Cure for Paranoia frontman Cameron McCloud was inspired by the fusion of the Synergy experience (Courtesy photo)
RICH LOPEZ | Staff writer
Rich@DallasVoice.com
For its signature annual show, Pegasus Contemporary Ballet (PCB) closes its season this weekend with Synergy 2026. Now in its fourth year, Synergy is a night of original pieces paired with live music by local musicians.
One pairing this year speaks a bit louder due to some good timing and even a little bit of Pride.]
“Synergy expands what ballet can be,” PCB Founder and Artistic Director Diana Crowder said in a press release. “It brings together extraordinary artists from different disciplines to create something entirely original, resulting in a show that is one-of-a-kind, impactful and deeply connected to the energy of Dallas.”
Synergy 2026 will be held June 5- 6 at Moody Performance Hall.
Among the collaborations is the choreography pair of Brooke Wendle and Peter Chursin. The real life couple have created works for Broadway, film, television and major commercial productions, including Dancing with the Stars, Wicked and West Side Story as well as a number of international touring productions.
The two are collaboarting with the Dallas hip-hop outfit Cure For Paranoia (CFP), the queer-fronted band that made headlines recently when it was named the winner of the 12th annual Tiny Desk Contest after submitting a performance of “no Brainer” in front of The Eye downtown.
This put the local band on a much bigger music map that currenlty had it on a 10-city tour across the country and now this performance at Synergy.
While still experiencing the high of broader exposure for his band, CFP frontman Cameron McCloud also finds the fusion of the Synergy experience to be inspiring.
“The idea of performing with a ballet has been a dream for a long time,” he said. “That inspiration started with Kendrick Lamar’s work and how he’s worked with those moving parts around him.”
McCloud met Wendle and Chursin after CFP performed at the Dallas Museum of Art. After Wendle and Chursin discovered CFP’s music provided by Pegasus, they approached McCloud at the show.
“We found Cam in his music, and we just became so inspired and, it’s been just a really lovely experience,” Wendle said. “When we found his music, we started to really think about how we could bridge it together with dance because, honestly, like, we did not want it to be like a Julia Styles-Save the Last Dance moment.”
Wendle and Chursin created a piece set to music of CFP’s latest EP release, Work of A.R.T.
McCloud didn’t have an idea what to expect so when the choreographers presented the piece, he said “What I saw and witnessed genuinely brought me to tears.
“I had no vision. Really, I just figured that I will rap, and they will do their dance. I could tell they really listened to what the EP represented and put so much into what they did.”
The musical message of CFP was woven into the fabric of the performance. Chursin observed that the collaboration also serves a broader thematic purpose: bridging the gap between seemingly disparate communities.
Projects like this help prove that ballet is accessible to everyone regardless of economic or social background. Thus, they had to create a seamless conneciton.
“We really wanted to honor the integrity of Cam’s work and the integrity of the work of these ballet dancers and their skills,” Chursin said. “When you start kind of putting that to choreography, it can be intimidating. But what’s so brilliant about the music is that he uses live instrumentation.”
This helped to manifest the final result for both the choregraphers and the dancers proving different art forms don’t just coexist, but together create something entirely new and profoundly moving.
For tickets and more nformation about the entire program, visit PegasusBallet.org.