Bruce Wood Dance returns to its roots with Homecoming, Saturday, September 17 at 8:00 PM at Fort Worth’s W.E. Scott Theatre, 1300 Gendy Street, Fort Worth, Texas 76107. Tickets are $45 at Eventbrite.com. Student and senior rush tickets are available for $15 at the door 90 minutes before the show begins.

 

Homecoming features the athleticism, drama, and humor of Bruce Wood’s quintessential audience favorites, RED and Lovett!, plus excerpts from Bruce Wood Dance artistic director Joy Bollinger’s acclaimed new work, Slip Zone.

 

Bollinger says, “Bruce Wood Dance is thrilled to come home to Fort Worth, where the company originally resided—especially to bring back two works that Bruce created during our time in Cowtown—RED and Lovett!”

 

Intensely riveting, Wood’s RED keeps audiences on the edge of their seats. Flickering between emotions both tightly coiled and explosive, RED takes you on a heart–pounding journey into human fortitude. RED premiered at Fort Worth’s Bass Hall in 2001, immediately topping the list of his most esteemed and iconic works. Completed days before the events of 9/11, viewers of its debut drew an immediate correlation between the themes presented in RED and the state of our nation—as though in the creation process, Wood could foresee the need to unite and heal on a grand scale. Wood said, “The dancers and I knew we had created a dance for our time without even knowing it. That is the nature of art.”

 

With swirling whirlpools of technicolor, excerpts from Joy Bollinger’s virtuosic Slip Zone will mesmerize and leave you breathless. Eve Hill–Agnus of D Magazine writes, “Slip Zone is masterful, engrossing, full of grace and control ... gives the impression of floating, of gravity, of weightlessness.” Originally commissioned by Dallas Museum of Art, Slip Zone delves deep into the imaginations of the post–war abstract expressionists featured in its exhibition, Slip Zone: A New Look at Postwar Abstraction in the Americas and East Asia.

 

Finally, Bruce Wood’s beloved Texas tribute, Lovett!, brings the evening to a rousing close. The most frequently requested dance in his repertoire, this perennial crowd–pleaser has delighted fans since its premiere at Bass Hall in 2000. Set to the toe–tapping music of legendary Texan singer–songwriter Lyle Lovett, Lovett! celebrates Wood’s enduring love for his home state. Wood allows us to peek into a lesser–known aspect of his life as he puts a lighthearted and humorous spin on his experiences working on ranches, raising horses, roping cattle, and rodeo riding. The Dallas Morning News says Lovett! is “hilariously authentic ... quintessentially Texas ... giddy, goofy, and ever so cool.”