By
Lisa Lucas
Arizona Daily Wildcat
UA dancers participates in nationally recognized Dorfman proformance
When a major act comes to Centennial Hall, the public runs to purchase tickets to the performance.
However, with the arrival of the dance company David Dorfman Dance in Tucson, the public has instead run to become a part of that performance.
"Our image is (to work with) the folks who really support the university, make it run - do the day in, day out stuff," said David Dorfman, creator of the company.
Dorfman worked with members of the University of Arizona community every night for the last two weeks to create the first piece of his performance Saturday.
The piece, called "No Roles Barred," features 20 UA students and staff stemming from various dance backgrounds.
The "No Roles Barred" theme focuses on the nature of the roles the dancers play in their everyday lives, such as "mother" or "boyfriend."
"We've done about 33 community-based projects around the country, and a couple internationally-based projects," Dorfman said. "(Projects on) things ranging from athletics to families - and this one is talking about roles."
Dorfman added, "We try to figure out a focus for each location. It seemed that (UApresents executive director) Ken (Foster) and (community engagement director for the company) Wade (Colwell) were most interested in aiming it at folks who worked for the university."
He said he had been keeping in touch with Foster since the last project he sponsored for the company about four years ago.
"We feel that the time is right again for us to come and hopefully attract a great audience and do another project," Dorfman said.
Dorfman said the piece will "encourage everyone to be free-thinking" and allow them to entertain roles that they otherwise might not have the freedom to experience.
He also said it will allow the dancers freedom of movement, which will then promote freedom of roles - "whether it's simple things like switching a relationship, to leading and following, perhaps."
"(David Dorfman Dance is) showcasing (its) ability to work with community groups - (displaying) the power of people coming together and creating something, collaboratively, regardless of (the participant's) background or dance experience," said Colwell, also a participant in Saturday's show.
Amanda Pennington, a family studies and human development sophomore with no previous dance experience, said the rehearsals were "very laid back and a lot of fun - non-threatening."
Psychology sophomore Heather Haeger described the rehearsals as combining both improvisation and "partnering." The dancers begin rehearsals with a "pre-rehearsal" during which they give a partner a massage in order to center themselves and continue to work with partners throughout the duration of rehearsal.
Dorfman focused on both giving and receiving, "partnering, opening up, relieving tension" while keeping a strong emphasis on breathing.
As the rehearsal progressed, participants walked around the room, "transferring energy to areas throughout their bodies." Upon increasing their energy, the dancers borrow, or mimic, movements from others. Dorfman described this act of borrowing as "an even more active way of doing something you've never done before."
"No Roles Barred" is very much influenced by the movements the participants incorporate based on choreography Dorfman has already shown them.
"(The company) gives them assignments and they create the movement," Dorfman said. "They don't realize how much of it they make up."
Dorfman allows the participants to express themselves creatively through both movement and text.
"A lot of the stuff we work on in the warm-up is focus and experimentation with various movement - we start to fill the vocabulary and be communicative," Dorfman said.
In one of the exercises in rehearsal called "I Am," the performers stand randomly positioned and sporadically announce "I am" or "I am not" while incorporating movement to portray what it is they say they "are."
The company members watch and discuss what they just saw.
"When we try something, it's not (necessarily) in (the performance)," Dorfman said. "It means we have to see if we like it."
Kraig Kensinger, a teacher for the extended university program SEEK (Summer Enrichment Education for Kids), said the movement in rehearsals is "authentic" because it incorporates natural body movement.
"(There is a) sense of truth to it," he said. "You make it up - they polish it."
Haeger added to Kensinger's comment on authenticity, "It's kind of what you make of it," she said. "Anyone can do it and you can take a lot out of it."
