“Love for the Arts Gala” to benefit WCPA dance programs

Award-winning stars of stage and screen will come together on February 11 for the “Love for the Arts Gala” at the Warwick Center for the Performing Arts (WCPA).

The adults-only event will at feature an evening of performances, hors d’oeuvres, champagne, and desserts to benefit the Warwick Dance Collective and the Warwick Broadway Collective.

Paige Davis, host of the Emmy Award-nominated reality-design show “Trading Spaces,” will be the event emcee. While Davis is best known for her reality TV hosting gigs, audiences may also recognize her from her starring turn as Roxie Hart in “Chicago” on Broadway.

She will be joined by Broadway’s Jennifer DiNoia (who has played Elphaba in “Wicked” on Broadway) and by singer-pianist-composer Paul Peglar (whose credits include “Glee,” “Fame,” and “Pirates of the Caribbean”).

The evening will also feature the world premiere of “Life of a Dancer” from choreographer/composer Elizabeth Flores and composer Alan Turry. This original ballet takes the audience inside a prima ballerina’s fond memories of her dance career as she reminisces with her granddaughter. Starring the legendary Russian ballerina Elena Kunikova and with a score arranged by Tim Simonec (“The Incredibles,” “Star Trek,” “Up”), it transports audience members - through a series of snapshots in time - into the deeply felt moments that inspire a lifetime love of the arts.

The WCPA’s twin companies, the Warwick Dance Collective (WDC) and the Warwick Broadway Collective (WBC) are part of a growing nonprofit organization that has been bringing professional-quality dance and theater programming to the Warwick Valley for the past five years. The WDC was founded by Warwick native Melissa Padham-Maass in 2017 to provide first-class performing opportunities to local professionals, amateurs, and students. In 2022, the collective was expanded to include the WBC, which produced its first professional Equity production, “tick, tick...BOOM!” last fall.

Students from both companies will perform at the gala, and the funds raised will go toward supporting the collective’s upcoming local productions including The April Dance Festival, “Cinderella: The Ballet,” a contemporary dance adaptation of “The Wizard of Oz,” and the musical murder-mystery comedy “Curtains.”

Guests must be at least 21 to attend. To purchase tickets, log onto warwickperformingarts.com/store.