With Ayman Harper — Houston's globetrotting dancer/choreographer — jetting into town for the Dance Salad Festival , some of his must stops are expected. When Harper shows off the city to a few Netherlands Dance Theater (NDT) dancers, The Menil Collection is a given — and the Water Wall is hardly a stretch. But you might be surprised by this cultural maven's other must.

Say hello to The Galleria!

"There are no malls in Europe so they will enjoy seeing our shopping mecca," Harper says. "A trip to Ouisie's Table is in order for some upscale southern cooking."

Harper's also eager to see his family. "The timing is perfect with Dance Salad happening over Easter weekend," he says of the event that runs tonight through Saturday. But mostly, this is still about Harper seeing his dance friends from around the globe experience his hometown stage.

"Nancy Henderek (Dance Salad's founder and curator) is the only one bringing in dance from all over the world," Harper says. "It's a great way to to get a glimpse of international dance and a way for me to see all my European dance friends."

Berlin-based Harper — known for his fluid movements and his daring dances — is showing the city to NDT dancers Medhi Walersky and Leslie Telsord, who will be performing Jiri Kylian's Toss of A Dice this weekend at Cullen Theater in Wortham Center.

Harper left Houston at 17 after training at HSPVA, Houston Ballet and Bay Area Houston Ballet & Theatre. After a stints at Hubbard Street Dance Chicago and Netherlands Dance Theatre II, Harper settled in Frankfurt to dance with the contemporary ballet master, William Forsythe, where he stayed for five years.

"It was one crazy, wild ride," he says. Today, he travels the world setting Forsythe's work. (Houston Ballet has two Forysthe works in their repertory.) It was a huge shift to go from NDT's culture to Forsythe for Harper.

"NDT was about coloring within the lines, at Forysthe it was more like, let's make the sky black and who said there needs to be lines," Harper remembers about his days with the iconic choreographer. "We used to wear wires and he would whisper directions to us while we were dancing. He liked that intense quality of being unsure in the moment."

Since leaving Forysthe, Harper has been doing his own work and collaborating with other artists. He has set two well-received works for Dominic Walsh Dance Theater thus far, and in 2008 his dancing in Richard Siegal's The New 45, proved the hit of the Fall for Dance Festival. Houston also got a whiff of Harper's developing skill as a choreographer back in 2005, with M Saudade, a work focused on health and the medical system, commissioned by Marta Bourke at Barnevelder.

The choreographer has another career-minded purpose to his visit, which entails figuring out the final details of the world premiere of The Lid at DiverseWorks next season. Harper's new piece is a collaboration with the renegade musicians of Matmos, who have performed with Bjork.

"I love the way the use strange objects in their work; it's like they bring inanimate objects to life with sound," Harper says. "We connected in New York when they invited me to improvise on stage with them. After it was over they said, let's do this again. So this summer they will be spending five weeks with me in Frankfurt developing the piece. There will be lots of dancing, but it's structured more like a music composition."

"I am excited to see how Ayman is combining the world of contemporary dance with music," Sixto Wagan, co-director of DiverseWorks, says. "We are especially interested in the kind of collaboration he is doing with Matmos, in light of our recent So Percussion show. It's also great to support a former Houstonian."

Not so fast on the former label.

"I like to say I am based in Houston and Berlin because I am here so often," Harper says. "It's a whole new world here now, and very different from when I left. I am enjoying rediscovering Houston right now. Things are developing nicely in the arts and I could see this as an excellent place to launch my work."