Reluctant Texan Champions Dallas Arts

April 3, 2023April 4, 2023 William Taylor 0 Comments

How Gayle Halperin revived the Bruce Wood Dance Company

Elizabeth Van Vleck, a former professional dancer from New York City, moved from Los Angeles to Dallas a decade ago with a question on her mind.

“I thought, ‘I wonder what the dance scene is like?’” she said.

Seeing the likes of Dallas Black Dance Theatre, TITAS/Dance Unbound, and Bruce Wood Dance, Van Vleck felt she’d be OK here. “When you’re a dancer, it’s everything.”

However, the woman she credits in part with the healthy state of dance in Dallas had entirely different emotions upon arriving in 1984.

“I said to my husband, three years, that’s what we’re staying here,” Gayle Halperin recalled. “We’re going back to New York City.”

They didn’t.

Instead, the Halperins live in University Park, near the Moody Family YMCA, and their James + Gayle Halperin Foundation supports arts in the city.

Gayle Halperin, a former dancer, serves as executive director of Bruce Wood Dance, where Van Vleck recently joined her as associate executive director.

In her nearly 40 years here, Halperin earned her first master of fine arts degree from Texas Woman’s University, where she worked as an assistant professor of dance from 1988 to 1995.

Another dancer’s departure from New York would prove pivotal to Halperin’s work and dance in Dallas.

In the 1990s, dismayed from seeing too many friends die in the AIDS pandemic, acclaimed choreographer Bruce Wood returned home to Fort Worth.

Halperin said he worked for his family’s ranch and designed window displays for Ralph Lauren before launching his namesake nonprofit in 1996 “in the manner of New York dance companies.”

He created choreography to Bach, Beethoven, Ravel, and Gershwin, and Philip Glass, Lyle Lovett, Grace Slick, and Michael Martin Murphey.

Gayle Halperin, who danced with the Mel Wong Dance Company in New York from 1976 to 1984, taught dance at Yale, Southern Connecticut State, and Texas Woman’s universities. PHOTO: Brian Guilliaux

“He had this incredible range and loved all this music,” Halperin said. “He built all these dance audiences . . . and I was one of his fans.”

An economic downturn in 2007 combined with the costs of touring and the burden of one man handling everything – including the marketing, costumes, production, and fundraising – proved too much. His company folded.

“But what happened was everyone missed him,” Halperin said.

When she went to see him about restarting the dance company, Wood was hesitant and insisted someone else handle the business side this time.

“I was like, ‘All right, I’ll do that,’” Halperin said. “But I said, ‘We’re moving to Dallas.’”

Today, the company, reformed in 2010, operates on the vision and prolific artistry of Wood, who died unexpectedly in his 50s in 2014. Performances feature selections from Wood’s repertoire, new works by protégé artistic director Joy Bollinger, and commissions from other choreographers.

The 13th anniversary Performance & Gala will feature the artistry of one of Wood’s teachers, the nearly 80-year-old choreographer Lar Lubovitch.

“We feel like (Lubovitch is) our godfather now,” Halperin said. “To have his works on our program that just distinguished companies across the country do is a real big feather in our cap right now.”