Carolyn Dorfman Dance Connect

“A remarkable evening of theater” - BACKSTAGE

rwardcommunit www.carolyndorfman.dance ¡ 908-687-8855 ¡ info@carolyndorfman.dance

about us

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about the company Carolyn Dorfman Dance connects life and dance in bold, athletic and dramatic works by Dorfman and nationally renowned choreographers and collaborators. Her ten, stunning multi-ethnic dancers tap their unique talents to present high-energy, technically demanding works that illuminate and celebrate the human story. This is contemporary dance that will move you to think, feel, laugh, cry and connect!

Carolyn Dorfman Dance is supported in part by the Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation; New Jersey State Council on the Arts/Department of State; Henry S. and Mala Dorfman Foundation; the Blanche and Irving Laurie Foundation; Gregory S. Gallick M.D. and Staff; Jeff and Leah Kronthal/Kronthal Family Foundation; Dr. Ann Stock and Arshad Zakaria/Zakaria Family Foundation; The Hyde and Watson Foundation; and E.J. Grassmann Trust; among other generous foundations, corporations, and individual donors committed to Carolyn Dorfman Dance’s artistry and programming.

The highly acclaimed Company has toured to major regional, national and international theaters, festivals, universities and non-traditional venues such as museums and art galleries.

DEPTH - Dance that Empowers People To be more Human, is the philosophy at the heart of the company’s immersive artistic, educational and community programming. From Newark to China, Houston to Sarajevo, the Company is a powerful vehicle for human expression, connection, social action and change.

www.carolyndorfman.dance · 908-687-8855 · info@carolyndorfman.dance

artistic director carolyn dorfman Carolyn Dorfman is known as a creator of evocative dances that reflect her concerns about the human condition. She is interested in creating “worlds” into which an audience can enter. Hailed as the consummate storyteller, over the years, Dorfman has created close to 60 dance works, including a seminal body of work, The Legacy Project. As a child of Holocaust survivors, The Legacy Project, celebrates and 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.

Commissions for Dorfman, to be premiered in the 2022 season, include New Dance Partners, creating a new work for the Störling Dance Theater (Kansas) and Gia Maione Prima Foundation at Ocean County College (New Jersey), creating a new work on the company to the music of Louis Prima, Sr. Dorfman is a master teacher, mentor, and guest artist/choreographer/ lecturer at major universities, pre-professional and professional training programs across the U.S. and the globe. A former Assistant Professor of Dance at Centenary College in NJ, she was a presenter at the Jews and Jewishness in the Dance World conference at Arizona State University in 2018. In 2019, Dorfman was a visiting lecturer at RUNIN- Rutgers University Newark Institute at Northeast Normal University in Changchun, China; presented workshops at the 7th Annual Somatic Dance Conference & Performance Festival at Hobart and William Smith Colleges and the National Dance Education Conference in Miami. She is a regular guest lecturer at Rutgers University (NJ) and her alma mater, The University of Michigan, among others. With performance and leadership roles at NJPAC, Dorfman and Carolyn Dorfman Dance lead the Dance Division for NJPAC’s Arts Education Program.

Dorfman has been honored with many artistic and civic awards. She was designated a Distinguished Artist and has received six Choreography Fellowships from the New Jersey State Council on the Arts. She received the Prudential Prize for Non-Profit Leadership, the Jewish Women in the Arts Award for Dance from the JCC of Metropolitan Detroit, the Dance Advocate Award by Dance NJ (2013), the “Woman of Excellence” in the Arts and Humanities designation by the Union County Board of Chosen Freeholders (2014), and the Humanitarian of the Year Award from Seton Hall University and The Sister Rose Thering Fund (2015). In November 2017, Dance Teacher Magazine featured her on the cover in “Making Dance a Dialogue”.

about us

In 2018, a ground-breaking collaboration was forged when Carolyn Dorfman Dance and NJPAC commissioned the creation of a SNAP CRACKLE POP by Carolyn Dorfman and former company member, Renée Jaworski, the Co-Artistic Director of the internationally renowned PILOBOLUS.

audience development Carolyn 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 engagement Our 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.

education “We move, we speak. From the beginning of time, individuals and communities have defined themselves and their worlds through movement and Dance.

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.

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.”

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.

CAROLYN DORFMAN

about us

Carolyn Dorfman Dance teaches all levels providing carefully designed educational programs at professional 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.

recent touring history 2019 - 2020

2018 - 2019

Lehigh Valley Tour with Performance at SteelStacks Presented by ArtsQuest (Bethlehem, PA) Leap Love Dance February 24-29, 2020

New York Live Arts (New York, NY) Women / Create! Festival of Dance June 11-16, 2019

Hamilton Stage at Union County Performing Arts Center (Rahway, NJ) Dance Union Festival February 6-9, 2020

Madison Community Arts Center (Madison, NJ) Backstage Pass November 17, 2019 Central Florida Tour with Performance at Dr. Philips High School (Orlando, FL) October 14-22, 2019 Rutgers University Lecture/Performances (New Brunswick, NJ) Throughout the 2019-2020 Season Washington Park Presented by NJPAC (Newark, NJ) Dance in Your Community Series September 24, 2019 Walter Gordon Theatre (Camden, NJ) That Which Connects, Camden’s Festival of Dance August 18, 2019 Dancer’s for Good Festival (East Hampton, NY) July 19, 2019 Gearan Center for the Performing Arts Somatic Conference & Performance Festival (Geneva, NY) July 9, 2019

University of Wisconsin-Madison Tour (Madison, WI) March 8-17, 2019 Lehigh Valley Tour with Performance at SteelStacks Presented by ArtsQuest (Bethlehem, PA) Snap Crackle Pop & More!

February 20-23, 2019 Jewish Community Center of Northern Virginia (Fairfax, VA) The Legacy Project: A Dance of Hope February 10, 2019 Hamilton Stage at Union County Performing Arts Center (Rahway, NJ) Dance Union Festival February 1-3, 2019 White Eagle Hall, presented by Jersey City Theater Center (Jersey City, NJ) Carolyn Dorfman Dance & Hillary-Marie’s Sole Music Collective November 18, 2018 Rutgers University Lecture/Performances (New Brunswick, NJ) Throughout the 2018-2019 Season The Actors Fund’s Career Transition for Dancers Masquerade Ball (New York, NY) October 31, 2018 Kean University (Union, NJ) Liberty Hall Dance Festival September 29, 2018 Dancers for Good Festival (East Hampton, NY) July 20, 2018

about us

Association of Performing Arts Professionals (New York, NY) January 11 & 12, 2020

NJ Performing Arts Center (NJPAC) Jersey Moves! Festival of Dance April 6-7, 2019

peoplehistoryco www.carolyndorfman.dance ¡ 908-687-8855 ¡ info@carolyndorfman.dance

ommunitydynam our works

snap crackle pop choreography

Carolyn Dorfman, Renée Jaworski, and the dancers of Carolyn Dorfman Dance

music

David Van Tieghem

lighting design

Thom Weaver

costumes

Anna-Alisa Belous

Snap Crackle Pop is a groundbreaking collaboration between Carolyn Dorfman and Renée Jaworski, Co-Artistic Director of PILOBOLUS, as it is the first time, since its inception, that internationally renowned, PILOBOLUS, has co-created a new work on a company other than its own.

In this oft hilarious, yet thought-provoking new work, Dorfman and Jaworski merged their signature styles to create a work about connection—past, present, and future.

Snap Crackle Pop was co-commissioned by NJPAC (New Jersey Performing Arts Center ) with generous support from The Blanche and Irving Laurie Foundation, New Music USA and PILOBOLUS.

OUR HUMANITY DEPENDS ON UNFETTERED HUMAN CONNECTION. (BUT) WE KEEP TRYING TO REPLACE THE ESSENCE OF HUMAN-TO-HUMAN CONTACT.” THAT CONTACT IS AT THE HEART OF DANCE. CAROLYN DORFMAN

traces “There is a sense in which we are all each other’s consequences.”

WALLACE STEGNER

Carolyn Dorfman

music

Svjetlana Bukvich

video/projection design and interactive technology

Katherine Freer David Tennent

lighting design

Marika Kent

set design

Ben Hobbs

costumes

Anna-Alisa Belous

Episodic in nature, Traces explores our common origins as human beings — the forces that shape and change us–divide and connect us. It delves into our family roots and foundations and our contemporary collective journey.

At its core, it is a work about memory, history, legacy and now. It reveals images of nature, the magnificence of the universe, mans relationship to the earth and each other.

Traces is made possible by a generous grant from The Blanche and Irving Laurie Foundation; a major 2015-16 Creation Grant from LPAC (LaGuardia Performing Arts Center, Long Island City) under the direction of Steven Hitt; and in part, with support from The Dietz Family, The O’Donnell-Green Music and Dance Foundation and New Music USA.

(Yet) this artist holds a tenacious belief in our ability to solve problems, get along and move forward together.”

ROBERT JOHNSON, NJARTS.NET

our works

choreography

“Although Dorfman leaves us with a hopeful ending, ‘Traces’ is filled with cautionary images of violence and upheaval…

waves A sensation-based exploration of music and dance choreography

Carolyn Dorfman

music composition and performance

Pete List (beatboxing, Shahi Baaja, vocals) Jessie Reagen Mann (cello/vocals) Daphna Mor (recorders, vocals)

lighting design

Marika Kent

costume design

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

interior designs A visually stunning tour de force, Interior Designs, is a work where art and technology meet to create an unforgettably human experience.

Carolyn Dorfman

music and lyrics

Svjetlana Bukvich

vocal performance

Kamala Sankaram Samille Ganges

lighting design

Kate Ashton

costume design

Anna-Alisa Belous

video/projection design Katherine Freer David Tennent

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.

THE STAR LEDGER

our works

choreography

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…”.

keystone choreography music

Carolyn Dorfman Rufus Wainwright Louis Armstrong Jamie Randolph

lighting design

Simon Cleveland

costume design

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 organically blending as they melded into one...” “…a moving, playful, and rich commentary on relationship, coming full circle at the end.”

ARTS AMERICA DANCE BLOG

tikkun (to repair)

choreography

Carolyn Dorfman

“Tikkun is a bridge going from memory to hope in an uncertain future”

music

Greg Wall

THE FORWARD

visual art

Arthur Yanoff

lighting design

Philip Treviño

costumes

Russell Aubrey

Seeing the world as it is, and as it could be...

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.

Tikkun was commissioned by the American Music Center Live Music for Dance Program with generous support from the Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation.

J.B. SPINS

our works

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.

“deeply human”

cat’s cradle The ability of the human spirit to soar amidst the darkness. choreography

Carolyn Dorfman

lyrics

Ilse Weber

music

Ilse Weber Bente Kahan

additional music/lyrics

Karel Svenk

music performance

Bente Kahan on her album Voices from Theresienstadt

lighting design

Sean J. Perry

costumes

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.

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

narcoleptic lovers choreography

Doug Elkins

restaging music

Fritha Pengelly Gavin Bryars Mio Morales Mozart Urban Species Sinead O’Connor

lighting design

Simon Cleveland

costume design

Anna-Alisa Belous

HOUSTON PRESS

“...rowdy...”

“...zany...”

THE STAR LEDGER

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.

our works

Narcoleptic Lovers is guest choreographer Doug Elkins’ electric and oft hilarious, full company work.

“...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.”

cercle d’amour Cercle d’Amour, is Ms. Dorfman’s choreographic response to what she was once told: “laughter, too, can change the world.” choreography

Carolyn Dorfman

music

Andy Teirstein

lighting design

Paul Hudson

costume and prop design custom hula hoop construction

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.

“...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

echad (one) a shifting, changing image of community that celebrates the cycles of life choreography

Carolyn Dorfman

music

Greg Wall

lighting and set design

John Evans

costumes

Russell Aubrey

set concept

Carolyn Dorfman

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.

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.

THE OBSERVER TRIBUNE

our works

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.

“…intense, abstract and engrossing… Echad has riveting power…”

portrait perfect choreography

Peter Chu

music composition

Djeff Houle

lighting design

Marika Kent

costume design

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 faรงade 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 faรงade and inner darkness of relationship

love suite love choreography

Carolyn Dorfman

music

Patsy Cline

costumes

Russell Aubrey Laura Drawbaugh

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.

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.

THE BALTIMORE SUN

our works

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).

“Dorfman smartly explores her theme of unrequited love in wry, on-the-mark variations.”

mayne mentshn (my people) choreography

Carolyn Dorfman

music

Greg Wall

lighting and set design

John Evans

costumes

Russell Aubrey

set concept

Carolyn Dorfman

masks

Grigory Gurevich

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 Sketch In 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 Dream In 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.

“...emotionally resonant...the messages were universal...”

THE NEW YORK TIMES

“Mayne Mentshn marks its creator, Carolyn Dorfman, as an epic storyteller.”

THE DAILY RECORD

dance/stories conception/direction/ choreography

Carolyn Dorfman with Charlotte Blake Alston

music storytelling

Horacee Arnold John Blake Charlotte Blake Alston

set design

Christine Martens

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.

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.

our works

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�

The joyful noise and the soulful cry of one person sings in the stories of all people.

odisea Honoring a 17th century odyssey choreography

Carolyn Dorfman

music

Greg Wall Cecelia Margules

music production

Greg Wall

lighting design

Sean J. Perry

costumes

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.

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

portrait Five women dancing the inner life of one woman. choreography

Carolyn Dorfman

music and songs

Jennifer Giering

costumes

Russell Aubrey

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.

BACKSTAGE

our works

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] displayed a luscious, lyric femininity that could have been seen as a paean to women everywhere.”

under my skin choreography

Carolyn Dorfman

music and lyrics

Jennifer Giering

music production and engineering

Gary Maurer

music adaptations

Bryan Noll

costumes

Russell Aubrey

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.

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

hourglass “Ultimately, there’s resignation.

There’s acceptance, and healing, and going beyond it.”

CAROLYN DORFMAN

Carolyn Dorfman

commissioned score and performance

Jessie Reagen Mann

soundscape

Bryan Noll

lighting design

Simon Cleveland

costume design

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.

NEW YORK TIMES

our works

choreography

“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.”

silent echoes conception/direction/ choreography

Carolyn Dorfman

inspired by

the musical theater production Voices from Theresienstadt by Bente Kahan and Ellen Foyn Bruun

vocals and text

Bente Kahan (lyrics for all songs written in Theresienstadt)

lighting design

Philip Treviño

costumes

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

The Legacy Project Programming • 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 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

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.

• Recommendation letters that are appropriate for various constituents and audiences that presenters may want to contact.

As a child of Holocaust survivors, Dorfman reveals her heritage through dance stories that interweave the common threads of our humanity. The Legacy Project explores the rich tapestry of human experience and tradition through interdisciplinary and intercultural 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.

• Easily formatted press release information

our works

Carolyn Dorfman Dance honors her Jewish legacy, its trials and triumphs, treasured uniqueness and precious commonalities across cultures and the globe.

onhumancollabo www.carolyndorfman.dance ¡ 908-687-8855 ¡ info@carolyndorfman.dance

orationlegacylife press & reviews

Traces/Carolyn Dorfman and Svjetlana Bukvic: New York Dance Theatre in Sarajevo 21. 11. 2016. U 23:56:00

The collaboration between the Dance troupe Carolyn Dorfman Dance and the Sarajevo National Theater began two years ago and is crowned with a show that the audience will see on Tuesday, November 22.

This is the performance of Traces choreographer Carolyn Dorfman, whose creation was also attended by talents from Sarajevo.

The performance includes the music of composer Svjetlana Bukvić, Sarajka, who after graduation from the Academy of Music in Sarajevo continued her successful artistic career in New York.

Also, after this troupe visited in 2015 in the capital of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the foundations of artistic cooperation with members of the Sarajevo ballet were laid. The five young dancers of our ensemble spent several weeks in New York practicing a performance with their American counterparts.

This extremely important tour of the famous dance company will give the local audience an insight into the New York scene and contemporary dance based on Limon technique. This is also significant for dancers, since the Sarajevo Ballet Ensemble is educated on the basics of classical ballet and does not have much practical experience in modern ballet. Staying in New York and participating in this show is of great importance to the Sarajevo Ballet.

"Limon technique was created in the US and there are no better lecturers than Americans for it. It is, in itself, moldy, fluid, everything is bound and fluid, all very precise inside. For example, our dancers here had the opportunity to take class first, especially when you dance to contemporary music like the Luminous, you need to be diluted, which requires a different way of thinking. There are different ways to perform a movement, it is more fluidity than gymnastics," explains Belma Čečo Bakrač, acting director of ballet NPS.

Ms. Dorfman points out: "My mission as a choreographer is to talk human stories. I am interested in what makes us different, And when it comes to music, for Sarajevo audiences it is of but also what binds us. Therefore, it is a great pleasure for me to particular importance that the author is Svjetlana Bukvić, one of be here and I managed to return to Sarajevo. We built a the most successful Bosnia and Herzegovina music artists in the cooperation with the National Theater in world. As an author of electro-acoustic The Traces performance can 2015. We were supported by the US music, she will perform live on stage: Embassy which allowed us to come." be seen by Sarajevo "In the studio I make an electronic part and This choreographer is very dedicated to then write parts for musicians that I think audiences on Tuesday, working with the community, so she would be appropriate for the context in November 22, at the National spent several days before her arrival in which I work. They need to know how to Theater in Sarajevo.

Stolac and Mostar where she held read notarized music and must be versed in workshops for high school students. She different genres, because I do a hybrid says she is very proud of what they have achieved: sound. In New York this is easy because I have access to fantastic musicians and that's what keeps inspiring me. At the premiere of "Our goal is to build a stronger bridge between work on the this performance in April, there was an ensemble on the stage: scene and working with the community. We are a company that electric harp, electric violin, drummer, percussion, I was on the embraced dancers from all over the world and America, it's our analog synthesizer Moog. However, since there are a lot of us mission. It seems that it was never important to show this kind of and the musicians would be an additional cost, we arrived in understanding. It’s a privilege for us to perform Traces in Sarajevo with all the recorded parts except me, which I will play cooperation with Svjetlana Bukvić, to show how we are, where live," explains Svjetlana Bukvić. we are going. The work on this show was like a trip that lasted for two years, based on history, individual and collective stories," For an interview with Svjetlana Bukvić, composer, multimedia said Mrs. Dorfman. artist and lecturer of electronic music in New York, listen to Radio Rado's guest on Friday at 12.10 on Radio Sarajevo Radio (90.2 or via web streaming).

Radio Sarajevo

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

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.

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

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.

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?

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 Yet certain events deserve special mention: Watson slithered through the ooze in "Interior Designs": Psychedelic patterns bathed the "I’m Going to Toss My Arms — If You "Metamorphosis," and we stirred stage and images raced across giant video screens as Catch Them, They’re Yours": In Trisha uncomfortably when the Carolyn Dorfman Dance Company celebrated its Brown’s piece, the dancers struggled against choreographer Charlotte 30th anniversary with the premiere of "Interior gusts of wind that seemed to be trying to wipe Vincentstained the walls with Designs," at Kean University in April. Employing the the stage clean. This dance marked the end of menstrual blood in her plaintive latest Xbox technology, "Interior Designs" spilled the ailing choreographer’s career. Yet "Motherland." across the line that separates audience members from the Trisha Brown Dance performers drawing everyone into its complex, digital The Royal Ballet broadcast its new Company’s engagement, in January and world. production of "Don Quixote" in HD. February at the Brooklyn Academy of Music, And we gawked at the flashy, local was not a farewell. Defiant performances of premieres of Wayne McGregor’s "Borderlands" and "Chroma." But Brown masterpieces "Set and Reset," "Homemade," "Newark don’t think for a minute that we’ve seen the last of that trendsetter.

(Niweweorce)" and "Les yeux et l’âme" made it clear that her works must survive.

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

"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.

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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 2-c union, nj 07083 908.687.8855 info@carolyndorfman.dance carolyndorfman.dance for booking, contact anita thomas, executive director: athomas@carolyndorfman.dance 908-687-8855

staff carolyn dorfman, artistic director jacqueline dumas albert, associate artistic director anita thomas, executive director anna shaffner, communications/development manager stephanie byrnes harrell, company manager flora attardi, financial administrator katlyn waldo, rehearsal assistant selena alvarez, marketing/office assistant board of trustees don jay smith, chair leah kronthal, president kathi r. levin, vice president martha mensch, treasurer fran sullivan, secretary jacqueline dumas albert, russell aubrey, carolyn dorfman, arlene gonnella, keyana jones, joanne leone, joan chiang paulin, and anita thomas

www.carolyndorfman.dance ¡ 908-687-8855 ¡ info@carolyndorfman.dance