carolyn dorfman dance 2016
DESCRIPTION
Contemporary dance that moves you to think, feel, laugh, cry, and engage.TRANSCRIPT
“A remarkable evening of theater” - BACKSTAGE
passiondynamicabout us
community
about the company
www.carolyndorfman.dance · 908-687-8855 · [email protected]
Carolyn Dorfman Dance connects life and dance in bold, athletic and dramatic works by Carolyn Dorfman and nationally renowned choreographers.
The company’s ten multi-ethnic and stunning dancers tap their unique talents to present high-energy and technically demanding dance that unleashes the powerful storytelling and imagery of its visionary creator. This distinctive combination takes audiences on intellectual and emotional journeys that ultimately illuminate and celebrate the human experience. This is contemporary dance that moves you to think, feel, laugh, cry and engage.
The highly acclaimed ensemble is known for emotional resonance and artistic excellence both in performance and in its interactions with audiences, students and the community. Sharing art and process is the hallmark of this company. For over 30 years, Carolyn Dorfman Dance has appeared at major theaters, dance festivals, universities, schools, museums and galleries regionally, nationally and internationally.
Carolyn Dorfman Dance is supported in part by the Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation; New Jersey State Council on the Arts/Department of State, a Partner of the NEA; Henry S. and Mala Dorfman Foundation; Betsy and Drew Vaden; Gregory S. Gallick M.D. and Staff; The Center for Ambulatory Surgery; Jeff and Leah Kronthal/Kronthal Family Foundation; Dr. Ann Stock and Arshad Zakaria/Zakaria Family Foundation; Harkness Foundation for Dance; among other generous foundations, corporations, and individual donors committed to Carolyn Dorfman Dance’s artistry and programming.
NEW JERSEYSTATE COUNCIL
ON THE ARTS
artistic directorcarolyn dorfman
Known as a creator of evocative dances that reflect her concerns about the human condition, Dorfman is interested in creating “worlds” into which the audience can enter. She has created stunning pieces that reflect a spirit and passion for life, people and truth, survival and renewal. Hailed as the consummate storyteller, Dorfman, a child of Holocaust survivors, has also created a celebrated body of work that honors her Jewish legacy; its trials and triumphs, its treasured uniqueness and, most importantly, its universal connections. Her interdisciplinary and intercultural approach on the stage and in the community explores the rich tapestry of human experience, tradition and stories – through the powerful universal language of dance.
Honored with many artistic and civic awards, Dorfman has been designated a Distinguished Artist by the New Jersey State Council on the Arts (NJSCA), which has granted her six Choreography Fellowships. She received the Prudential Prize for Non-Profit Leadership (the first ever given to an artist) and the Jewish Women in the Arts Award for Dance from the Jewish Community Center of Metropolitan Detroit and the Janice Charach Epstein Gallery. More recently, in 2012, she was named the Industry Partner of the Year from the Union County Vocational Technical School/Academy for the Performing Arts; in 2013, she received the Dance Advocate Award by DanceNJ; in 2014, she was named a “Woman of Excellence” in the Arts and Humanities by the Union County Board of Chosen Freeholders/The Union County Commission on the Status of Women. This year, she was honored to be chosen to receive the 2015 Humanitarian Award from Seton Hall University and The Sister Rose Thering Fund.
A Michigan native, Dorfman received her BFA in Dance with certification to teach grades K-12 from the University of Michigan and her MFA from New York University Tisch School for the Arts. A former Assistant Professor of Dance at Centenary College in NJ, Dorfman is a master teacher, mentor, and a guest artist/choreographer/lecturer at major universities, pre-professional and professional training programs across the U.S. A former artist and member of the board of the Yard and ArtPride NJ, she is currently on the Artist Committee of the All Stars Project NY/NJ and a member of their NJ Board of Trustees. She is a mentor for Dance USA’s mentoring program and is an Honorary Co-Chair of NJPAC’s Celebrate Dance Advisory Committee. Ms. Dorfman and the company lead the Dance Division for NJPAC’s Arts Education Program and is a resident artist, guest choreographer/teacher and mentor at leading pre-professional training programs in the U.S.
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audience developmentCarolyn Dorfman Dance is committed to working with presenters to expand the audience for dance by engaging your community in the art of dance and its processes. Acclaimed for its artistry, the company has a unique ability to communicate to audiences and to welcome them into the work and lives of the artists who create it.
We have numerous ways in which we are able to aid presenters in their efforts to build their dance audience and reach the community. We can provide high-quality marketing materials including photos, descriptions, videos, press release templates, study guides, artist biographies, and program notes. Performances will be listed on the Carolyn Dorfman Dance website and promoted through email blasts and social media. The company can also assist with graphic design as needed.
community engagementOur multi-touch approach brings audiences closer to the art and artists both onstage and in the studio. Whether at home or on tour, Carolyn Dorfman Dance creates a true “in residence” feel in every community we touch. Community engagement involves performances in theaters and alternative spaces, talk backs, pre-performance discussions, master classes, dance intensives, and summer camp residencies. We teach all levels, from the novice to the seasoned professional. The company offers an array of community classes and workshops that connect audiences to the company and its work.
educationCarolyn Dorfman Dance teaches all levels providing carefully designed educational programs atprofessional and pre-professional training programs, including university residencies and arts high schools, K–12 public, private and charter schools’ residencies and community programming. Master classes, lectures, and the company’s acclaimed “Back Stage Pass” lecture/performance, help people connect dance to life, learn new skills, explore their potential and better understand our world and each other.
k-12 : speaking through dance
Master artist/teacher Carolyn Dorfman and company members conduct choreographic and performance residency, exploring the expression of heritage, stories and contemporary life through movement and Dance. We support the national standards for arts education and new national dance standards with which the NJ Core Curriculum Content Standards in the Visual and Performing Arts are built - a dynamic and integrated approach involving the viewing, making and understanding of dance and its elements.
Some residencies culminate with a company and student performance. This immersive, creative process provides students with first-hand knowledge of how to move and to speak, on and off the stage. Selected Legacy Project performances are endorsed by the NJ Commission on Holocaust Education.
high school, university/college, professional
Dorfman is a multi-award winning choreographer, guest teacher and lecturer at pre-professional (University and High School) and professional training centers nationally and internationally. Emphasizing center-driven movement, nuanced weight transfer, breath phrasing, intention, focus and performance, master classes expand the dancers’ technical, dramatic and artistic range.
Dorfman believes “artistry is built on specificity and detail.” Classes explore the essence of solo and ensemble performance; partnering technique, where the individual exists in relation to the other, is followed by company repertory. Carolyn Dorfman Dance repertory is available to be set on professional and student companies.
“We move, we speak. From the beginning of time, individuals and communities have defined themselves and their worlds through movement and Dance.
From the stage to the street, we observe and come to understand others. In doing and creating, we come to understand and shape ourselves. As in all my work, Dance and the ensemble become a powerful visual metaphor for life and community.”CAROLYN DORFMAN
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recent touring history2014-2015
Wayne YMCA (Wayne, NJ)August 7, 2014
Detroit Dance City Festival (Detroit, MI)August 22, 2014
DanceNow Joe’s Pub Festival (New York, NY)September 4, 2014
Rutgers University Lecture/Performances (New Brunswick, NJ)Throughout the 2014-2015 Season
Jewish Museum of New Jersey (Newark, NJ)Jacob Landau and His CircleOctober 12, 2014
Raritan Valley Community College Lecture/Performance (Branchburg, NJ)October 20, 2014
Bickford Theatre at the Morris Museum (Morristown, NJ)October 26, 2014
SOPAC (South Orange Performing Arts Center) (South Orange, NJ)The Legacy Project: A Dance of Hope at SOPACNovember 13, 2014
Sarajevo Winter Festival (Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina)February 15, 2015
NJ Performing Arts Center (NJPAC) (Newark, NJ)Jersey Moves! Festival of DanceMarch 13, 2015
Aventura Arts & Cultural Center (Aventura, FL)Miami Dance FestivalApril 18, 2015
Academic Arts Theater at Westchester Community College (Valhalla, NY)April 25, 2015
Kaatsbaan International Dance Center (Tivoli, NY)May 9, 2015
New York Live Arts (New York, NY)Ariel Rivka Dance & GuestsMay 28-30, 2015
Bryant Park Presents Modern Dance (New York, NY)June 26, 2015
2013-2014
Grounds for Sculpture (Hamilton, NJ)Outlet Dance ProjectOctober 5, 2013
Rutgers University Lecture/Performance (New Brunswick, NJ)Throughout the 2013-2014 Season
Aljira, A Center for Contemporary Art (Newark, NJ)November 1, 2013
The Kaplan Theatre at I.W. Marks Theatre Center (Houston, TX)February 8 & 9, 2014
NJ Performing Arts Center (NJPAC) (Newark, NJ)Jersey Moves! Festival of DanceMarch 8, 2014
Arthur P. Schalick HS Auditorium (Pittsgrove, NJ)March 20, 2014
Kaatsbaan International Dance Center (Tivoli, NY)April 5, 2014
LaGuardia Community College Performing Arts Center (LPAC) (Queens, NY)April 29, 2014
2012-2013
Performing The World at the Castillo Theatre Lecture/Performance (NY, NY)October 5, 2012
Mayo Performing Arts Center (MPAC) (Morristown, NJ)October 21, 2012
Rutgers University Lecture/Performance (New Brunswick, NJ)Throughout the 2012-2013 Season
Richard P. Marasco Center for the Performing Arts(Monroe Township, NJ)January 26, 2013
Joyce Theater (NY, NY)Gotham Dance Festival - Working Women January 30, February 1 & 3, 2013
NJ Performing Arts Center (NJPAC) (Newark, NJ)Jersey Moves! Festival of DanceFebruary 23, 2013
Wilkins Theater at Kean University (Union, NJ)April 13 & 14, 2013
Frank A. Guaracini, Jr. Fine and Performing Arts Center (Vineland, NJ)April 21, 2013
Sitnik Theatre at Centenary College (Hackettstown, NJ)April 27, 2013
LaGuardia Community College Performing Arts Center (LPAC) (Queens, NY)May 17 & 18, 2013
our worksdynamiccommunity
waves
A sensation-based exploration of music and dance
choreography
music composition and performance
lighting design
costume design
Carolyn Dorfman
Pete List (beatboxing, Shahi Baaja, vocals)
Jessie Reagen Mann (cello/vocals)
Daphna Mor (recorders, vocals)
Marika Kent
Anna-Alisa Belous
With commissioned score by virtuosity musicians and dancers who push the boundaries of their art forms: cellist Jessie Reagen Mann, multi-instrumentalist and human beat boxer Pete List and recorder player Daphna Mor – the sky’s the limit. This piece is extraordinarily stunning when performed with live musicians.
Dorfman uses this eclectic and unusual grouping of artists, their instruments, sounds, and vocals, to create new and visceral movement connections – WAVES - between her dancers, the music and the dance.
WAVES is made possible, in part, by grants from New Music USA, The O’Donnell-Green Music and Dance Foundation with generous support from the Blanche and Irving Laurie Foundation
With “…ingenious ensemble sections…” , “‘Waves’” is a community that leaves no one behind.”ROBERT JOHNSON, NJARTS.NET
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orks
portrait perfectchoreography
music composition
lighting design
costume design
Peter Chu
Djeff Houle
Marika Kent
Anna-Alisa Belous
Portrait Perfect is a commissioned quartet by award winning and cutting edge choreographer Peter Chu.
Featuring explosive movement and sinuous partnering, Chu creates a cinematic work unmasking the outer façade and inner darkness of relationship.
Portrait Perfect is made possible, in part, with generous support from Gail and Clifford Schob, M.D./Comprehensive Orthopaedics, PA
Unmasking the outer façade and inner darkness of relationship
interior designs
A visually stunning tour de force, Interior Designs, is a work where art and technology meet to create an unforgettably human experience.
choreography
music and lyrics
vocal performance
lighting design
costume design
video/projection design
Carolyn Dorfman
Svjetlana Bukvich
Kamala SankaramSamille Ganges
Kate Ashton
Anna-Alisa Belous
Kate Freer (IMA) David Tennent (IMA)
Interior Designs (ID) is a multi disciplinary collaboration with four superb female artists incorporating a commissioned score, original video projections and video mapping and integrated lighting and costume designs.
In Interior Designs, the entire theater becomes the stage as Dorfman and her collaborators create an immersive environment that reveals the internal and external worlds of both performer and spectator.
Interior Designs (ID) is made possible, in part, by grants from New Music USA’s 2013 Live Music for Dance Program, with generous support from the Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation; the New Jersey State Council on the Arts; the Blanche and Irving Laurie Foundation and a major 2012-13 Creation Grant from LPAC (LaGuardia Performing Arts Center, Long Island City) under the direction of Steven Hitt.
Hailed in 2013 as a Top 10 Dance Event in NYC/NJ, Interior Designs “employs the latest X-box technology… it spills across the line that separates audience members from performers drawing everyone into its complex, digital world…”.THE STAR LEDGER
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keystone
choreography
music
lighting design
costume design
Carolyn Dorfman
Rufus WainwrightLouis ArmstrongJamie Randolph
Simon Cleveland
Anna-Alisa Belous
Set to classic songs by Rufus Wainwright, Louis Armstrong, and Jamie Randolph, Keystone is a duet that explores the endurance of relationships and the concept of staying power in a world that continues to embrace fast digital communication that is not aligned with the human pulse or true intimacy.
Keystone was made possible in part by a 2011 Choreographic Fellowship from the New Jersey State Council on the Arts (NJSCA).
“...a paradise of perfect balance...”The Star Ledger
“...a riveting example of two bodies organicallyblending as they melded into one...”
“…a moving, playful, and rich commentary on relationship, coming full circle at the end.”ARTS AMERICA DANCE BLOG
hourglass
choreography
commissioned score and performance
soundscape
lighting design
costume design
Carolyn Dorfman
Jessie Reagen Mann
Bryan Noll
Simon Cleveland
Anna-Alisa Belous
Created in 1994 and reimagined in 2012, Hourglass is a solo revealing a women’s internal journey of wanting, waiting, anticipation, frustration, defeat, and finally, acceptance.
It is set to a commissioned score by renowned cellist, Jessie Reagen Mann, with an enveloping electronic soundscape by Brian Noll.
Hourglass was made possible in part by a 2011 Choreographic Fellowship from the New Jersey State Council on the Arts (NJSCA), and a “Live Music for Dance” grant from New Music USA.
“Ultimately, there’s resignation. There’s acceptance, and healing, and going beyond it.” CAROLYN DORFMAN
“Visual images become still photographs that capture and freeze certain universal truths. Dance about people and life experience, often moving from the autobiographical to the universal...they have immediate appeal.”NEW YORK TIMES
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narcoleptic loverschoreography
restaging
music
lighting design
costume design
Doug Elkins
Fritha Pengelly
Gavin BryarsMio MoralesMozartUrban Species
Sinead O’Connor
Simon Cleveland
Anna-Alisa Belous
Narcoleptic Lovers is guest choreographer Doug Elkins’ electric and oft hilarious, full company work.
Using his signature eclectic movement vocabulary, the work draws on modern, hip-hop, ballet and martial arts with an equally broad range of music – Mozart, hip-hop by Urban Species and spoken word and music by Sinead O’Connor and Lenny Bruce.
“...exciting...athletic...Narcoleptic Lovers seems to be saying that it doesn’t matter how or what you dance to, the important thing is to just dance.”HOUSTON PRESS
“...rowdy...” “...zany...” THE STAR LEDGER
cercle d’amour
choreography
music
lighting design
costume and prop design
custom hula hoop construction
Carolyn Dorfman
Andy Teirstein
Paul Hudson
Anna-Alisa Belous
KaytiBunny Roberts
Cercle d’Amour explores the visual and movement metaphors evoked by a resonant and versatile prop, the American icon, the hula-hoop.
Featuring music by Andy Tierstein, this ensemble work illuminates various aspects of relationships including play, competition, and fantasy. Cercle d’Amour opens a dialogue on love that invites audiences to think, laugh, and enjoy.
Cercle d’Amour, is Ms. Dorfman’s choreographic response to what she was once told: “laughter, too, can change the world.”
“...compelling symbolism... the hoop suggests the way love shelters people, and the desire that brings a couple together within its mystic enclosure.”
THE STAR LEDGER
“...a tapestry of human experiences...”SOUTH ORANGE PATCH
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orks
tikkun (to repair)
choreography
music
visual art
lighting design
costumes
Carolyn Dorfman
Greg Wall
Arthur Yanoff
Philip Treviño
Russell Aubrey
Tikkun is the bridge between the past and the future and is the natural progression for The Legacy Project because Tikkun encourages the audience to look forward and consider the future.
The piece explores the ways we separate or divide, bind or link, engage or disengage by using images of the fractured and broken and by interweaving individual bodies and the whole ensemble.
Seeing the world as it is, and as it could be...
Tikkun was commissioned by the American Music Center Live Music for Dance Program with generous support from the Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation.
“Tikkun is a bridge going from memory to hope in an uncertain future” THE FORWARD
“deeply human”J.B. SPINS
cat’s cradle
choreography
lyrics
music
additional music/lyrics
music performance
lighting design
costumes
Carolyn Dorfman
Ilse Weber
Ilse WeberBente Kahan
Karel Svenk
Bente Kahan on her album Voices from Theresienstadt
Sean J. Perry
Katherine Winter
In Cat’s Cradle, Dorfman incorporates music and lyrics written by Ilse Weber, a “resident” of Theresiendstadt, and performed by Bente Kahan, a brilliant Jewish-Norwegian artist and vocalist.
The full company work is centered on three women with yarn. The yarn is both a metaphor for extraordinary stories of her family and the reality of her mother and her two sisters who knitted while telling their tales and thus knit the family together across generations.
It is, in the end, a piece about connection and memory…past, present and future.
The ability of the human spirit to soar amidst the darkness.
Cat’s Cradle was made possible, in part, by a grant from the Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation and the NJ State Council on the Arts/ Department of State. Special thanks to Terrence Tullgren for his artistic support, inspiration and dear friendship.
“Chilling in its impact, yet buoyed by the love shared by the narrators, Cat’s Cradle tells a story that theatergoers will not forget.” THE STAR LEDGER
“ ‘Cat’s Cradle’ is a compelling tour de force. It’s a reminder that war and the injustice it inflicts are beyond tragic.”THE DAILY GAZETTE
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echad (one)
choreography
music
lighting and set design
costumes
set concept
Carolyn Dorfman
Greg Wall
John Evans
Russell Aubrey
Carolyn Dorfman
Echad, the Hebrew word for “One”, refers to the power of one community; the uniqueness or oneness of each individual and the delicate balance between the two, that is the essence of our humanity.
At the center of the work is The Wheel. Both abstract and metaphorical it signifies the circle of life and community. It can embrace, imprison, give birth, cause death, create conflict or support, separate or join, burden or free, thus creating a shifting, changing image of human/community equilibrium.
a shifting, changing image of community that celebrates the cycles of life
Echad was made possible in part by The Center for Ambulatory Surgery; Gregory Gallick, M.D.; Jeffrey & Leah Kronthal; North Star Partners; and Summit Physical Therapy.
“…intense, abstract and engrossing… Echad has riveting power…” THE OBSERVER TRIBUNE
mayne mentshn (my people)
Carolyn Dorfman created Mayne Mentshn as a tribute to her family, from her nuclear and extended family, to the human race at large. It is about a spirit and passion for life, people and truth. It is about life, death, survival and renewal.
Part 1: The Klezmer SketchIn The Klezmer Sketch, Dorfman mines the exuberant, joyful, yet soulful quality of Klezmer music that inspired her to explore Jewish gesture, expression, ritual, character and values. She celebrates the uniqueness of the Jewish journey, and yet, the extraordinary universal connections that it engenders.
Part 2: The American DreamIn The American Dream, Dorfman addresses the complexities of living in and growing up in a European Jewish community in America. The problems represent the constant struggle of all immigrant cultures as they struggle to maintain the identity of their cultural roots while becoming a part of another, larger whole.
Mayne Mentshn was made possible in part by a grant from the National Foundation for Jewish Culture’s Pearl Zeltzer Fund for Jewish Choreography, the AT&T Foundation; Nick and Shelley DeFilippis; the Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation; Joel, Carol, Noah & Jordan Dorfman; Henry and Mala Dorfman; Gregory S. Gallick, M.D.; The Karma Foundation; North Star Partners; The Blanche & Irving Laurie Foundation; and Summit Physical Therapy.
choreography
music
lighting and set design
costumes
set concept
masks
Carolyn Dorfman
Greg Wall
John Evans
Russell Aubrey
Carolyn Dorfman
Grigory Gurevich
“...emotionally resonant...the messages were universal...”THE NEW YORK TIMES
“Mayne Mentshn marks its creator, Carolyn Dorfman, as an epic storyteller.” THE DAILY RECORD
our w
orks
portrait
choreography
music and songs
costumes
Carolyn Dorfman
Jennifer Giering
Russell Aubrey
In Portrait, five women dance the inner life of one woman. With its haunting, yet affirming score, the journey of creating this work reveals an astounding reality: “Balance in life is not a static repose or rest, but rather a shifting equilibrium within acceptable parameters.” Such is the life of a woman.
Portrait was created with major sponsorship from the AT&T and Geraldine R. Dodge Foundations, and choreography fellowship from the New Jersey State Council on the Arts.
“[Portrait] displayed a luscious, lyric femininity that could have been seen as a paean to women everywhere.” BACKSTAGE
Five women dancing the inner life of one woman.
under my skin
With original music by composer/vocalist Jennifer Giering, this set of three songs chronicles the growth and depth of a relationship.
Under My Skin is an evocative and sensuous duet exploring concealment and revelation...isolation and trust.
choreography
music and lyrics
music production and engineering
music adaptations
costumes
Carolyn Dorfman
Jennifer Giering
Gary Maurer
Bryan Noll
Russell Aubrey
Under My Skin was created with sponsorship from The Harkness Foundation for Dance, Summit Physical Therapy, Henry & Mala Dorfman and Thomas Gayeski.
“Under My Skin is filled with dynamic variety and the accents that Dorfman loves, [it] communicated a strong sense of creative freedom” THE STAR-LEDGER
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orks
love suite love
Love Suite Love enchants the audience with the bittersweet love songs of Patsy Cline. In this nostalgic ode to youthful romance, dancers portray the numerous hopeful – if misallied – hearts lamented in six of the country-western singing legend’s hit songs.
Using pillows and chairs as props that are very much a part of the action, Dorfman “gives new meaning to the phrase ‘pillow talk’.” (Echoes-Sentinel).
choreography
music
costumes
Carolyn Dorfman
Patsy Cline
Russell AubreyLaura Drawbaugh
Love Suite Love was created with support by AT&T, the Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation and a 1992 Choreography Fellowship from the New Jersey State Council on the Arts/Department of State.
“Dorfman smartly explores her theme of unrequited love in wry, on-the-mark variations.” THE BALTIMORE SUN
odisea
choreography
music
music production
lighting design
costumes
Carolyn Dorfman
Greg WallCecelia Margules
Greg Wall
Sean J. Perry
Katherine Winter
With Odisea, choreographer Carolyn Dorfman continues the explorations of her Jewish legacy.
Commissioned by Jewish Heritage New York and premiering at the South Street Seaport in NYC (September 12, 2004) the work chronicles the physical, emotional and spiritual journey of twenty-three Jews leaving persecution in Recife, Brazil in 1654 and their journey and ultimate landing on American soil in New Amsterdam (New York City). With music by Greg Wall and Cecelia Margules, the music blends elements of Jewish liturgy and musical legacy.
Honoring a 17th century odyssey
Odisea is made possible, in part, by a 2004 Choreography Fellowship from the New Jersey State Council on the Arts/Department of State.
“The men and women of Odisea are unmistakable refugees who become optimistic pioneers as the dance subtly builds.”THE NEW YORK TIMES
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dance/stories
Dance/Stories, an enchanting interdisciplinary collaboration featuring a selection of folk tales and stories from around the world, artistically explores the integration of narrative, music and movement to illuminate our common humanness. Through image and metaphor, the dancers magically weave the threads that create a tapestry that “bathes the senses and the soul”
Drawing from the rich fabric of material in Dance/Stories, Carolyn Dorfman Dance works closely with presenters in designing school and community programming that would complement the performance and provide access to the artists and their process.
conception/direction/choreography
music
storytelling
set design
Carolyn Dorfman withCharlotte Blake Alston
Horacee ArnoldJohn BlakeCharlotte Blake Alston
Christine Martens
Carolyn Dorfman Dance gratefully acknowledges the major sponsors of this work including AT&T, Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation, Eleanor B. Reiner Foundation, The Prudential Foundation, Wordsmith Communications Group, Inc, and the New Jersey State Council on the Arts/Department of State via General Operating Support and a 1995 Choreography Fellowship.
The joyful noise and the soulful cry of one person sings in the stories of all people.
silent echoesconception/direction/choreography
inspired by
vocals and text
lighting design
costumes
Carolyn Dorfman
the musical theater production Voices from Theresienstadt by Bente Kahan and Ellen Foyn Bruun
Bente Kahan(lyrics for all songs written in Theresienstadt)
Philip Treviño
Katherine Winter
Carolyn Dorfman and company join forces with Norwegian, Jewish actress/vocalist, Bente Kahan in a dance, music and theater collaboration that embraces the best of Dorfman and Kahan’s individual repertoires and cabaret-style intimacy.
Silent Echoes, is an integration of Dorfman’s tour de force, Cat’s Cradle, Kahan’s powerful one woman theater piece, Voices of Theresienstadt, new choreography, live music and text. They blur the lines between art forms as they continue their individual and collective explorations of their common heritage and vision.
Consummate storytellers, they dip into the historical “cauldron” of faith, survival and renewal to reveal a celebrated body of work that honors their Eastern European Jewish heritage and reveals their inner worlds as children of survivors of the Holocaust.
“TOGETHER, THEY ARE CREATING WORKS THAT ARE CHARGED — EMOTIONALLY AND INTELLECTUALLY. KAHAN’S RICH, TENDER RENDERINGS MINGLED FEAR WITH HOPE, DESPAIR WITH A COMMUNAL CARING.” DAILY GAZETTE
“In [Dorfman’s] works, visual images become still photographs that capture and freeze certain universal truths...both reflect[ing] and engender[ing] a profound humanity. Because her dances are about people and life experience, often moving from the autobiographical to the universal, they hold immediate appeal”THE NEW YORK TIMES
• Mayne Mentshn – Full evening work
• Dance/Stories – Full evening work
• Tikkun – 23 minutes
• Echad – 30 minutes
• Odisea – 12 minutes
• Silent Echoes - Full evening work
• American Dream (from Mayne Mentshn) – 36 minutes
• The Klezmer Sketch (from Mayne Mentshn) – 28 minutes
• Cat’s Cradle – 20 minutes
• Cries of the Children – 21 minutes
The Legacy Project Programming
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the legacy project
Carolyn Dorfman Dance honors her Jewish legacy, its trials and triumphs, treasured uniqueness and precious commonalities across cultures and the globe.
Among Ms. Dorfman’s preeminent works is the Legacy Project, a celebrated body of compositions that merge live dance, multimedia presentation and interactive dialogue to honor faith, survival and renewal as the cornerstones of her Eastern European roots and Jewish heritage.
As a child of Holocaust survivors, Dorfman reveals her heritage through dance stories that interweave the common threads of our humanity. The Legacy Project exploresthe rich tapestry of human experience and tradition through interdisciplinary andintercultural collaboration.
Legacy Project programming utilizes not only narrated performances, but also master classes, lecture/performances, workshops and panel discussions to explore themes of immigration, equality, and humanity through the powerful universal language of dance.
Extraordinary art and process that celebrates Jewish culture and legacy and builds bridges within and across communities.
carolyn dorfman dance can provide:
• Study guides for all programming
• High-resolution photography for publication or graphic design
• Program notes for work that provides context
• Easily formatted press release information
• Recommendation letters that are appropriate for various constituents and audiences that presenters may want to contact.
collaborationlegacylifepress &reviews
DANCING THROUGH JEWISH EXODUS AND SURVIVAL
By Sean Erwin at ARTBURST MIAMI TUESDAY, MARCH 24, 2015
It’s not really news that modern dance companies have experienced extraordinary pressures since the 1970s, with
seasoned companies closing their doors and celebrated choreographers
fleeing for shelter to coveted academic posts.
However, New York-based Carolyn Dorfman Dance has defied the
trends, remaining independent and producing critically acclaimed,
avant-garde modern choreographies throughout this crisis period.
As part of Dance Now! Miami’s spring season, Dorfman’s piece Odisea
will be performed, a piece based on Jews escaping the ravages of the
Inquisition in the 17th century.
Speaking by phone with the founder and director of CDD, we asked
Dorfman whether she agreed with the label of “Jewish choreographer” given to her by most critics.
Dorfman explains that as a child of survivors of the Holocaust, her family milieu shaped her as a human being, and she
is “very proud of those works that have honored [that] legacy.”
However, Dorfman stresses that she draws her artistic energies from her commitment to global values like social
justice, humanism and the belief in the importance of community for human well being. The motifs and images of her
Jewish tradition sometimes give substance to these universal themes.
She highlights as an example her work The Klezmer Sketch. Set around a dinner table with dancers in street clothes
prepared for the family meal, performers open with a dramatic prayer that initiates a rhythm of gestures — arms fling
wide as if lecturing, shoulders shrug, fists bang on the table, side-bar conversations occur at each corner. The climax
arrives when Dorfman as the mother flings herself at the table’s center only to be caught and held up by all.
“This is a piece that seems entirely structured around Jewish gestures and Jewish music,” she says. “The beginning of
the piece is upbeat and energetic, yet there is an ominous change in the middle.”
The Klezmer Sketch, however, could describe many people’s memories of a family Thanksgiving dinner, and Dorfman
agrees that it has a broader resonance. During a recent company tour in Bosnia, the Jewish elements of the piece did
not register with the audience. Rather, Dorfman says that one man told her afterward how the ominous change in the
middle of the piece set him thinking about the region’s recent war.
“The story is not about this or that family or war,” she says. “It is a universal story about people living a life,
experiencing a dramatic shock and then asking themselves — so what am I to make of this life-interrupted?”
Dorfman says Odisea should be viewed in the same way. The piece is based on the historical account of the Jews who
fled the re-imposition of the Inquisition in northeastern Brazil. After a long sea voyage, 23 finally arrived in Manhattan
(then New Amsterdam) in 1654.
The choreography breaks the history into two parts: it first evokes the experience of the conversos — Jews forced to
conform (and convert) to externally imposed norms through dread of the Inquisition. The focus of the first part is on
people living in an environment where they cannot be publicly who they are. The second half of the piece narrates in
dance their experience of arriving at a place of openness and freedom.
Though Odisea clearly relates to an event within Jewish history, Dorfman does not identify this as the work’s most
compelling feature. For Dorfman, “Odisea speaks to the commonality of our human experience and how we share this
earth in connection.”
Carolyn Dorfman Dance Premieres Ambitious ‘Waves’ By: ROBERT JOHNSON | March 18, 2015
Sometimes an article of clothing is more than just a
fashion accessory, or a wrap to keep you warm. In two
dances by Carolyn Dorfman, coats and jackets have a
symbolic value that exceeds their usefulness in
inclement weather. The choreographer’s newly
rebranded company, Carolyn Dorfman Dance,
performed at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center’s
Victoria Theater on Friday as part of the recurring
Jersey Moves! Festival of Dance. Before the premiere
of Dorfman’s “Waves,” a playful composition that
prompted exchanges with both the onstage musicians
and the gala audience, Dorfman revisited two of her
favorite pieces.
In “Under My Skin,” the characters reveal their restless
state of mind by peeling off their jackets and wrestling
them back on. It seems unlikely that these two —
Katlyn Waldo and Louie Marin — will be able to stop
fussing long enough to get to know each other. But
eventually they do, and then his jacket proves large
enough to shelter both of them.
The camelhair coat that Waldo dons at the start of
“Mayne Mentshn,” along with a crumpled fedora, is
more portentous. Dorfman could have assigned this
solo to a male dancer, but Waldo is a stand-in for the
choreographer herself, a loving daughter who
imaginatively climbs into her father’s skin. Raising her
hands to heaven, or falling into the groove of Greg
Wall’s Klezmer score, Waldo is also Dorfman’s
connection to the life of European Jewry before the
Holocaust. We see these ancestors at the dinner table
flipping through the pages of an imaginary book,
turning to one another with inquiring gestures or
overcome with exhaustion. Wall’s music is like a
heartbeat; and its lilting rhythm binds these individuals
together.
The music for “Waves” is quite different. It represents
a departure and a challenge — but Dorfman is eager to
meet her musical collaborators on level ground.
They’re an unconventional team that includes Jesse
Reagen Mann on cello and vocals; Daphna Mor
playing the recorder; and a beat-boxer, Pete List.
Perhaps the music and dancing aren’t as tightly
synchronized as Waldo and her shadow, which is cast
on the backdrop. But the shadow hints at Dorfman’s
aspirations. Curving smoothly or suddenly shivering,
Waldo’s movements echo the cello’s sounds.
The encounter between Brandon Jones and the beat
boxer is more of a dialog, with the dancer skittering
and suddenly dropping, or punching the air in response
to List’s cartoonish effects. The recorder is a wind
instrument, and so Dorfman has her dancers huff, puff
and blow one another away. In the ingenious ensemble
sections, the dancers press against one another to form
snaky lines that roll over (like waves) and regroup. The
final image of this piece shows the dancers sliding
toward us, like a wave’s last gasp — the surf that
rushes up the beach.
But not before the public gets to dance! For some the
highlight of this piece will be the choir section where
“team leaders” emerge to coach the audience in simple
movement phrases, which are then woven together.
“Waves” is a community that leaves no one behind.
Top 10 dance events of 2013 — and more dancing memories to cherish
By Robert Johnson | For The Star-Ledger on December 17, 2013
The British are coming! The British are coming! Oops, they already left. The past year in dance saw what may have been the biggest British invasion since 1812. We swooned, hypnotized by oily vampires inMatthew Bourne’s remake of "The Sleeping Beauty." We recoiled as Royal Ballet star Edward Watson slithered through the ooze in "Metamorphosis," and we stirred uncomfortably when choreographer Charlotte Vincentstained the walls with menstrual blood in her plaintive "Motherland." The Royal Ballet broadcast its new production of "Don Quixote" in HD. And we gawked at the flashy, local premieres of Wayne McGregor’s "Borderlands" and "Chroma." But don’t think for a minute that we’ve seen the last of that trendsetter. In 2013, American Ballet Theatre launched a tasteful, new production of its buccaneer ballet, "Le Corsaire," and New York City Ballet restaged George Balanchine’s provocative "Ivesiana." Yet some of this season’s most refreshing reruns were modern dances. The Martha Graham Dance Company revived Graham’s tormented "Phaedra" and Richard Move’s glamorous, postmodern epic, "Achilles Heels." Cedar Lake imported Jirí Kylián’s mercurial "Indigo Rose." And Big Dance Theater returned to the battered pumpkin patch of "Ich, Kürbisgeist." Adding to the list of this year’s memorable creations, Mark Morris gave us his dangerous and nearly fatal "Crosswalk," and the dueling "Jenn and Spencer." Graham Lustig animated the characters of Kipling’s "Jungle Book," in "Jangala," while his "Jazzy Nutcracker" gave the old chestnut a sexy makeover. Crocodiles snapped their jaws maliciously, but then grew lovelorn in "A Bend in the River," an enchanted tale presented by the Khmer Arts Ensemble. And we shared unsettling, close-up views ofSusan Marshall’s dancers in her media critique, "Play/Pause." So many dancers gave outstanding performances this year. A robust Pastora Galvánkicked the stuffing out of "Metáfora" at the New York Flamenco Festival. Parisa Khobdeh fought desperately for her life in Paul Taylor’s"To Make Crops Grow." Carla Körbes, of Pacific Northwest Ballet, made a delicate Terpsichore in Balanchine’s "Apollo"; and the women of Dance Theatre of Harlem displayed a take-no-prisoners approach to "Agon."Isabella Boylston plunged into her spring debut as Kitri, in American Ballet Theatre’s "Don Quixote"; while, in the fall, Veronika Part raised ABT’s "Les Sylphides" to ethereal heights. New York City Ballet’s Jennie Somogyi and Tyler Angle proved divinely matched in an excerpt from Christopher Wheeldon’s"Mercurial Manoeuvres" at the Nantucket Dance Festival. Odissi virtuosa Sujata Mohapatra sparkled at "Dance Fest India"; Ramya Ramnarayan was a supple devotee of Krishna in "Shyama," at the New York International Fringe Festival;and Rajika Puri proved an expressive storyteller in her "Sutradhari Natyam." A quick-footed Gabriel Missé led Analía Centurión through labyrinthine
tangos at the Dardo Galletto Studios. Contemporary dancer Akram Khan seemed tireless in his imaginative solo, "Desh," at the White Light Festival. And who could forget Laura Quattrocchi, thrashing in a rising tide of plastic waste in Joshua Bisset’s "Spring Rain," performed in a Jersey City store window?
Yet certain events deserve special mention: "I’m Going to Toss My Arms — If You Catch Them, They’re Yours": In Trisha Brown’s piece, the dancers struggled against gusts of wind that seemed to be trying to wipe the stage clean. This dance marked the end of the ailing choreographer’s career. Yet the Trisha Brown Dance Company’s engagement, in January and February at the Brooklyn Academy of Music, was not a farewell. Defiant performances of
Brown masterpieces "Set and Reset," "Homemade," "Newark (Niweweorce)" and "Les yeux et l’âme" made it clear that her works must survive.
"Interior Designs": Psychedelic patterns bathed the stage and images raced across giant video screens as the Carolyn Dorfman Dance Company celebrated its 30th anniversary with the premiere of "Interior Designs," at Kean University in April. Employing the latest Xbox technology, "Interior Designs" spilled across the line that separates audience members from performers drawing everyone into its complex, digital world. "A Month in the Country":American Ballet Theatrehas been working through the repertoire of the late British choreographer Frederick Ashton. This spring, "A Month in the Country" had its turn at the Metropolitan Opera House. Ashton’s sendup of a Russian lady’s flamboyant intrigues lent itself to deliciously comic, yet sensitive portrayals by Julie Kent, as the mischief-making Natalia Petrovna, and byRoberto Bolle, as everybody’s darling, the tutor Beliaev. Danil Simkin, Arron Scott, Sarah Lane and Gemma Bond added virtuoso turns and tantrums, with Victor Barbee and Grant DeLongas Natalia Petrovna’s daffy husband and her long-suffering suitor, respectively. Sheer delight. "Four Corners": Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater continues to commission handsome, new works from choreographer Ronald K.
"Interior Designs": Psychedelic patterns bathed the stage and images raced across giant video screens as the Carolyn Dorfman Dance Company celebrated its 30th anniversary with the premiere of "Interior Designs," at Kean University in April. Employing the latest Xbox technology, "Interior Designs" spilled across the line that separates audience members from performers drawing everyone into its complex, digital world.
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Brown. His ambitious "Four Corners" received its premiere in June during the company’s high-profile return to Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts. Blessing every corner of the stage, Linda Celeste Sims was a proud matriarch leading the female ensemble, with Matthew Rushing as her fluent, male counterpart. An intimate work, despite its scale, and filled with otherworldly rhythms and mystic architecture, "Four Corners" continues Brown’s spiritual quest for enlightenment. "STePz": A plain, wooden staircase was the centerpiece of "STePz," Savion Glover’sbrilliant showcase at the Joyce Theater in June. But, oh, the sounds that stairs can make when Glover comes knocking and climbs them in his special way. More than a nostalgic tribute to the late Bill "Bojangles" Robinson and his "Stair Dance," "STePz" underscored the virtuosity of today’s performers, includingMarshall Davis Jr. and a trio of fly hoofers in heels: Ayodele Casele, Robyn Watson and Sarah Savelli.Dancing to Stevie Wonder’s "Sir Duke," Glover showed his mellow side, embracing tap’s history as popular entertainment. "The Rite of Spring": Those pounding rhythms can only mean one thing — Igor Stravinsky is at the piano again and a tribe of Russian primitives are preparing a maiden sacrifice. The 100th anniversary of "The Rite of Spring" did not go unnoticed.Douglas Martin’s new version for American Repertory Ballet set the "Rite" in a competitive, modern workplace. Paul Taylor slyly substituted music by Ferde Grofé.Meryl Tankard and Tero Saarinen both turned out demanding solos. Yet the most brilliant take came from choreographer Bill T. Jones and director Anne Bogart,whose touring production of "Rite" visited Bard College and the Brooklyn Academy of Music. In this version, the victim is a traumatized soldier who gradually recalls he has committed a massacre. Fragmenting the score, with abrupt flashes of light and breaks for rambling dialogue, the collaborators pointed to humanity’s yearning for ecstasy and underscored our tragic addiction to violence. Drive East Festival: Amid the wealth of Indian dance performances that take place locally every year, the Drive East Festival, co-produced byNavatman and Indian Raga,offered something special: an attempt to re-create the intensity of the arts scene in Chennai. Making its debut at La MaMa, in August, Drive East presented no fewer than 26 dance and music concerts in a week. The most outstanding performers included whirling Kathak virtuoso Shambhavi Dandekar and Mandakini Trivedi, a subtle mistress of the wave in Mohiniattam. Astonishingly painted, Kathakali soloist Kalamandalam Shanmukhan depicted the childhood and penances of the demon Ravana, his energy concentrated in fluttering cheek muscles, stamps and bellowing cries. "Metamorphosis:" It seems fair to say that no one who saw "Metamorphosis" at the Joyce Theater in September will ever forget to take out the garbage again. The prospect of a giant insect moving in and squirting brown goo everywhere until the floor grows slippery, the walls are streaked and the bedclothes become a sticky mass is simply too horrible. Yet Kafka’s tale of physical decay, and a family unable to cope, was poignantly danced by the limber Edward Watson and a cast that also featured Nina Goldman, Bettina Carpi and Corey Annand. An unforgettable encounter — and better at the Joyce than in the laundry room. "Romeo and Juliet": Douglas Martin, the director of American Repertory Ballet, has a special affinity for "Romeo and Juliet." His production of the ballet, which appeared fully staged in October at the State Theatre in New Brunswick, moved seamlessly from one episode to the next, hitting all the passionate high-notes in Prokofiev’s score. Though simply decorated, the production never failed to create a sense of place; and Martin’s handling of the boisterous crowd scenes — making the company appear larger than its actual size — revealed his canny professionalism. This "Romeo" marked a watershed in the company’s history. "Borderlands," "Classical Symphony" and "Ghosts":When San Francisco Balletvisited Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts in
October, the rich menu included Wayne McGregor’s dazzling, visual spectacle, "Borderlands"; Yuri Possokhov’s lightning-fast "Classical Symphony"; andChristopher Wheeldon’scontemporary "ballet blanc" called "Ghosts." Director Helgi Tomasson piled on the premieres and the dancers were astonishing, especially supple Maria Kochetkova; ferocious Sofiane Sylve; and high-flying Gennadi Nedvigin; with Yuan Yuan Tan memorably displaying the purity of her line in the adagio of "Suite en Blanc." Led by Pascal Molat, the men of the company received a wonderful showcase: playful, but susceptible to heartbreak inMark Morris’ oh-so-innocent "Beaux." If only San Francisco Ballet could return each year. Loved and loathed Loved: Amid a season of vibrant novelties, Garth Fagan Dance revived a gem from 1983. Vitolio Jeune was the sensitive hero catapulted into the past in "Easter Freeway Processional," at the Joyce Theater in November. Entranced by the music ofPhilip Glass, or joined in tableaux like human collages, the cast transported us back to a time of religious verities and social niceties. Here, couples dreamed together, forming seemingly uncomplicated attachments, and no one looked behind the façade of a handshake and a smile. Fagan placed us in the middle of this Never-never land, yet we remained outside, too — watching everything as disillusioned strangers from a future yet-to-be. It paid to keep a tissue handy for the moment when, in a lunge, the women rested their heads so easily and trustingly on their partners’ shoulders. Loathed: Slickly choreographed, yet tawdry in concept, Angelin Preljocaj’s"Spectral Evidence" for New York City Ballet, in September, turned the company’s ballerinas into "witches," with red-hot bottoms peeping out from beneath their nightdresses. The icky costumes were by Olivier Theyskens, but we can thank Preljocaj for this sick fantasy in which the women were stereotyped as temptresses, scarred and punished with hellfire for seducing their saintly menfolk. Supposedly, this ballet was about the Salem witch trials, but don’t blame the Puritans. Most of this choreographer’s works catch him drooling. Best surprise: Who would look at the tango dancers swinging from bungee cords inBrenda Angiel’s whimsical, aerialist works and imagine this Argentinian choreographer paired with Doug Varone? As it turns out, Varone himself could see the possibilities and the match would be inspired. His collaboration with Angiel and her company on "Bilingua," at BAM’s Fishman Space in October, created a double dance floor with intersecting planes in space, and added a new dimension to Varone’s already lush, organic patterns. The same performance saw a haunting rendition of his "Boats Leaving," capping a successful year for Varone that included the premiere of another multileveled piece, "Mouth Above Water," at the 92nd Street Y, and the choreographer’s intimate contribution to the Martha Graham Dance Company’sseries of "Lamentation Variations." Most overrated: Just because a person can put classical steps together doesn’t make him a choreographer. Great artists have visions that extend beyond the mechanics of glissade-jeté. Alexei Ratmansky, however, has trouble making ballets that are cogent wholes. This year, his "Shostakovich Trilogy" for American Ballet Theatre was marred by cliché, vulgarity and a bizarre taste for Soviet kitsch. His "Tempest," for the same company, proved garish and dramatically lame. Don’t ask about the awkward costume change near the end of "From Foreign Lands," or about Ratmansky’s hostility toward his ballerinas. Sadly, after so much mediocrity, it seems beyond hope that he may redeem himself. Looking forward to:Wearing 3-D glasses during the local premiere of Wayne McGregor’s "Atomos" in March at Montclair State University. A work in McGregor’s flashy, trademark style — with hyperextended limbs and wavelike movements of the torso — "Atomos" draws upon classic, science-fiction horror movies and explores the legacy of the atomic age. McGregor’s frequent collaborator, Ravi Deepres, supplies the eye-popping videos, while the electronic music is titled "Winged Victory for the Sullen."
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2780 morris Avenue, suite 1-aunion, nj [email protected]
booking agentfrancine sheffield, global arts management917.409.6851info@sheffieldglobalartsmangement.comwww.sheffieldglobalarts.com
staffcarolyn dorfman, artistic directorjacqueline dumas albert, associate artistic directoranita thomas, executive directoranna shaffner, communications/development managerstephanie cathey, company manager/office assistantflora attardi, financial administratorkatlyn waldo, rehearsal assistantjacinth mitchell-mark, wardrobe mistress
productionmarika kent, lighting supervisorscott nelson, production stage manager
board of trusteesdon jay smith, chairleah kronthal, presidentkathi r. levin, vice presidentbetsy vaden, treasurerpamela levy, secretaryrobin aubrey, russell aubrey, joan chiang, carolyn dorfman, asha ganesh, joanne leone, david mehr, barbara polsky, esq, norma silber, fran sullivan, and anita thomas
www.carolyndorfman.dance · 908-687-8855 · [email protected]
