Top to bottom:

Carolyn Dorfman,

third from left in

the bottom row,

at one of her first

choreographer's response to being the child of survivors.
"I was always fascinated with the pre-war culture, the
people I never knew and the questions of what I've sur-
vived," says Dorfman, 45. "As an artist, I've taken an
issue that has been part of my entire life and one I think
about on a daily basis. That's who I am, and it influences
a lot of what I do and a lot of my perspectives on life."

coo

Sunday, September 10
3 p.m. • Free Admission
held at
Temple Emanu-El
14450 W. 10 Mile Rd.,
Oak Park

recitals. She studied

dance at the

Julie Adler School

of Dance, took

master classes

at the Jewish

Community Center,

earned a bachelor's

degree at the

University of

Michigan and

received a master's

degree from New

York University.

Carolyn, age 11,

performs in a dance

recital. "She said

that's what she

wanted, and we never

discouraged her,"

says her mother,

Math Dorfman

of Franklin.

Clockwise from top

left: Carolyn at age

17, about to enter

her senior year at

Southfield High

School; sister Gail

Dorfman Weiss;

brother Joel

Dorfman; and

parents Mala and

Henry Dorfman.

"I hope dance

professionals who see

her performances

here will be

motivated to emulate

what she doing

in New Jersey,"

says Joel Dorfman.

Dance Advocate

Barbara Gilford covered dance in New Jersey for The
New York Times and became very familiar with
Dorfman's troupe.
"The Carolyn Dorfman Dance Company was one
of the first companies I covered, and I think of
Carolyn as probably the most thoughtful and articu-
late advocate for dance that I've met," Gilford says.
"I came out of classical ballet, and I found her work
easy to respond to. It was a pleasure to watch her
grow, and I've always applauded her commitment to
dance education in schools."
Dorfman will not forget education when she comes
for her Michigan performance. She has scheduled
master classes for students at Detroit Country Day
School, Detroit's High School for the Performing Arts
and the University of Michigan Department of Dance.
She also brings her company to the Janice Charach
Epstein Gallery for a free interactive and improvisa-
tional session from 2-3:30 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 17.
Her Michigan sessions are based on an ongoing ini-
tiative, "Backstage Pass," the company's interactive
program designed to engage young people and adults.
The ensemble performs full works and excerpts from
the repertory followed by brief comments about the
artistry behind each piece. Using movement observed in
the audience, Dorfman creates an impromptu dance,
partnering ensemble dancers with audience members
"I'm very interested in working cross-culturally and
building bridges — artists building bridges to the work
for audiences and people using dance to understand
each other in a different way," says the former Detroiter.
She has combined her artistry with the creativity of
an African American storyteller to develop a work,
titled Dance Stories.
"We've done a tremendous amount of interfaith
performances. A lot of the Holocaust programming
and works with Jewish themes have been performed
for audiences that are not Jewish, and that spearheads
discussion," says Dorfman.
"Something that happened to me in a speech class
at Southfield High probably made me do all that. A
student began speaking about displaced people, and
the empathy was profound.
"Twenty minutes into her speech, it became appar-
ent that she was talking about the Palestinians, and a
real lightening bolt went off in my head as a young
Jewish person who thought she was open-minded.
"I thought if she started with the notion [that she
was Palestinian], I would have closed the door on the
pain, but she made me see past the politics. I work
very hard at breaking down those walls."
One of the ways that Dorfman works at network-
ing with other dance professionals is through The
Yard, an arts colony for dancers and choreographers
on Martha's Vineyard. Dorfman serves as a trustee
with her former instructor, Linda Tarnay, assistant
chair of the Dance Department at the New York

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Sponsored by the

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