November 19+20 I 8:00 PM
November 21 I 2:00 PM
Moody Performance Hall
Featuring
Elemental Brubeck
by world-renowned
choreographer Lar Lubovitch
PHOTO BY SHAREN BRADFORD
Face masks are required to be worn throughout the show.
Elemental Brubeck
Photo by Brian Guilliaux
BRUCE WOOD DANCE opens its 12th season with ReNEW, celebrating the history and legacy of Bruce Wood. The show opens with Liturgy, considered one of Bruce Wood’s masterworks; begin again by acclaimed contemporary dancemaker Yin Yue—know for her physically fierce style; and the Dallas premiere of Elemental Brubeck by the great 20th–century choreographer, Lar Lubovitch, ReNEW is dedicated to Rosalee Kimple, our 2019 Bruce Award Honoree, for her passionate patronage of Bruce Wood Dance.
“ReNEW covers new territory for the company. Looking back on Bruce Wood’s history we see the tremendous impact Lar Lubovitch had on Bruce’s choreographic style. Wood was a principal performer with the Lar Lubovitch Dance Company, and his tenure with the company would later have a profound impact on his choreography. Seeing Elemental Brubeck on stage in Dallas will delight audiences with the joy of dance. With this performance, we celebrate where Bruce began, and showcase where his legacy continues to go,” says artistic director Joy Bollinger.
Joy Bollinger
PHOTO BY BRIAN GUILLIAUX
Bruce Wood
PHOTO BY BRIAN GUILLIAUX
Yin Yue
PHOTO BY STEVEN TRUMON GRAY
Lar Lubovitch
PHOTO BY ROSE EICHENBAUM
LITURGY
Hailed as one of Wood’s masterworks, Liturgy is set to five sections of J.S. Bach’s Mass in B Minor for Chorus and Orchestra. The work premiered at Bass Performance Hall in Fort Worth by the Fort Worth–based Bruce Wood Dance Company for its 10th anniversary. The dance was dedicated to Wood’s longtime friend and artistic director of Jubilee Theater. Rudy Eastman. Leonard Eureka of the Fort Worth Weekly declared it “his finest work to date,” describing it as “an indictment of religion and an affirmation of faith,” and Wayne Lee Gay of the Fort Worth Star–Telegram declared it “one of the most significant works of dance created in America.” Restaged several times by both of Wood’s companies, Liturgy exemplifies his uncanny ability to merge dance and spirituality.
Photo by Sharen Bradford
begin again
Returning to the stage is begin again by New York City choreographer Yin Yue. Originally commissioned by Bruce Wood Dance in 2017, begin again was hailed as “stunning” by Arts+Culture Texas. The Dallas Morning News said it “highlights the strengths of the company while revealing its dancers in new ways.”
Born in Shanghai, China and based in New York City, Yue is artistic director of YY Dance Company. Her signature FoCo Technique™ represents a dynamic fusion of Chinese folk dance, martial arts, and contemporary dance. Described as physically fierce in speed, shape, dynamics, and partnering, her choreography infuses an Asian sensibility of discipline. Among other awards, Yue recently received the 2021 Harkness Promise Award recognizing her innovation in choreography and her impact on dance education.
Photo by Sharen Bradford
Elemental Brubeck
Headlining ReNEW is the Dallas premiere of Elemental Brubeck by world–renowned 20th century choreographer and educator Lar Lubovitch. Originally created for San Francisco Ballet, Elemental Brubeck had its world premiere in Paris, France in July 2005. The Lar Lubovitch Dance Company staged the U.S. premiere at the Jack H. Skirball Center in New York City in November 2005. In February 2006, the national dance publication Dance Magazine wrote, “It is probably the best new dance in a popular idiom since Paul Taylor’s Company B.” Elemental Brubeck features jitterbug and boogie–woogie blended with classical American jazz dance reminiscent of 1950s Hollywood musicals. Lubovitch says, “Elemental Brubeck makes you want to dance.”
Bruce Wood was a principal performer with the Lar Lubovitch Dance Company, and his tenure with the company would later have a profound impact on his choreography. Much of Wood’s musicality, imagery, partnering, and structure can be attributed to Lubovitch’s influence.
Among Lar Lubovitch’s numerous awards are the Scripps/American Dance Festival Award for Lifetime Achievement, Dance/USA Honors Award, and America’s Irreplaceable Dance Treasures by the Dance Heritage Coalition. Lubovitch was nominated for a Tony Award for Sondheim/Lapine’s Into the Woods.
Photo by Brian Guilliaux