TWINKLE-toed Chris Houston has come a long way since sneaking off to dance classes as a boy.
Having grown up in Linwood, life is now considerably more glamorous for the talented performer.
He has carved out a successful career in showbiz, starring on stage in front of thousands of fans.
Since getting his first big break more than 15 years ago, his flair for dance has taken him all across the world.
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From America to Chile, Ecuador to Singapore, Chris has treaded the boards at some of the most famous venues on the planet.
The latest ‘gig’ for Linwood’s very own Billy Elliot is the North American tour of the renowned Cirque de Soleil, which got underway in Dallas, Texas, last month.
It has been quite a journey for the former St Brendan’s High pupil – and it’s a journey that recently moved into a new phase, as he stepped out of the limelight to take on a different role as the show’s artistic director.
“I am no longer performing,” Chris told The Gazette. “I was really loving what I was doing but a director I was working with was looking for a new assistant director and offered me the role.
“The transition from the foreground to the background was difficult but I’m loving it, as I’m still in the environment that I call home.
“I am getting to work with some amazing people, including Olympians and athletes.
“It is incredible but also a challenge, as I’m having to care for more than 50 performers.”
At the time of his recent ‘retirement’ from dancing, 40-year-old Chris had just finished performing in Franz Lehár’s comic masterpiece The Merry Widow at the famous Metropolitan Opera, in New York City.
That role at ‘The Met’ was the grand finale to a career in dance that all began when he fended off 10,000 other applicants to win the chance to perform alongside Canadian superstar Celine Dion in Las Vegas.
Chris impressed the pop diva so much during the initial run at The Colosseum, in Caesar’s Palace, that he joined her for a world tour in 2005.
And so began a whirlwind career that also saw the talented dancer strut his stuff in a worldwide tour of hit musical Chicago, join a circus in Las Vegas and wow audiences in the Big Apple.
Chris, who is single, said: “My highlight would have to be dancing with Celine. She took me to the US and gave me the opportunity to live the life I have done.
“It was just a special time in my life.”
In his new role with Cirque du Soleil, Chris is part of an entertainment empire which generates hundreds of millions of dollars each year, with sold-out shows performed to mesmerised audiences around the world.
The history of Cirque du Soleil can be traced back to the dawn of the 1980s, when a troupe of performers founded by Gilles Ste-Croix took their talent to the streets of Baie-Saint-Paul – a village on the shores of the St Laurent River, near Quebec City, in Canada.
Known to the public as Les Échassiers de Baie-Saint-Paul (The Stiltwalkers of Baie-Saint-Paul), this group would form the core of what would grow into Cirque du Soleil.
Their show featured jugglers, dancers, fire-breathers and musicians.
Little did the early performers know that these embryonic beginnings would lead to something revolutionary on a global scale.
In recent years, audiences at the SSE Hydro, in Glasgow, have been among those to snap up the chance to enjoy a live Cirque du Soleil show.
Chris, meanwhile, has been based in Las Vegas for more than a decade.
However, when he gets a break from his Cirque de Soleil commitments, his thoughts often turn away from his sunny home in Nevada and towards the Renfrewshire town where he grew up.
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Earlier this winter, Chris made his latest trip back home to Linwood to catch up with his mum Marie and brother Joseph, who still live in the town.
“I only really get to come home once a year,” Chris added. “That’s the hardest part of my role.
“Travelling is exhausting but amazing. We usually spend two to three months in a place and really get to know it.
“I love travelling and I consider myself so lucky to have been able to do it all as part of a career I love.”
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