14th Annual Dance Salad Festival Choreographers’ Forum

Dance Salad Festival/Houston International Dance Coalition presents the 14th Annual Dance Salad Festival Choreographers’ Forum, on Wednesday, March 23, 2016, 7PM at the Brown Auditorium of the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston.

The 14th Annual Dance Salad Festival Choreographers’ Forum will feature Marguerite Donlon, Berlin-based choreographer, theater and opera director; Sarah Slipper, a Canadian born, founder, artistic director and choreographer of NW Dance Project, Portland; Ihsan Rustem, Zurich based choreographer of NW Dance Project of European acclaim.

Donlon’s new work, Made in Love (Minutemade Act One), will make its US premiere at the 2016 Dance Salad Festival, performed by Gartner Platz Theater from Munich, Germany. Marguerite Donlon, choreographer, theater, opera director, is regarded as innovative and highly unique in the theater world today. Marguerite has created for numerous renowned ballet companies worldwide, amongst them the Nederlands Dans Theater II, Stuttgart Ballet, Vienna State Opera Ballet, the Ballet of the Komische Oper Berlin, the Companhia Nacional de Bailado Portugal, Hubbard Street Dance Company Chicago and Rambert Dance London and the Bolshoi Ballet, Russia.

An award winning, independent choreographer, Sarah Slipper has created over 40 ballets to date and is currently working on several new creations while serving as the Founding Artistic Director and choreographer of NW Dance Project. Slipper worked closely with many internationally renowned directors, choreographers and teachers, including Arnold Spohr, Rudi van Dantzig, Hans van Manen, Jirí Kylián, Agnes de Mille, Galina Yordanova, and Alla Savchenko and has created works for prominent dance companies including the Royal Winnipeg Ballet, Cincinnati Ballet, Oregon Ballet Theatre, Nashville Ballet and Washington Ballet.

Ihsan Rustem created Yidam for NW Dance Project, Portland, USA which will debut in Houston in DSF 2016. Ihsan worked with such renown choreographers as Mats Ek, Jiri Kylián, Paul Lightfoot / Sol Leon, Hans van Manen and William Forsythe, amongst others. To date, Ihsan has created works for Hubbard Street Dance Chicago 2 (USA), Northwest Dance Project (USA), Istanbul State Ballet MDT (Turkey), Tanz Luzerner Theater (CH), Whim W’Him (USA), Ballet Regensburg (DE), Würzburg Ballett (DE), National Youth Dance Company (UK). Ihsan is a recipient of the 2014 Hubbard Street Dance Chicago’s International Commissioning Project and Whim W’Him’s inaugural Choreographic Shindig, 2015.

Don’t miss this opportunity to hear these distinguished choreographers share insights into their creative process and show short video clips of their work during the 14th Annual Dance Salad Choreographers’ Forum.

The Forum will be moderated by the renowned London-based dance critic, Maggie Foyer.

This choreographers’ forum is held the day before the opening of the Dance Salad Festival 2016 at the Wortham Center, Cullen Theater.

Free admission and reception follows in the Museum lobby. The Choreographers’ Forum is generously co-sponsored by the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston.

For more info visit www.dancesalad.org.

Pictured: Samantha Campbell and Elijah Labay of NW Dance Project (Portland) in Yidam. Choreographer: Ihsan Rustem.  Photo by Blaine Truitt Covert.