Up Close and Personal with Carolyn Dorfman: Founding Artistic Director of Carolyn Dorfman Dance

Carolyn Dorfman headshot - she appears to be caught mid-dance move.
Monday, March 2, 2020
1:00 pm

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Spend an afternoon with the multi-talented and creative choreographer Carolyn Dorfman talking about “dance with a capital D”… Through a multi-media presentation and interactive dialogue, learn about how she built Carolyn Dorfman Dance into New Jersey’s premier modern dance company. She will share how she and her dynamic, multi-ethnic company affect individual and collective social change through choreography, performance and community engagement. You will gain insight about her creative process, her artistic philosophy that shows the power of Dance to transform lives and uplift individuals and communities. Sponsored by the National Society of Arts and Letters.

 

About Carolyn Dorfman: Carolyn is known as a creator of evocative dances that reflect her concerns about the human condition. She is interested in creating “worlds” into which the audience can enter. 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. 

Celebrating its 37th season in 2019-2020, Carolyn Dorfman Dance connects life and dance in bold, athletic, and dramatic works by Carolyn Dorfman and nationally renowned choreographers and in collaboration with extraordinary composers, musicians, actors, storytellers, visual artists and costume, set and video designers. The company’s ten multi-ethnic and stunning dancers tap their unique talents, both in performance and in its interactions with audiences, students and the community, to present high-energy, technically demanding, and highly acclaimed works that take audiences on intellectual and emotional journeys that ultimately illuminate and celebrate the human story. This is contemporary dance that moves you to think, feel, laugh, cry and engage.

A Michigan native, Dorfman received her BFA in Dance with K-12 teaching certification from the University of Michigan and her MFA from New York University Tisch School for the Arts. She is an Honorary Co-Chair of NJPAC’s Celebrate Dance Advisory Committee and leads the Dance Division for NJPAC’s Arts Education Program. Dorfman has been honored with many artistic and civic awards, including the Prudential Prize for Non-Profit Leadership, the Jewish Women in the Arts Award for Dance from the JCC of Metropolitan Detroit, and was named the Industry Partner of the Year from the Union County Vocational Technical School/Academy for the Performing Arts (2012).