Best Dance Company

Ballet Austin Studio

Its chosen form of dance is the one most weighted by tradition, but there's nothing draggy about this longtime dance company. Ballet Austin can take the most obligatory of ballets - The Nutcracker being an obvious example - and make it spring freshly to life. And with original work, such as artistic director Lambros Lambrou's full-length ballet Ulysses, BA takes thrilling leaps into space. It's a troupe nimbly en pointe.