Movement workshop with David Dorfman:

The Jane Addams Hull-House Museum’s “Art and Democracy Series” features performances and master classes that build on the vibrant arts legacy of the Hull-House Settlement and Jane Addams’ belief that the arts and culture are essential to promoting democracy and citizenship. The Dance Center of Columbia College Chicago and the Jane Addams Hull-House Museum welcome the public to participate in a free movement workshop with David Dorfman of David Dorfman Dance, one of the United States’ leading contemporary dance companies.  

Movement Workshop with David Dorfman
 Thinking of movement/dance as a form of activism, in David Dorfman’s movement workshop, With the idea of dance as a form of activism, workshop participants will learn strategies for using movement as social and personal commentary. Dorfman will guide participants to find compositional means for exploring areas about which they are passionate. The workshop will begin with a warm-up, followed by brief discussion, then movement geared towards understanding ways to approach choreography rooted in awareness and promoting social justice.

Born on Cornelia and Broadway in Chicago, David Dorfman is an internationally acclaimed dancer and choreographer whose company, David Dorfman Dance, has been considered one of the most influential American dance companies for the past two decades. Dorfman is the recipient of a 2005 Guggenheim Foundation fellowship as well as four fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts, three New York Foundation for the Arts fellowships, an American Choreographer’s Award, the first Paul Taylor Fellowship from The Yard and a New York Dance & Performance Award (“Bessie”) for David Dorfman Dance’s community-based project Familiar Movements (The Family Project). His company has performed extensively throughout North and South America, Great Britain and Europe. 

David Dorfman Dance will perform at The Dance Center of Columbia College Chicago September 25–28. On the program are two socially and politically charged evening-length works. Disavowal, a world premiere inspired by abolitionist and (in)famous “race traitor” John Brown, is a critical examination of white supremacy, racism and alienation. underground is a compelling and provocative exploration of the principles of political activism that asks: When does activism become terrorism? Are killing and destruction ever justified? underground incorporates a community cast of 15–20 local dancers. Click here to read more and buy tickets: David_Dorfman_Dance