Gayle Halperin has had an extensive career in dance as a performer, educator, advocate and philanthropist. She is the executive director of Bruce Wood Dance since 2010. Under her leadership, Bruce Wood Dance has become a nationally recognized contemporary dance company known for its artistic excellence and high-caliber choreography.

 

Gayle was born and raised in Connecticut and received her BA in dance from Connecticut College. From 1976 to 1984, she performed with the Mel Wong Dance Company in New York and taught dance at Yale University and Southern Connecticut State University. Gayle and her husband, Jim, relocated to Dallas in 1984. She received an MFA degree in Dance Performance & amp; Choreography at Texas Woman’s University (TWU) in 1987. She was an Assistant Professor of Dance at TWU from 1988 to 1995.

 

Gayle has been active in the nonprofit arts sector over the past 25 years in various capacities. She is on the Advisory Board of the Sammons Center for the Arts and the Dallas Area Cultural Advocacy Coalition Steering Committee. As a Dance Council of North Texas (DCNT) board member from 1996-2017, Gayle and her colleague Linda James spearheaded the free, annual, multicultural Dance Planet Festival from 1997 to 2017. Gayle served on the TITAS/DANCE UNBOUND board of directors from 1999-2021. During her tenure, she co-chaired the search committee for the artistic director and was president for four years. Gayle is the recipient of the 2011 Texas Woman’s University Distinguished Alumni Award, 2021 Dallas Historical Society Award for Excellence in Arts Leadership for Excellence and Community Service, 2023 Women Who STEAM Award by The Dallas (TX) Chapter of The Links Foundation, and 2023 Obelisk Award-Visionary Nonprofit Arts Leadership by the Business Council for the Arts. The James + Gayle Halperin Foundation is dedicated to supporting the arts specifically to expanding opportunities in Dallas. They received the 2011 Tom Adams Award of Appreciation for Dedication to TITAS and the Arts, the 2011 Crystal Hope Award from AIDS Interfaith Network, and the 2014 Sammons Center forthe Arts Award.