Ms. Vittum received her early training from Julio de Bittencourt and also holds a B.A. Degree in Dance Education from Lamar University . She has choreographed for professional and civic companies throughout the country as well as having her work presented at the Edinburgh Festival in Scotland.

Ms. Vittum has been the recipient of numerous awards such as: two Monticello Choreography Awards, Illinois State University choreography competition Winner, two nominations for the General Electric American Choreographer Plan. Most recently Ms. Vittum was the recipient of a Choreography Fellowship (1998) awarded by the Cultural Arts Council of Houston and the Texas Commission for the Arts for outstanding Choreographic merit and contribution to the City of Houston.

GILBERT ROME began his training in New Orleans with Gayle Parmalee. During his professional career, he performed with such legends as Rudolf Nureyev, Erik Bruhn, Lynn Seymour, and Marcia Haydee. Mr. Rome has performed in most all of the Classical Repertoire and has worked under internationally acclaimed choreographers and teachers such as Celia Franca, Erik Brun, Todd Bolendender, John Cranko, and Betty Oliphant.

Gil's professional background includes the National Ballet of Canada, State Opera House in Koln and Frankfurt , Germany , Mississippi Coast Ballet and Houston Ballet. He has served as Resident Choreographer and Co-Artistic Director of City Ballet of Houston under the direction of Margo Marshall, from the years 1980-1993. He has been a member of the teaching staff at Houston Ballet Academy , Houston Dance Center , Southwest and Southeast Regional Ballet Festivals and the High School for the Performing and Visual Arts. Mr. Rome has choreographed no less than seventy ballets between 1973 and 1997 throughout the country and has been the recipient of numerous awards as a teacher and choreographer.

Currently, Mr. Rome is the Retired Director of the Margo Marshall – Gilbert Rome Studio of Dance and Artistic Director of Houston Repertoire Ballet.

Ballet Mistress…

Naomi Glass, a native of Mercer Island, Washington, trained at Cornish College of the Arts in Seattle, San Francisco Ballet School and Houston Ballet Academy before joining Houston Ballet in 1994.  In 1997, she was nominated by Ben Stevenson to represent Houston Ballet for the Princess Grace Award.  Some of her favorite roles include Stanton Welch’s Madame Butterfly and Indigo, Ben Stevenson’s Three Preludes, Evening Pas de Deux, Five Poems, Dusk and Twilight; Nacho Duato’s Without Words; Trey McIntyre’s Second Before the Ground and “Wendy” in Peter Pan.  Ms. Glass has danced the full-length ballets The Nutcracker, Swan Lake, Giselle, Cinderella, The Sleeping Beauty, Dracula, Romeo and Juliet, Cleopatra, La Sylphide, The Snow Maiden, Firebird and Don Quixote. Beyond her classical repertoire, Ms. Glass has been showcased in a variety of contemporary and neoclassical roles, including works by William Forsythe, Jiri Kylian, George Balanchine, Sir Kenneth MacMillan,  Lila York, Helgi Tomasson, Frederick Ashton, Glen Tetley, and others. Ms. Glass retired from her soloist position at Houston Ballet in 2004, and is currently the Ballet Mistress of Houston Repertoire Ballet and a committed teacher to the Ballet Center of Houston.

Rehearsal Assistant…

Katie Hoffart began her training when she was 8 years old at the Ballet Center of Houston in Houston, Texas under the guidance of Gilbert Rome. Ms. Hoffart danced with Houston Repertoire Ballet for 7 years, during that time performing in Sleeping Beauty, Les Sylphides, Swan Lake, La Bayadere and various roles in The Nutcracker including Snow Queen and the Dew Drop Fairy. She has performed in various ballets choreographed by Sandra Organ, Anne Polenjenko, Leeyan Neeley, Gilbert Rome, and Victoria Vittum and most recently danced in Panoptic choreographed by Lynn Cote, formerly of the Washington Ballet. Katie had trained at several summer dance programs including Joffrey Ballet in San Antonio, American Ballet Theatre, and Washington Ballet. She is currently a faculty member of Ballet Center of Houston and also rehearsal assistant for Houston Repertoire Ballet. Ms. Hoffart is also a student at the University of Houston in pursuit of a Communications degree.