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closeTuesday, Sep. 22, 2009
Texas Dance Theatre set to open its first season
By MANUEL MENDOZA
Special to dfw.com
Before settling down in Fort Worth, choreographer Wil McKnight was constantly on the move. He trained in New York, San Francisco and Houston and performed with professional companies in Dallas, Long Island and Colorado.
"I kept going from place to place because I was so curious," McKnight said while preparing for Friday’s opening night of his contemporary ballet troupe’s first season.
His attitude changed during April’s debut of Texas Dance Theatre, which he calls "my wedding gig."
"I thought, 'I’m marrying this company.’ When you get to a certain age, I guess the instinct for stability kicks in."
Friday’s program includes McKnight’s Eight Lines, ballet mistress Emily Hunter’s Marimba x 4, Western Oklahoma Ballet Theatre artistic director Penny Askew’s Vigil and a premiere by celebrated Fort Worth choreographer Bruce Wood, A Prayer for Mary Catherine.
"I will support anyone who is making a serious attempt to enlarge our dance repertory," said Wood, who hadn’t created a dance since folding his own company in 2006.
McKnight, who turns 37 on Friday, was born in the small town of Clinton, La.
He never wanted to be a dancer. Searching for an acting school for her son, McKnight’s mother was advised that ballet would be a good foundation and enrolled him in classes at Baton Rouge Ballet Theatre. He was 10.
"I didn’t know what ballet was," McKnight recalls. "They said I refused to wear tights. They had to get these pants for me made of plastic."
A year later, he was discovered at a Boston Ballet audition in New Orleans. By the time he was 15, McKnight was living in New York and attending the prestigious School of American Ballet. But restlessness set in.
He eventually wound up in the dance program at Texas Christian University — for a semester. He never graduated and started teaching in local studios. Two years ago, he and a friend formed the company Push Comes to Shove, which evolved into Texas Dance Theatre.
McKnight is artistic director of the nonprofit company, which is receiving support from the Amon G. Carter Foundation and makes money putting on lecture-demonstrations for the Fort Worth school district.
McKnight’s goal is an annual budget of $500,000, similar to what the Bruce Wood Dance Company had, and he says he is in this "for the long haul."
Scott Theatre, 1300 Gendy St., Fort Worth.
$25
817-676-1514, www.texasdancetheatre.com
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