AUGUST 27 • 2020 | 45
Arts&Life
dance
Digital
Dance
Discussion
Former Metro Detroiters
to discuss the art of
dancing in JCC program.
T
wo Southfield-raised representatives
of the professional dance world — one
who formed a dance company and the
other who transitioned into neurosurgery —
will discuss the art of dance during a digital
program arranged by the Jewish
Community Center (JCC).
The event is part of the series
“Conversations: Bringing the
World Into Your Living Room”
and will feature Dr. Allen
Maniker interviewing Carolyn
Dorfman, choreographer and
founding artistic director of Carolyn Dorfman
Dance, based in New Jersey. The presentation
begins at 7 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 27, and recalls
some of the doctor’
s earlier stage credits.
“I want to talk about how one develops a
career as a professional choreographer,
” said
Maniker, now a New Yorker. He previously
danced with the Alvin Ailey American Dance
Theater in the city and the Israeli Bat-Dor
Dance Company, closed after almost 40 years.
“I will ask about the problems and difficul-
ties of maintaining a professional dance com-
pany and what she has seen as problematic
in returning to creative work in this time of
pandemic,
” he told the JN.
Maniker and Dorfman, who attended
Southfield High School at the same time,
recall sharing stage experiences as they
worked on the musical Camelot — she as cho-
reographer and he as a cast member. While
her early dance lessons were with Julie Adler,
his were with Harriet Berg at the JCC.
Both went on to the University of
Michigan, where Maniker double majored in
dance and pre-med. After one year, he trans-
ferred to Juilliard, earning a degree in dance
and continuing in the field until deciding, in
the 1980s, to work toward a medical degree.
Dorfman earned a bachelor’
s degree in
dance from U-M and a master’
s from New
York University Tisch School of the Arts. In
discussing the focus of her company, which is
now in its 37th year, she points to the connec-
tivity of the art form — physical connection,
connection between artists and connection
between the artist and the audience.
“I am interested in communicating,
” said
Dorfman, currently giving attention to social
justice issues with a troupe of 10 that has
toured internationally. During the ongoing
COVID-19 pandemic, “I had to learn how to
attempt to break barriers on the screen.
”
The choreographer has used the digital
medium for both performances and instruc-
tion and hopes to show excerpts during the
upcoming broadcast.
“I have been into technology for a very
long time,
” said Dorfman, the daughter of
Holocaust survivors who motivated her devel-
opment of pieces that reflect Jewish heritage.
“We learned how to create on Zoom and
make an artistic entity.
“We have created curriculum that we’
re
licensing to a school district and produced
lectures. Some things are synchronous with
students in the audience, and some things are
asynchronous where I produce content sent
somewhere and watched at leisure.
”
Dorfman said she feels a lot of pride for the
dancers in her company, especially during the
pandemic when one has been coping with
COVID-19 — and all show resilience.
Maniker, retired as chairman of neuro-
surgery at Beth Israel Medical Center in
Manhattan, credits Dorfman with motivating
him toward a dance career, which he pursued
through age 26.
Maniker continues active interest in
dance as board chairman of the Steps
Beyond Foundation, associated with Steps
on Broadway, a dance studio in New York
City. To foster continuing education, he
moderates panel discussions and planned a
lecture-demonstration about ballet for the
Metropolitan Museum of Art, where he is a
docent.
Knowledge of his New York programming
led to establishing “Conversations,
” which has
featured Met curator Kathryn Calley Galitz
and will introduce Alicia Graf Mack, Juilliard
Dance Division director, on Sept. 10.
“Plus, I’
m a performer,
” Maniker said. “
And
these ‘
Conversations’
are performances.
”
Carolyn Dorfman
details
To access information about “Conversations”
programming — and learn more about the
dance discussion beginning at 7 p.m. Thursday,
Aug. 27 — go to culturalarts.jcc.org.
WHITNEY BROWNE
Dr. Allen
Maniker
JCC
SUZANNE CHESSLER CONTRIBUTING WRITER