Married Ballet San Antonio dancers Zachary Bennett and Vianca Palacios prepare for February’s Cinderella performances
A shared audition outcome, separate roles onstage
Ballet San Antonio company members Vianca Palacios and Zachary Bennett, a married couple who both joined the organization in 2019, are appearing in the company’s February staging of Cinderella at the Tobin Center for the Performing Arts. The production runs Feb. 20–22, 2026, in the H-E-B Performance Hall, with four performances scheduled across the weekend.
While the pair have previously performed together in Ballet San Antonio repertory, their casting in Cinderella places them in different parts of the story rather than partnering with one another. Bennett is scheduled to appear as a cavalier, while Palacios is alternating between character roles within Cinderella’s household, including the stepmother and stepsister.
How their paths converged before San Antonio
Palacios, who was born and raised in Puerto Rico, began ballet training at age 3 and later pursued international training opportunities and early professional experience with Balleteatro Nacional de Puerto Rico. In 2017, she received a full scholarship to the Sarasota Cuban Ballet School in Florida, where she broadened her repertoire across classical and contemporary works. She joined Ballet San Antonio in 2019 and was promoted to soloist in 2023.
Bennett, originally from Gainesville, Florida, began dancing as a teenager, shifting from styles including hip hop and jazz into ballet at age 16. His training included scholarship study at the Margaret Barbieri Conservatory at The Sarasota Ballet and subsequent training at the Sarasota Cuban Ballet School. He also spent time with Milwaukee Ballet’s second company before joining Ballet San Antonio in 2019 as a corps de ballet member.
“One in a million” auditions and the logistics of a working partnership
The couple’s relationship began while they were students, and their professional timelines later diverged temporarily when Bennett took a year-long position in Milwaukee. After reuniting, they pursued company opportunities by submitting separate audition materials to multiple organizations. Both ultimately received positions in San Antonio—an outcome Palacios described as “one in a million.” The two married in 2024 in Puerto Rico.
For Ballet San Antonio, Cinderella arrives during the company’s 2025–26 season, which marks its 40th season in San Antonio. The production is choreographed by Conny Mathôt and is set to a score by Sergei Prokofiev.
Performance weekend details
Friday, Feb. 20, 2026 — 7:30 p.m.
Saturday, Feb. 21, 2026 — 2 p.m. and 7:30 p.m.
Sunday, Feb. 22, 2026 — 2 p.m.
The production’s schedule places rehearsals and preparation directly through the Valentine’s Day weekend, with the opening performance less than a week later.
Beyond performing, Palacios also works with Ballet San Antonio’s school and has served as a rehearsal assistant for children’s casts in company productions, reflecting how many full-time dancers balance performance demands with educational and rehearsal responsibilities in a producing organization.
For audiences, the February run offers a concentrated view of Ballet San Antonio’s resident talent—featuring dancers whose personal and professional trajectories converged through training, touring opportunities, and a rare parallel hiring outcome that brought both partners to the same company.