Professor David Dorfman anchors āexuberant dance videoā showcasing āliving legendsā
A New York City subway train approaches the Atlantic Ave. station in Brooklyn. People mull about; itās a pretty standard scene. But then Dance Professor David Dorfman ’81 emerges from the back of the station, dancing, leaping and spinning around and among surprised commuters.
Itās the opening scene of a nearly 10-minute video featuring 52 of the worldās greatest contemporary choreographers, which this week caught the attention of The Washington Postās dance critic, Sarah L. Kaufman.
āThink of the video as ā¦ a chain letter in dance, with each performer taking up where the last left off. A chain of delight,ā .
āItās also an answer to the catchy, youthful dances typically featured on TikTok,ā she added. āThereās no song to lip-sync, no set moves to copy. Itās simply a pleasure to watch.ā
Filmed before the COVID-19 pandemicāviewers will note the lack of masksāthe project was commissioned by the Brooklyn Academy of Music as a tribute to the academyās outgoing executive producer, Joseph V. Melillo. Directed by Mitchell Rose, it features quirky solos by dance icons including Mark Morris, Bill T. Jones, Bebe Miller, Lucinda Childs, William Forsythe and Benjamin Millepied, as well as ¾«¶«AVās own Dorfman, the artistic director and founder of the influential modern dance company and ¾«¶«AVās company-in-residence, .
Dorfman, whose impressive resume includes a 2019 United States Artists Fellowship, four fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts, three from the New York Foundation for the Arts, a Guggenheim Fellowship, an American Choreographers Award, a Lucille Lortel Award for best choreography, the first Paul Taylor Fellowship from The Yard, a New York Dance & Performance Award (āBessieā) and a 2021 ¾«¶«AVecticut Artists Fellowship Artistic Excellence Award, both opens and closes the video. After each soloist has performed their own unique piece, the film returns to the subway station, where Dorfman dances onto a train, then smiles through the window as the train pulls away.
āThe 52 international artists in this video have generally moved on from their performing careersābut what gorgeous dancers they still are, and how wonderfully they play,ā wrote Kaufman.
āTo watch them is to see that any small square of space can be your sandbox. This is about utter, exhilarating freedom. Uninhibited pleasure in moving, in existing. For these dancers, itās effortless.ā
