The Dance Salad Festival is an annual highlight of the Houston dance calendar. Sponsored by the non-profit Houston International Dance Coalition, the festival brings choreographers and dancers from around the world to Houston for three carefully-programmed evenings of performance. This year boasts US premieres from the Polish National Ballet (which hasn't visited the country since 1980), Italy's Spellbound Contemporary Ballet, and Barcelona's La Veronal.

Anabelle Ochoa, a freelance choreographer whose composition "In Transit" will be performed by the National Ballet of Spain, arrived late Tuesday night in Houston after an exhausting flight from Munich via Philadelphia. "In Transit' was inspired by all the time she's spent in airports. "I travel a lot, and I'm always transiting between airports, so I'm always observing people," Ochoa says. "Life in airports is about transitions. It's a no man's land—you're not really in a country, you're in an airport."

For a preview of the festival, head over to the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston tonight for a choreographers' forum featuring Ochoa, Krzysztof Pastor of the Polish National Ballet, and Satoshi Kudo of Eastman.

Sara Wheeler, a public programs assistant at the MFAH, said it makes sense for the museum to partner with a dance group for an event like the choreographers' forum. "What we have in common with Dance Salad is that they curate events just like we curate exhibitions. Every work stands on its own, but at the same time they come together to form a greater whole."

In addition to the forum and the three-day festival, Dance Salad will hold a concert program for middle and high school students tomorrow afternoon at the Wortham Theater Center.

Sneak Preview: Dance Salad Festival "Choreographers' Forum"
Today at 7 p.m.
Free
Caroline Weiss Law Building
Museum of Fine Arts, Houston
1001 Bissonnet St
mfah.org
713-639-7300

Afternoon Student Concert Program
March 28 from 12:30–2
Free to public and charter school students, teachers, and chaperones
Wortham Theater Center
500 Texas Ave
dancesalad.org
832-533-4826

Dance Salad Festival
March 28–30 at 7:30
$20–50
Wortham Theater Center
500 Texas Ave
dancesalad.org
832-533-4826