Originally from Maryland, USA, Hough trained at the Kirov Academy of Ballet in Washington, D.C., and took part already as a young dancer in ballet competitions both at home and abroad.
Hough has danced the principal roles in Sergejev’s Sleeping Beauty, Gielgud’s Giselle and in several other classics such as Swan Lake, Don Quixote and Cinderella. She has danced prominent parts in neoclassical and modern works such as Balanchine’s Jewels and Kylián’s Falling Angels.

Melissa Hough joined The Norwegian National Ballet in 2013, after a career at the Boston Ballet, which culminated in her appointment in 2009 as a Principal Dancer (the highest accolade), and the Houston Ballet, where she was First Soloist.

Melissa Hough also works as a choreographer. In 2011 Hough was awarded a New York Choreographic Institute Fellowship. In 2017 she was awarded the prestigious Norwegian Tom Wilhelmsen Opera and Ballet Award, acknowledging her talent and encouraging her international career in choreography. She is affiliated with the New York City Dance Alliance as a teacher of contemporary dance.

Ballet “Epic Short” of the Norwegian National Ballet