Houston’s Dance Salad Festival Draws Artists From All Over the World

Texas is known for steaks and BBQ but when it comes to dance, make sure “salad” is on the menu!

Now celebrating the 14^th anniversary season in Houston and 17th season since its inception in Brussels, Belgium, Dance Salad Festival promises another gathering of world-class performers. Famous in their own countries, the dance companies have won praise from critics and audiences wherever they have toured.

Classical, modern and contemporary dance share the Dance Salad Festival stage to form a mix of movement and compelling choreographic invention. Members of some of the world’s best dance companies come to Houston to participate in this week long Festival. Each night’s production is uniquely curated and designed as a coherent, expressive performance; to see the full range of the choreography presented requires attending two of the three evenings.

This multicultural presentation has received international recognition for its quality and innovativeness and has consistently been a source of cultural pride for many foreign communities come to Houston to participate in the Dance Salad Festival. Houston’s 83 member Consular Corps is a community partner and many country members serve as sponsors and hosts. Director Nancy Henderek strongly believes that through the arts bridges can be built between different countries and cultures. Also during the Festival week, master classes will be held in various locations throughout the city so that students and professionals can learn from these invited master choreographers.

Dance Salad Festival has been praised by local, national and international publications. Dance Magazine said: “Producer Nancy Henderek’s eye for some of the best international dance is unparalleled…(Dance Salad Festival) could wind up as the premier contemporary dance festival between the East and West coasts.” In a recent special section of The Houston Chronicle entitled “Houston’s Ultimate People,” Nancy Henderek is described as a “one-woman United Nations.” Detailed information about the festival is continuously updated and available on the web site at: www.dancesalad.org

Performances are scheduled for

April 9,10 and 11 at 7:30 pm at Wortham Center, Cullen Theater in Houston, TX.
Price range of tickets is $17-$47.
Buy tickets online at www.dancesalad.org
Print out yourself!

Dancers and Artists from the following companies have been confirmed for the 2009 Festival:

• English National Ballet (London, England), England’s foremost touring ballet company, will present David Dawson’s new version of A Million Kisses to My Skin and the intensely emotional Trois Gnossiennes by Dutch choreographer Hans van Manen, set to music by Erik Satie.

• Mats Ek (Stockholm, Sweden), presenting his heartfelt piece, Memory, will be performed by the choreographer himself and the internationally admired dancer, Ana Laguna, his wife and muse. Ana Laguna will also perform O Sole Mio, an  exuberant  piece by Mats Ek, set to music by Di Capua with  lyrics by Capurno to the voice of  Luciano Pavarotti. Ek will also be featured in the Choreographers’ Forum, in collaboration with the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston on April 8.

• The Royal Swedish Ballet (Stockholm,Sweden), presents Apartment, yet another outstanding choreography by Mats Ek.

• The Royal Danish Ballet (Copenhagen) with their US premiere of Lost on Slow choreographed by the Finnish-born Jerma Elo, who is one of the leading contemporary choreographers in the dance world today.

• Dresden SemperOper Ballet (Germany) will perform William Forsythe’s masterpiece, Steptext; On the Nature of Daylight created by the company’s resident choreographer, David Dawson, with music by Max Richter; Intimate Distance and Unintended Consequence, by the young choreographer, Jiri Bubenicek.

• William Forsythe (Frankfurt/Dresden, Germany)- Dance Salad Festival will present the World Premiere of a new choreographic work by William Forsythe – a new solo with music by his long term music collaborator, Thom Willems, especially for Dance Salad Festival. This will be performed by US-born dancer, Noah Gelber. Noah has performed in The Forsythe Company and is also known as a rising choreographer with his own pieces presented in New York and in Montreal and for the Kirov Ballet in Russia.

• Goteborgs Operans Balet (Sweden), will present a pas de deux from Kenneth Kvarnstrom’s OreloB, set to music by rock musician Jukka Rintamaki, and with costumes by the Swedish fashion designer Helena Horstedt.

• Staatstheater Ballet Wiesbaden (Germany) will perform Visions Fugitives created by outstanding contemporary choreographer Stephan Thoss, the company’s Artistic Director.

• Carte Blanche (Bergen, Norway) is premiering in the United States with a choreographic work by Hofesh Schechter: his widely praised Uprising.

• Xing Liang, principal dancer and house choreographer of Hong Kong’s premiere dance troupe City Contemporary Dance Company (CCDC), brings his own solo performance, Existence.

• Company Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui/Toneelhuis (Antwerp, Belgium), will present curated selections from his major choreographies, Myth and Origine, with live music by members of Ensemble Micrologus, an Italian Medieval and Renaissance instrumental and vocal group.
  

Choreographers’ Forum: A Conversation, Wednesday, April 8, at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, 6:30 pm, a special opportunity to glimpse the creative process from some of the Festival’s  invited choreographers, to hear their points of view and to see film clips of their work. This year we will feature Mats Ek as well as several other outstanding artists. This highly anticipated event is generously co-sponsored by the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. lectures@mfah.org