of Directors for Dance/USA, a national dance service organization, where she has co-chaired the Modern/Other Artists Council from 2002-2004.
