Houston Ballet II is the second company of the prestigious and world-renowned Houston Ballet. It consists of young and gifted dancers of the Houston Ballet Academy.

Houston Ballet II (HB II) performs at 8 p.m.Oct. 10, Miller Symphony Hall, 23 N. Sixth St., Allentown.

HB II dancers are trained and mentored by some of the finest choreographers in the dance world, such as Stanton Welch, an Australian choreographer who has served as artistic director of Houston Ballet since 2003. Welch has tirelessly and most successfully elevated the level of the company’s classical technique and has commissioned many new works.

The HB II repertoire to includes:

“Flower Festival In Genzano,” Music by Edvard Helsted, Choreography by August Bournonville;

“Allegro Brillante,” Music Piano Concerto No. 3, Op. 75, by Peter Ilyitch Tchaikovsky, Choreography by George Balanchine;

“Mortal Form,” Music Symphony in E Flat, H.I No. 22, Composed by Franz Joseph Haydn, Choreography by Garrett Smith;

“La Prima Vez,” Music by Owain Phyfe, Choreography by James Potter;

“Next Of Kin,” Music by The Rebecca West, Choreography by Melody Mennite, and

“Long And Winding Road,” Music by Peter Breiner’s “Beatles Go Baroque,” Choreography by Stanton Welch

In the June 2012 issue of Dancing Times, dance critic Margaret Willis praised Houston Ballet and highlighted the fact that, “During his own tenure, Stanton Welch has upped the standard and Houston Ballet now shows off a group of 55 dancers in splendid shape.

“With fast and tidy footwork, they are technically skillful and have strong, broad jumps and expansive, fluid movements. The dancers’ musicality shines through their work, dancing as one with elegance and refinement,” Willis stated.

The faculty at HB II is of superb caliber, and hails from all over the world, such as ballet master Claudio Muñoz, who joined the staff of Houston Ballet’s Ben Stevenson Academy in January 1999. He was “Best Teacher” at the Interdance Competition in Asuncion, Paraguay, in 1996. Munoz was a ballet master at the School of Ballet of the Santiago Ballet in Chile in 1998. During his dance career, he filled principal roles in Peru, Uruguay, Argentina and New York, and worked with a variety of stellar choreographers, including George Balanchine.

In a phone interview with Munoz from the Houston Ballet Center for Dance, he says the Miller Symphony Hall performance will be filled with versatility: “We will have old classical and Balanchine pieces, too, with a touch of modern.”

There will be two contemporary pieces, a Beatles-inspired piece (Welch’s choreographic portion of “Within You Without You: A Tribute to George Harrison”) excerpts from the classic “Sleeping Beauty” and Welch’s neoclassical work, “A Dance In The Garden of Mirth.”

HB II’s impressive repertoire includes classical and contemporary pieces. The company’s goal is to provide students an opportunity to dance varied roles, to allow dancers to develop technically and artistically, and to serve the community by providing high quality performances.

“The students are from different countries,” says Munoz, when asked what sets HB II apart. “Therefore, the company is very powerful. It’s young people from the ages of 15 to 19. It is a very high standard classical company.”

The students’ primary course of study is the Vaganova dance method, which fuses traditional French ballet style from the romantic era with the athleticism and virtuosity of the Italian and Russian techniques.

Students take classes in modern, jazz, swing, tango and salsa, as well as learning improvisational techniques and choreography.

HB II has grown in leaps and bounds in the last decade. “We have increased [touring] a lot,” says Munoz. “We have been in Mexico, Hungary, Guatemala, China, Switzerland and all around America.”

The Wortham Theater Center, and its accompanying 115,000-square-foot, Houston Ballet Center for Dance, are magnificent architectural establishments in the heart of Houston’s Theater District.

HB II has an extensive performance schedule throughout the year. The Fall Studios Series will visit Pennsylvania, Michigan, Texas and Mexico. After a collaboration with the San Francisco Ballet in November, the company prepares for its annual production of “The Nutcracker.”

Houston Ballet’s Education and Outreach Program has reached approximately 33,500 Houston area students (as of the 2013 - ‘14 season). The Academy has more than 1,000 students, four of whom have won awards at the prestigious international ballet competition, Prix de Lausanne, with one student winning the overall competition in 2010.

“Please come and enjoy,” Munoz says to potential attendees. “Houston Ballet II is the upcoming young company and promises to be one of the best in America.”

Tickets: Miller Symphony Hall Box Office, 23 N. Sixth St., Allentown; allentownsymphony.org; 610-432-6715