Co-Creation Lab 2018 Program

CO-CREATION LAB

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THE WOODEN FLOOR DAVID DORFMAN DANCE

JULY 19-21, 2018 THE WOODEN FLOOR STUDIO THEATRE

WELCOME The Wooden Floor’s Co-Creation Lab strengthens and deepens our teen artistic programming in order to reinforce our students’ engagement through the 12th grade and maximize The Wooden Floor’s life-long impact.

The Lab is an artistic collaboration between teens from under-served communities and top choreographers to reinforce engagement of students through their 10-year journeys at The Wooden Floor. Over the past four weeks, we have provided our students with unique and invaluable collaboration opportunities with the internationally recognized dance company, David Dorfman Dance (DDD). In addition to master classes, DDD co-created a new dance with our students, titled Clouds fall in love, premiering tonight.

Co-Creation Lab is made possible in part by a grant from:

CO-CREATION LAB Please, no photography or videotaping during the performance

Remarks from Chief Executive Officer Dawn S. Reese and Artistic Director Falon Baltzell Music by Lizdelise

A(way) Out Of My Body (Working Title) Work-in-Progress Conception and Direction David Dorfman Choreography David Dorfman Dance Original Score Sam Crawford, Jeff Hudgins, Liz de Lise Musicians Zaq Kenefick, Liz de Lise, Mark Watter, Brian Wood Lighting Design Ben Tusher Costume Design David Dorfman Dance Rehearsal Directors Kendra Portier and Lisa Race

Music by Lizdelise

Clouds fall in love. (World Premiere) Choreography David Dorfman, Nik Owens, Kendra Portier

in collaboration with DDD and The Wooden Floor Dancers Lighting Design Ben Tusher Costume Design Jennifer Vaughan Rehearsal Assistant Rebeca Ramos

Intermission (15 minutes)

Music by Lizdelise

Excerpts from Aroundtown (2017) Conception and Direction David Dorfman Choreography and Text David Dorfman Dance Music Composed by Sam Crawford, David Dorfman,

Zeb Gould, Jeff Hudgins, Liz de Lise Musicians Zaq Kenefick, Liz de Lise, Mark Watter, Brian Wood Musical Direction Sam Crawford Lighting Design Ben Tusher based on original design

by Tuce Yasak Dramaturg Anne Davison Costume Design Oana Botez

THE ARTISTS DAVID DORFMAN, Artistic Director, David Dorfman Dance David Dorfman has been creating movement-based theater in and around NYC and internationally since 1981. He has received numerous fellowships and awards including a “Bessie” for DAVID DORFMAN DANCE’s communitybased project Familiar Movements (The Family Project), a Guggenheim for his research on power and protest which led to DDD’s underground, NEA support, and recently a Lucille Lortel for choreographing INDECENT’s OffBroadway run. Recent DAVID DORFMAN DANCE highlights include a 30th Anniversary Season at BAM’s Next Wave Festival with Aroundtown in Nov. 2017, and a State Department-sponsored trip to El Salvador to do work on violence prevention with young people. An avid fan of live music and collaboration, he continues his serio-comic work with Dan Froot. David is approaching his 15th year of full-time teaching at Connecticut College where DDD is Company-in-Residence. DDD hosts their annual Summer Intensive at Connecticut College, and NYC Winter Intensive in Manhattan.

KENDRA PORTIER, Rehearsal Director, David Dorfman Dance

SPECIAL THANKS FROM DAVID DORFMAN I would like to give enormous thanks to Dawn, Falon, Ben and the entire (and I mean entire) staff at The Wooden Floor for making this magical residency possible. It really has been a dream come true to finally work with Th e Wooden Floor. All that I’ve heard is true - it is family, vision, support, and that special intangible that has to do with rigor and love.

Thanks to you all, and particularly in this sensitive time for me and my health. I send the warmest thanks to the incredible students, DDD, and you the audience for being there tonight - without you we are incomplete.

Much love, DD

Kendra Portier (BANDportier) is an NYC-based maker, teacher, and performer.

Born at home in Ohio, Portier has held faculty and guest artist positions at numerous dance programs and is Artist-in-Residence at the University of Maryland. She has had the pleasure of performing in works by brilliant beings, such as Lisa Race/Race Dance and David Dorfman Dance, with whom she was a company member for eight years and refers to as family.

DAVID DORFMAN DANCE “To get the whole world dancing!” David Dorfman Dance (DDD) is at the choreographic vanguard of realizing this vision, creating invigorating, innovative, and vibrant dance for and with everyday people. Led by visionary choreographer David Dorfman, DDD presents radically humanistic dance that hits at the heart of the human condition–the travails of identity, power, memory, loss, race, and racism.

THE DANCERS

OUR APPROACH TO DANCE

Work-in-Progress (2018) and Aroundtown (2017)

We are often asked why we choose our particular approach to dance. Our answer is very simple: We have chosen a dance approach that values exploration, discovery, and innovation, which leads to the success of our students in school and life.

David Dorfman Dance Dancers: Lily Gelfand Jasmine Hearn Jordan Lloyd Kellie Ann Lynch Nikolas Owens Simon Thomas-Train Lisa Race (Guest Performer) Kendra Portier (Rehearsal Director)

For up to 10 years, our students learn to use their bodies to convey feelings and ideas, promoting flexibility both physically and mentally. Physical development is a given with dance, but learning through the body also promotes social, emotional, and intellectual development. Increased focus, reduction of stress, conceptualizing an idea from start to finish, and working to solve problems as a group are just some of the skills dance imparts.

Clouds fall in love. (World Premiere)

Dance moves our youth. Forward.

The Wooden Floor Dancers: Vivian Acosta Wendy Alaniz Raymundo Gallardo Kassandra Guevara Madeleine Lindbeck Cheyanne Long Linda Luna Christopher Mejia Isabella Orozco

Alexia Pacheco Xitlalli Salgado Emma Tassev Quetzalli Un Itzell Valencia Natalie Vergara Kimberly Zaragoza Carlos Zarate

PRODUCTION STAFF Artistic Director Falon Baltzell Production Director Ben Tusher Stage Manager Tara Krisch Stage Crew Jimmy Kerry, Mike Salvino, Sara Schatmeier, Cassidy Warner Costume Supervisor Jennifer Bassage Bonfil Special thanks to Bill Avzaradel, Joe Gallagher, Gallagher Staging, Sean St. Germaine, and Phantom Panda Productions for their technical support.

“The lessons that I learned here at The Wooden Floor extend beyond the dance studio and can be applied to life. They helped me do well in high school, and I know that they will help me through college and beyond.�

-CRISTINA, CLASS OF 2016 Majoring in Nursing at the University of California, Los Angeles

ABOUT US Founded in 1983, The Wooden Floor is one of the foremost creative youth development nonprofit organizations in the country.

We transform the lives of young people in low-income communities through the power of dance and access to higher education. In Orange County and through national licensed partners, we use a long-term approach grounded in exploratory dance education to foster the confidence and gifts within each child to innovate, communicate, and collaborate – skills necessary for success in school and in life. 100 percent of students who graduate from The Wooden Floor immediately enroll in higher education. Our students become change agents and beacons of hope within their own families, their neighborhoods, our community, and our world.

Photography by Christine Cotter. Š2018 The Wooden Floor.

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