Li Cunxin suspects it may feel a little strange for him to sit in the audience of the Cullen Theatre and not be the person dancing on-stage.
"[This] city holds so many wonderful memories for me when I danced with Houston Ballet for nearly 16 years...the Wortham stages are where my dancing career was shaped and advanced," recalls Cunxin.
Returning to Houston as the current Artistic Director of Australia's Queensland Ballet, Cunxin's company will be showcased in this year's Dance Salad Festival, along with seven other local and international acts.
Celebrating its 20th year, Houston International Dance Coalition's Dance Salad Festival is a three-night-event, exhibiting the choreography and talent of established as well as emerging dance-makers and companies from all around the globe.
On the bill this year: Bereishit Dance Company (Seoul, Korea), Introdans (Arnhem, Netherlands), and Semperoper Ballett (Dresden, Germany), to name a few. See the companies perform dances by such notable artists as: Jiri Kylian, William Forsythe and Annabelle Lopez Ochoa.
Queensland Ballet will present Short Dialogues by world-renowned Dutch choreographer Nils Christie, set to Phillip Glass's Concerto for Violin and Orchestra. "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 which uses lighting effects to investigate personal connections and mirror images.
Performances of Dance Salad Festival are scheduled for April 2, 3 and 4, 2015. 7:30 p.m. at the Wortham Center, Cullen Theatre, 501 Texas. Each company represented will perform each piece of choreography twice over the three days. Attending 2 of the 3 evenings will ensure seeing all choreographic works presented in the Festival. For information visit dancesalad.org.