Stanley Hall (dancer)

Due to a lack of performance venues at the time, Austin Ballet Theatre began performing at the Armadillo World Headquarters shortly after its formation. The Armadillo was a space becoming known for its progressive, country, or “cosmic cowboy,” music that would generate into Austin's booming music industry and become the inspiration for the PBS TV show Austin City Limits. Described as a “psychedelic rock barn,” the Armadillo was also known for its hippie clientele. The Austin Ballet Theatre performed at the Armadillo roughly one Sunday a month from 1972-1980 to crowds of 1200-1500. The phenomenon spawned several articles such as “Ballet and Beer” by Suzanne Shelton in Texas Monthly. Austin Ballet Theatre lasted after the Armadillo's closing in 1980 until 1986. Hall continued to teach in Austin until his death.

Hall's friends, the ballerina sisters Patricia Wilde and Nora White Shattuck, recruited Hall to assume Shattuck's position teaching and directing ballet for an amateur company in Austin, Texas during the late 1960s. After moving to Austin, Hall also began teaching ballet at the University of Texas at Austin as part of the required physical education program at the time. After a falling out with the Austin Civic Ballet (later Ballet Austin) board of directors, Hall formed his own company, Austin Ballet Theatre, in 1972.

Stanley Hall (1917-1994) was a British-born ballet dancer with an eclectic career that ranged from the Vic-Wells Ballet (later the Royal Ballet) to the Ballets de Paris, from major Hollywood movies to Broadway, and from TV specials to celebrity nightclub acts. Hall moved to Austin, Texas in the late 1960s and founded Austin Ballet Theatre, a ballet company that enjoyed great popularity for its monthly performances at the Armadillo World Headquarters from 1972 to 1980. In addition to his performance legacy, he was also a teacher and mentor to many aspiring dancers in Austin until his death in 1994.

Stanley Hall was born on June 21, 1917, in Birmingham, England. He began studies with the Vic-Wells Ballet in London at the age of 12.