Dallas, Texas — The 14th Anniversary Performance & Gala on Saturday, April 6 at 7:00 p.m. at Moody Performance Hall in the Dallas Arts District will be an extraordinary celebration featuring the world–renowned Nine Sinatra Songs by choreographer Twyla Tharp and Anything Goes by late founder Bruce Wood. The show also spotlights one of Broadway’s hottest stars, NaTasha Yvette Williams, directly from her starring role in the Tony Award–winning smash hit, Some Like It Hot.
Performance–only tickets range from $60 to $80 and are available at TicketDFW.com or by phone at 214–871–5000.
The VIP Gala Experience includes a live auction, dinner, and dancing. Tickets start at $400 and tables at $5,000. Visit brucewooddance.org/gala–2024 for more information and to purchase tickets. Proceeds from this grand celebration support Bruce Wood Dance programs in Texas and nationwide.
Artistic Director Joy Bollinger says, “Be swept away by the glamour of exquisite dancing and song in a gala like no other. Nine Sinatra Songs and Anything Goes, plus a special performance by NaTasha Yvette Williams, will give you an unforgettable evening of magic and splendor.”
The celebration features:
• Nine Sinatra Songs by Twyla Tharp, a glamorous portrait of seven couples that traces the arc of romantic relationships. Dancers swing, swirl, tango, and cha-cha through a glittering ballroom.
“Nine Sinatra Songs struck me as something rare: an American masterpiece.” -- Elizabeth Kendall of The New York Times
Since graduating from Barnard College in 1963, Twyla Tharp has choreographed more than 160 works: 129 dances, 12 television specials, six Hollywood movies, four full–length ballets, four Broadway shows, two figure skating routines, and four published books, including The Creative Habit. She received one Tony Award, two Emmy Awards, a Directors Guild Award, 19 honorary doctorates, a Vietnam Veterans of America President’s Award, a 2004 National Medal of the Arts, a 2008 Jerome Robbins Prize, and a 2008 Kennedy Center Honor.
• Anything Goes by Bruce Wood. Reveling in the joie de vivre of the Jazz Age, Wood’s choreography highlights songs by Cole Porter, including "My Heart Belongs to Daddy," "Night and Day," "Let’s Misbehave," and more.
“The dance is showbizzy and romantic and funny, but there is a subtext with a whole other story. Cole was a gay man married to a woman, and so my ballet has an undercurrent of other relationships,” said Wood.
Bruce Wood’s professional dance career spanned 35 years as a performer and choreographer. Upon returning home to Texas, he directed the Fort Worth–based Bruce Wood Dance Company from 1996 to 2007, founding the Dallas–based company in 2010.
• A performance by Tony Award–nominated NaTasha Yvette Williams, who opens the evening with the Drew Zaremba Jazz Quartet. Her stellar career ranges from Broadway to the West End to film and opera. Among her Broadway credits are the Tony Award–winning Some Like It Hot (Sweet Sue), Tina: The Tina Turner Musical (Zelma), Waitress (Becky), Chicago (Mama Morton), and The Gershwins’ Porgy and Bess (Mariah).
• The 2024 BRUCE Award presentation to Dabney and Ric Abel, dedicated Bruce Wood Dance patrons. Embodying the essence of philanthropy, the Abels are generous, gracious, and passionate aficionados of dance. Previous honorees include Donna Wilhelm (2018), Rosalee Kimple (2019), The Nikaidoh Family and Eileen Zuttermeister (2020), and Carol Crowe (2023).
Bruce Wood Dance Celebrates its 14th Season with a One–Night–Only Performance and Gala, Featuring Nine Sinatra Songs by Legendary Choreographer Twyla Tharp, and a Special Performance by Broadway Star NaTasha Yvette Williams.
About Bruce Wood Dance
Bruce Wood Dance is a leading contemporary dance company in the U.S. with a mission to harness the power of dance to entertain, enrich, and heal. The company has been hailed as Dallas’ “shining star” by Arts and Culture Texas and is consistently recognized as the Best Dance Company by D Magazine and the Best of Dallas Voice. Bruce Wood Dance was founded in 2010 by nationally acclaimed Artistic Director and Choreographer Bruce Wood,® who tragically passed away in 2014. The company has performed across the country, from New York City at the 42nd Annual Battery Dance Festival and the Guggenheim Works in Process: Lar Lubovitch at 80, The Art of the Duet, to the 2023 Palm Desert Choreography Festival in California. Bruce Wood Dance has been on the Texas Commission on the Arts Touring Roster since 2016.
Bruce Wood Dance’s 14th Anniversary Performance & Gala is made possible in part by Presenting Sponsor Heritage Auctions, Performance Sponsors Rodger Kobes+Michael Keller, and Carrington Coleman, Chambers Interiors+Associates, Chamberlain Ballet, City of Dallas Office of Arts+Culture, Communities Foundation of Texas, Dallas Tourism Public Improvement District, Daniel Lome Charitable Fund, Donna Wilhelm Family Fund, E. Fay Jones Conservancy, Ellen Kendrick Creative, Inc., James Avery Artisan Jewelry, Lancaster+Associates, Inc., Lucchese Bootmaker, Moody Fund for the Arts, National Endowment for the Arts, Randall Reed’s Planet Lincoln Dallas Love Field, TACA, TerraCORE Panels, and Texas Commission on the Arts.
