Nationally acclaimed teacher and choreographer, Victoria Vittum brings vision, passion, expertise and dedication to Ballet Center of Houston (BCH), which she founded in 1994. The following year, she co-founded Houston Repertoire Ballet with Gilbert Rome to extend training for talented BCH students beyond the studio, and to give them opportunities to perform onstage in pre-professional productions, often alongside professional guest dancers. Today, Ms. Vittum directs and teaches at both institutions, making it her mission to offer the best dance training in the Houston area and to perpetuate interest in the art of ballet. Trained by Julio de Bittencourt, Ms. Vittum graduated from Lamar University with a BA in Dance Education. Since then she has been recognized with two Monticello Choreography Awards, Illinois State University’s Choreography Competition Award and nominations for General Electric’s American Choreographer Award. Ms. Vittum’s dance pieces have also been placed in the National Choreography Plans and presented at the Edinburgh Festival in Scotland. In 1998, she was honored by the Cultural Arts Council of Houston and the Texas Commission for her contribution to the city with a choreography fellowship. For over a decade, Ms. Vittum served on the faculty of Margo Marshall School of Ballet and as resident choreographer and associate artistic director of the City Ballet of Houston. She was a faculty member of the Houston Ballet Academy and the Houston Ballet Company under the direction of Ben Stevenson. She was also resident choreographer at Gwinnett Ballet Theater in Atlanta, GA where she staged new productions of The Nutcracker, Swan Lake and Cinderella and choreographed original works that were presented at the Southeast festivals. In addition to teaching at HRB, Ballet Center of Houston and Hope Stone, Ms. Vittum has been a guest teacher at Ballet Prejocaj of France, The Washington Ballet, and the Southeast and Southwest Regional Ballet Festivals, known today as Regional Dance America. In August of 2011, at the request of Stanton Welch, Ms. Vittum was invited back to Houston Ballet to teach company classes. Since then she continues as a guest teacher for Houston Ballet, Houston Ballet II and their summer intensive program. Most recently she has enjoyed guest teaching at Louisville Ballet and continues to maintain meaningful relationships and contacts in the ballet community for the benefit of our students.