Dance Source Houston Announces Recipients of 2026 Honors

Contact:
Mollie Haven Miller
Executive Director
Dance Source Houston
mollie@dancesourcehouston.org
713.224.3262

Dance Source Houston Announces Recipients of 2026 Honors

November 19, 2025 – (Houston, TX) Dance Source Houston (DSH), an arts service organization dedicated to the local dance community, is proud to announce the two individuals to be recognized for its 2026 SPARK distinctions – Nancy Henderek as the Giannelli Service Awardee and Harrison Guy as the Dance Source Houston Artistic Honoree. Dance Source Houston began its annual community awards presentation in 2022 to spotlight local dance leaders for their artistic and service contributions. 

Henderek and Guy will be presented with their recognitions at SPARK on February 21, 2025, at Midtown Arts & Theater Center Houston (MATCH). The annual event gathers dance supporters and artists to celebrate Houston’s vibrant dance community and honor individuals who have made a significant, sustained impact.

Henderek is the producer, director, and founder of the internationally acclaimed Dance Salad Festival, which ran from 1992-2022. The festival, curated each year by Nancy, brought internationally acclaimed companies and choreographers to local audiences and elevated the visibility of Houston as a dance city. Guy is the founder and artistic director of Urban Souls Dance Company and serves as Director of Arts and Culture for the Fifth Ward Community Redevelopment Corporation. Across activism, community building, dancemaking, and education, Harrison’s work centers and amplifies Black artists and stories.

“We are thrilled to recognize Nancy and Harrison at SPARK 2026 and the undeniable impact they’ve made on dance in Houston,” said DSH Executive Director Mollie Haven Miller. “Each year, we gather to spotlight leaders who have helped to make our dance community vibrant. We honor individuals who make dance happen – on stages, in studios, and behind the scenes. Nancy and Harrison are powerful examples of this important work. We can’t wait to celebrate with our community!”

In addition to being a community celebration, SPARK is Dance Source Houston’s annual fundraiser event and includes light bites, drinks, raffle packages, a short performance, and of course, lots of dancing. Funds raised will support DSH’s programs that address the needs of freelance dancers and small dance companies.

Tickets for SPARK are on sale now at dancesourcehouston.org/spark.

2026 Giannelli Service Awardee

NANCY HENDEREK is the visionary Producer, Director, and Founder of the internationally acclaimed Dance Salad Festival, a curated celebration of international dance that she first imagined and launched in Brussels in 1992. Henderek produced, directed, and co-choreographed the festival’s first three productions in Belgium before bringing the event to Houston.

Dance Salad Festival became Henderek’s signature artistic legacy—a project “born in Brussels that grew up in Houston.” In 2022, the festival celebrated its twenty-fifth anniversary in Houston and twenty-eighth overall, returning after the global pandemic of 2020 and 2021. It brought Houston audiences masterful dancers, choreographers, and live musicians from around the world. Dance Salad Festival grew into one of the city’s most anticipated annual arts presentations.

Born in Washington, D.C., Henderek’s lifelong relationship with dance began in childhood ballet classes which continued throughout her life. Her love of dance nurtured the creative energy that would eventually shape her career. She has since danced and choreographed in Sweden, Brussels, Houston and Hong Kong. In Sweden, she performed with the Marchant Dance Theater in Gothenburg under Claude Marchant, one of the original dancers of the Katherine Dunham Company.

Nancy’s years in Brussels were formative, both as a Resident Choreographer at the International School of Brussels—where she taught dance and helped build a thriving high school dance and theater program—and as a freelance choreographer for the Brussels Shakespeare Festival, the Operettentheater Nouveau Théâtre de Belgique, and the American Theatre Company. Her work in Houston included performing with the Houston Grand Opera and teaching dance at Episcopal High School and Houston Community College.

Henderek is celebrated for her unparalleled ability to cast the net globally for exceptional dance companies. Guided by her deep experience and discerning artistic eye, Nancy curated each Dance Salad season, together with the choreographers chosen, with a distinctive sensibility for beauty, craft, and musicality. Her contributions include not only selecting choreography, but also working directly with the artists to adapt and refine pieces specifically for the Houston stage.

A lifelong creative spirit with a passion cultivated since childhood—when she crafted neighborhood performances using her sister and friends together with a barrel of old costumes provided by her mother—Nancy Henderek has elevated the dance world through her dedication, vision, and curatorial expertise.

2026 Dance Source Houston Artistic Honoree

HARRISON GUY (he/him) is a celebrated choreographer, cultural architect, educator, and visionary community leader based in Houston, Texas. As the founder and artistic director of Urban Souls Dance Company, he has spent more than two decades using movement to uplift Black voices, preserve cultural memory, and ignite collective healing through the power of dance.

Harrison serves as Director of Arts and Culture for the Fifth Ward Community Redevelopment Corporation, where he leads the Fifth Ward Cultural Arts District—Houston’s only state-recognized African American cultural district—and oversees operations at the historic DeLUXE Theater. His work is rooted at the intersection of the arts, affordable housing, historic preservation, and equity-focused community development. Through initiatives like DeLUXE Village artist housing, youth programs, and neighborhood festivals, Harrison uses culture to resist displacement and ensure long-term community ownership and pride.

He is also a member of the dance faculty at Kinder High School for the Performing and Visual Arts, mentoring the next generation of artists with purpose and care.

A Dance/USA Fellow, New/Now Artist Commission recipient through Performing Arts Houston, and inaugural Artist in Residence at Rice University, Harrison has premiered acclaimed works such as Colored Carnegie—a tribute to Houston’s first Black library—and Can We Know the Sound of Forgiveness, performed at Rice University and Carnegie Hall. He co-choreographed Plumshuga: The Rise of Lauren Anderson at Stages Houston, honoring the iconic ballerina’s story.

He is co-producer of the NAACP Image Award–nominated documentary ‘Memory Builds the Monument,’ about Fifth Ward’s legendary Club Matinee, and founder of the Charles Law Community Archive. Through every project, Harrison leads with vision, compassion, and a commitment to creating spaces where art becomes a vehicle for justice, belonging, and transformation.

About Dance Source Houston

Dance Source Houston is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization dedicated to empowering the diverse individuals and organizations working in the field of dance throughout the Greater Houston region by means of advocacy, inclusive community engagement and support services. Founded in 2005, Dance Source Houston is a resource for all things dance in the Greater Houston area and provides programs and services to address the evolving needs of the local dance community. Dance Source Houston is funded in part through support from The City of Houston through the Houston Arts Alliance, Cullen Trust for the Performing Arts, Heimbinder Family Foundation, Houston Endowment, and Texas Commission on the Arts. dancesourcehouston.org

EVENT INFORMATION

DATE: Saturday, February 21, 2025
TIME: 7:00-10:00pm
LOCATION: MATCH, 3400 Main Street, Houston, TX 77002
TICKETS: 
Early Bird – $50 through 12/29/25
Regular – $75 
Supporter – $100 
DSH members – $40 with discount code 
URL: dancesourcehouston.org/spark

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