July 26, 2025
Watters first danced his approach into the ballet scene at 16 years previous by becoming a member of a six-week summer time intensive program with Houston Ballet.
You’ll have seen him gracefully dancing in your TikTok timeline, however now Harper Watters is dancing into a brand new place as the primary Black and homosexual principal dancer on the Houston Ballet, KHOU 11 stories.
Watters took his first leap into the world of ballet at age 16, enrolling in a six-week summer time intensive with the Houston Ballet. What started as a short-term alternative shortly turned, in his phrases, a life-changing journey. Although initially introduced on in a brief capability, Watters remembers telling his mother and father with conviction that this was his “second.” “They provided me a spot within the second firm, and to be trustworthy, I don’t assume I knew what that meant. I heard ‘contract,’ I heard you get to coach right here for a yr… And I referred to as my mother and father, and mentioned that is my second,” Watters remembered.
Fourteen years later, his laborious work and dedication paid off as he was not too long ago promoted to principal dancer after getting back from Japan. Not losing any time, the New Hampshire native, simply as he did 14 years in the past, referred to as his mother and father with the good information and up to date his social media profiles. Watters celebrates his mother and father, who adopted him at simply two weeks previous, for his or her instrumental assist and labels them as a key ingredient in his success. “They gave me wings to soar right here in Texas, they usually have come to each efficiency… It was by no means no, it was ‘let’s do that collectively,’” Watters mentioned.
When the curtains go down, Watters will be seen educating and acting on TikTok. With shut to 1 million followers, a few of his hottest content material pays homage to Black ballet dancers each previous and current. He gracefully mimics pictures and strikes from a number of the most outstanding and influential dancers to ever grace the stage, like Judith Jamison, Keenan English, and Debbie Allen. Watters says he makes use of the social platform to showcase his “attribute aptitude.” ”I will be calm, cool, and picked up, I will be fabulous, fierce, and fearless,” the principal dancer mentioned.
“You possibly can add versatile, too.”
@theharperwatters Replying to @broadcast711 we are only as strong as our stories 💐 #blackhistorymonth
Exterior of social media and the stage, Watters hopes his new place will open up alternatives for others like him sooner or later, pushing for larger variety within the business. Retired ballet dancer Misty Copeland, who turned the primary Black lady named feminine principal dancer on the American Ballet Theatre, referred to as the business out for lastly making such a transfer, regardless of the corporate’s 75-year existence.
Throughout a 2018 CNN podcast, she highlighted that being a primary doesn’t erase the racism that exists on the planet of ballet.
RELATED CONTENT: Misty Copeland To Debut on Broadway
About the Author
