Mr. Honea was born and raised in Bangkok, Thailand. It was when he moved to Canada at the age of eighteen that he first experienced ballet. In 1990, he began his classical training at the world-renowned Canada’s Royal Winnipeg Ballet School.

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Upon graduating from Canada’s Royal Winnipeg Ballet School, he was asked to join the professional company in 1995 and remained with the company until 1998. During his time with Canada’s Royal Winnipeg Ballet Company, he performed its full repertoire including numerous classical ballets and contemporary works. He was privileged to work with some of ballet’s great talents such as Sir Anthony Dowell, Merrill Ashley, Rudi van Dantzig, and John Neumeier.

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In 1998, he moved to the United States to join the Milwaukee Ballet Company under the direction of the late Basil Thompson, where he remained for three seasons before joining Eugene Ballet Company for one season and finally joining The Sarasota Ballet in 2002.

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He continued to work with many renowned choreographers and performed works by George Balanchine, Sir Frederick Ashton, and Sir Kenneth MacMillan. He performed numerous roles from classical ballet to contemporary works, and performed as a guest artist in many ballet companies. He began teaching ballet in 2002, and he continues to show his passion for dance through teaching today. 

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Mr. Honea retired from dancing in 2004. Shortly after, he began his journey as an entrepreneur and business owner, starting a landscaping company, a café, and a photography business.

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In 2011, he returned to the ballet world when he was appointed the Director of Education for the Sarasota Ballet of Florida. His responsibilities as Director included running the entire Sarasota Ballet School’s education programs, Trainee program, and Dance, The Next Generation outreach program for at-risk youth. He produced and directed all the shows, workshops, end-of-the-year performances, outreach and master classes, adult program, and full school curriculum and syllabus. He also directed numerous successful summer intensive programs that included international students and teachers. Mr. Honea specialized in teaching ballet technique, partnering and character classes. Under his direction, The Sarasota Ballet School won Best School at YAGP in 2015.

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During his time as Director of Education, Mr. Honea also started an entirely new program for the Sarasota Ballet School called The Margaret Barbieri Conservatory of Dance. It was established in 2013 and designed for pre-professional students who wanted to pursue a career in classical dance. Young aspiring dancers auditioned and were handpicked by the expert faculty who felt the students had the potential to become professional classical ballet dancers. This selected group of young dancers was required to train six days a week under the diligent guidance of the internationally acclaimed faculty.

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Mr. Honea also designed an academic schedule that would allow these pre-professional students to train in a vigorous training schedule. Working with the local school district and private academic schools, he created a program that allowed the students to train daily and still focus on their academics as much as their dance training. Students were expected to meet their school and district requirements and standards with no exceptions. They were also encouraged to achieve the highest standards.

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This program attracted students from all over the world and involved housing and transportation to and from school. Mr. Honea also made connections with other professional companies to arrange employment for the students after graduating from the program.

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Mr. Honea is looking forward to bringing three decades of experience in this industry to take the Colorado Ballet Society to the next level and to serve the community of Colorado Springs and the state of Colorado. As Executive Director and School Principal of Colorado Ballet Society, he will be in charge of running the daily operations of the studio and overseeing all performance, special programs, and summer dance programs.