Li Cunxin, a former member of the Houston Ballet, is set to attend the 20th annual Dance Salad Festival. He won’t be dancing; he’s here as the artistic director of Australia’s Queensland Ballet, one of the companies showcased in the festival. “[This] city holds so many wonderful memories for me…the Wortham stages are where my dancing career was shaped and advanced,” recalls Cunxin, who was with the Houston Ballet for 16 years. Queensland Ballet presents Short Dialogues by world-renowned Dutch choreographer Nils Christie, with Phillip Glass’s Concerto for Violin and Orchestra as the music.
“This intensely involving piece offers a tantalizing, sometimes unsettling glimpse into three couples’ relationships…[a] combination of sculpture-like elegance, grace, fluidity, control and intricate partnership,” Cunxin explains. The company will also dance Through to You, choreographed by up-and-comer Andrew Simmons (New Zealand), a work that uses lighting effects to investigate personal connections and mirror images.
Presented by the Houston International Dance Coalition, the Dance Salad Festival hosts established as well as emerging dance-makers and companies from all around the globe. This year’s performers include Bereishit Dance Company (Korea), Introdans (Netherlands) and Semperoper Ballett (Germany). Works by choreographers Jiri Kylian, William Forsythe and Annabelle Lopez Ochoa are on the schedule. Each company performs twice over the three days. Attend any two performances to see everything on the program.
7:30 p.m. Thursday, Friday and Saturday. Wortham Center, 501 Texas. For information, visit dancesalad.org. $17 to $50.
April 2-4, 7:30 p.m., 2015
This article appears in Apr 2-8, 2015.