About this keynote

What has always been true is even more critical in our current socio-political malaise: the stories, the embodiment, and the visual and musical imagery that we all contribute to can inspire the action that we need to survive and thrive.

During this keynote presentation, David Dorfman will interrogate how a life performing leads to performing a life. He’ll discuss his 40-year career as a choreographer and dance activist, meticulously translating life into works of art.

Then, in a participatory component, he’ll invite attendees as key parts of the art equation – from student to practitioner, from presenter to audience member – to reflect on, celebrate, and plan their next few artistic engagements. Whether these events come to fruition or not, the exercise will offer a new lens for attendees to approach their work in the future.

Session Objectives

• The crucial nature of art in society
• The conscious interaction between students, community members, and artists
• Strategies for going beyond what we all think we can do, while recognizing the “cost” of labor and stress associated with making, participating in, and attending art events

Keynote Speaker

David Dorfman (he/him)

Artistic Director, David Dorfman Dance
Professor of Dance, Connecticut College
Dancer, Choreographer, Musician, Activist and Teacher

David Dorfman has been making movement-based dance theater since graduating with an MFA in Dance from Connecticut College in 1981. In 1987, he founded David Dorfman Dance in NYC with the intention of creating politically and socially relevant work. A life-long educator, David has been a professor at Connecticut College since 2004, where DDD is Company-in-Residence.

David choreographed Broadway’s Indecent, for which he was given a Lortel for its Off-Broadway run, and has also received a 2019 USA Fellowship in Dance, a Guggenheim, 4 NEA fellowships, and a Bessie. His early performing years were happily spent with Kei Takei’s Moving Earth and Susan Marshall & Co.

In his copious spare time, he has co-created and toured internationally a body of tragi-comic physical theater with dear friend Dan Froot, entitled Live Sax Acts – and he continues to dance profusely with wife Lisa Race and son Samson Race Dorfman.