STAFF
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR I PRODUCER
GAYLE HALPERIN
Gayle Halperin has had an extensive career in dance as a performer, educator, advocate, and philanthropist. Halperin and Bruce Wood were business partners and launched Bruce Wood Dance Project in 2010 with a group of Dallas investors in Dallas.
Halperin 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. She and her husband, Jim, relocated to Dallas in 1984. She received an MFA in Dance Performance & Choreography at Texas Woman’s University in 1987. She was an Assistant Professor of Dance at Texas Woman’s University from 1988 to 1995.
Halperin has been active in the nonprofit arts community over the past 25 years in various capacities. She is on the Dallas Area Cultural Advocacy Coalition Steering Committee and serves on the emeritus board of the Sammons Center for the Arts and TITAS/DANCE UNBOUND. She was a board member of the Dance Council of North Texas from 1996 to 2017, where she and her colleague, Linda James, spearheaded the free, annual, multicultural Dance Planet Festival from 1997 to 2017. Halperin served on the board at TITAS/DANCE UNBOUND from 1999 to 2021.
Halperin received the Distinguished Alumni Award from Texas Woman’s University in 2011; Arts Leadership Award from Dallas Historical Society Awards for Excellence in 2021; Women Who STEAM Award from The Dallas (TX) Chapter of The Links, Incorporated and the Obelisk Award for Visionary Nonprofit Arts Leadership from the Business Council for the Arts in 2023, and in 2024, honored by the Dallas Holocaust and Human Rights Museum at the “In Her Shoes” exhibition.
The Halperin Foundation is dedicated to supporting the arts and expanding cultural opportunities in Dallas. In 2011, the foundation received the Tom Adams Award of Appreciation for Dedication to TITAS and the Arts and the Crystal Hope Award from AIDS Interfaith Network. In 2014 she was given the Benefactor of the Year Award from Sammons Center for the Arts.
Photo by Brian Guilliaux
ASSOCIATE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
ELIZABETH VAN VLECK
Elizabeth Van Vleck worked professionally as a dancer, teacher, choreographer, and rehearsal director in New York City for more than 15 years with organizations including NYC Ballet, National Dance Institute, and Shapiro & Smith Dance. She is a certified personal trainer and as a teacher of both Pilates and yoga.
She retired from performing in 1996 and started working full time as a private special needs fitness consultant for Italy’s Agnelli family for 10 years. She holds a B.S. in Psychology (CUNY Baccalaureate, Magna Cum Laude), and an M.F.A. in Arts Administration from Southern Utah University under William J. Byrnes, author of Management and the Arts. Through her M.F.A. externships, Van Vleck worked as operations manager of the Utah Shakespeare Festival Education Department, Marketing and Public Relationships Manager of the School of Performing and Visual Arts, and as part of the Development and VIP Ticket Services team at Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival.
After graduation, Van Vleck went on to the Sharon Disney Lund School of Dance at California Institute of the Arts as Operations and Production Manager and Co-producer of Special Projects. While in Los Angeles, she founded the arts Management consulting organization, Making Art Happen. Through Making Art Happen, she worked with dance companies including Diavolo: Architecture In Motion, BODYTRAFFIC, and Ate9 Dance Company.
Van Vleck moved to Dallas in late 2013 to work for the Dance Council of North Texas as administration manager. At DCNT, she worked on projects including Bloomberg Philanthropies’ Arts Innovation and Management (AIM) program with the DeVos Institute of Arts Management, DCNT’s Dance Planet, and Dallas DanceFest. She served as development director for TITAS/DANCE UNBOUND, North Texas’ preeminent presenter of international contemporary dance and performance art, overseeing all aspects of fundraising, TITAS’ collaborative education and engagement programs, including visiting artist master classes and salons, Dance for PD Dallas, and TITAS Cultural Excursions.
Photo by Kent Barker
CREATIVE DIRECTOR
ELLEN STOREIM
Ellen Storeim has been the designing for Bruce Wood Dance Dallas since the dance company was formed in 2010. She has operated her graphic design company, Ellen Kendrick Creative, Inc., since 1985. Storeim creates branding and corporate identities, logos, brochures, advertising, marketing materials, and Web sites for clients in diverse industries ranging from rare coins to psychedelic rock posters. Her work as creative director for Bruce Wood Dance Dallas pairs her love and passion for dance with her love and passion for design and communications. In September 2017, Storeim became the “maestra of merch,” expanding her business to include promotional products and employee awards programs.
Storeim lives in the beautiful mountain town of Evergreen, Colorado with her husband, Mike, and their two horses—Romanov and Wingman. When she isn’t designing, she enjoys trail riding, horse showing, hiking, scuba–diving, and skiing.
Photo by Kimberly Anderson
OPERATIONS MANAGER
REBECCA BUTLER
Rebecca Butler joined the Bruce Wood Dance Dallas team in May 2013 to assist with administration and marketing by placing a strong focus on building the company’s social media presence. Prior to working with the company, she spent three years in corporate sales and marketing with Bluebonnet Nutrition, preceded by 14 years in store management and operations; purchasing; and regional marketing and merchandising at Whole Foods Market.
While studying and performing dance throughout her youth and young adult years, she attended Booker T. Washington High School for the Performing and Visual Arts, where she was awarded Honorable Mention in the Modern Dance and Choreography categories at the National YoungArts Foundation Competition.
After receiving scholarship offers to California Institute of the Arts and New York University, she opted to attend Collin College to allow her to care for a terminally ill family member. Butler continued dancing off and on, winning a handful of ballroom competitions in the early 2000s. These days, she expresses her creativity through photos, videos, and quippy social media posts for Bruce Wood Dance Dallas. She also makes a mean cocktail.
Photo by Rebecca Butler
DEVELOPMENT
PAMELA DESLORIEUX
Pamela Deslorieux joined Bruce Wood Dance Dallas in June 2016 as development associate. As former executive director of the Dance Council of North Texas (DCNT), she successfully helped shepherd the organization through a recession with the DCNT Board. During her seven–year tenure, the DCNT annual revenue grew 200 percent. A classically trained dancer with a Master of Science degree in Kinesiology, she founded and directed the University of Rhode Island Dance Company as a graduate student. Deslorieux was awarded the RI Artist–in–Residence in Dance and holds an Arts Management Certification from the University. Subsequently, she instituted a corporate fitness program for Sunbeam Corporation in Illinois in addition to performing, teaching dance and fitness, and designing dance curriculum.As part of a four–person team of volunteers, Deslorieux raised a previously unprecedented $465,000 in funds for St. Mark’s School of Texas where her sons graduated. Deslorieux was also a formation member of the Musical Theatre Track Emphasis at Booker T. Washington High School for the Performing and Visual Arts—her daughter’s alma mater; Coordinator Communications, Membership, and Volunteers for the Music Guild; and a member of the Site–Based Decision Making Committee at Booker T. Washington High School for the Performing and Visual Arts.
Photo by Brian Guilliaux
COMPANY MANAGER
DANNY PIETRYK
Danny Pietryk was a friend and close associate of Bruce Wood for more than 20 years. Beginning at an early age, Pietryk has worked in every aspect of theater—from acting, directing, stage managing, and technical production—to box office and feeding the crew. His training in theater and psychology make him a perfect fit with the Bruce Wood Dance Dallas team as company manager.
Photo by Brian Guilliaux