Announcing 2024 Artists in Residence... Bruce Wood Dance!
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“When you see a performance, your life should be changed. The echo of it should linger with you for days afterwards. I expect that when the curtain goes up, you should experience something quite remarkable, something magical, something healing.” Bruce Wood (1960-2014).
Hailed as Dallas' "shining star" by Arts and Culture Texas, Bruce Wood Dance captivates audiences with choreography that is "emotionally charged and highly kinetic" (ArtandSeek.org). Bruce Wood Dance was founded in 2010 by the late nationally acclaimed choreographer Bruce Wood. As Dallas' premier contemporary dance company, the company carries Wood's legacy forward by presenting dance that fulfills its mission to "entertain, enrich, and heal.” Artistic Director Joy Bollinger, a veteran company dancer recently named one of the "78 Women Who Make Dallas Great" by D Magazine, leads the 14-member company. Bruce Wood Dance has produced 40 world-class contemporary dance performances including 35 commissions by acclaimed choreographers and Texan dancemakers. Each year, Bruce Wood Dance produces 3-5 major productions in the Dallas Arts District. The company expands accessibility to nonprofit social service and arts organizations through free classes and free tickets to shows.
Bruce Wood Dance offers training for aspiring dancers and collaborates with artists from diverse racial and ethnic backgrounds and a variety of sexual orientations and genders. Programming includes performances, virtual experiences, and films that address diversity, equity, inclusion, and explore critical themes such as racism, social unrest, grief, joy, healing, etc. In 2021, Bruce Wood Dance licensed and performed Elemental Brubeck initiating a relationship with Lar Lubovitch that expanded the repertory to include four of his works, including Concerto Six Twenty-Two. The company has garnered many accolades, including Best Dance Company for 9 years (D Magazine and Dallas Voice). The company also performs nationally, including Jacob's Pillow, The Joyce Theater, NYC’s Battery Dance Festival, Palm Desert Choreography Festival. and collaborates with partners across Texas, including TITAS/DANCE UNBOUND, Dallas Museum of Art, and KERA (Public Broadcasting Service (television)).
Joy Bollinger, Artistic Director/ Resident Choreographer
Joy Bollinger is a distinguished choreographer, teacher, and répétiteur and has led Bruce Wood Dance since 2018. Bollinger is a veteran performer of the nationally acclaimed Fort Worth–based Bruce Wood Dance Company from 2002 to 2007 and a founding member of Bruce Wood Dance in 2010. She has performed in more than 50 of Wood’s ballets. Hailed as the “poet of dance” by Margaret Putnam, Bollinger has created critically acclaimed works: Carved In Stone (2016), Hillside (2017), In My Your Head (2019), Blue (2021), Slip Zone (commissioned by the Dallas Museum of Art, 2022), and Chopin in A Minor (commissioned by TITAS, 2022). Carved In Stone was called the “single best dance in 2016 . . . deeply emotional and striking in its stillness” by Mark Lowry of The Fort Worth Star–Telegram and “a dance for the ages” by Margaret Putnam of TheaterJones.com. “Hillside goes for broke, swirling with the same kind of physical and emotional power that marked her stunning debut as a professional dance maker,” acclaimed Manny Mendoza of The Dallas Morning News. Bollinger is listed by D Magazine as Women Who Make Dallas Great, citing her choreography as “highly cerebral and intuitive.” Presented on Public Television PBS Member Television Station KERA’s Frame of Mind TV series, her work expanded to film, collaborating with Broadway composer Joseph Thalken to create Life Interrupted (2020) and Blue (2021) with Redirecting Dance and the Movement 4 Movement series. In addition, Bollinger has been commissioned by Dallas Black Dance Theater (2018), Texas Christian University (2017, 2022), Southern Methodist University (2022) and Bucknell University (2022). D Magazine has referred to her as “one of the most evocative and lyrical choreographers on our scene.” Bollinger’s In My Your Head had its New York premiere at the 42nd Annual Battery Dance Festival in August 2023 and was performed at the Palm Desert Choreography Festival on November 11, 2023.
Bruce Wood Dance will present a concert on Friday May 31st, 7:30 pm at UT Eccles Mainstage.
Workshop participants in the Professional level will have the opportunity to learn and perform BWD repertory. Directors and company members will also be teaching various workshop classes!