September 25, 2000

Rare Preview of New Work by David Dorfman at MASS MoCA

(September 25, 2000 -- North Adams, MA) ö MASS MoCA will offer a work-in-progress showing of David Dorfman Dance Company's new work To Lie Tenderly on Saturday, October 7th at 8 pm. This work-in-progress is an electric mix of bold movement, provocative spoken text, and time-traveling music by composer Amy Denio and will be a part of the Brooklyn Academy of Music's Next Wave Festival in December.

David Dorfman's career as a dancer began with his avid interest in sports as a child inspired by his mother's struggle with multiple sclerosis. "I have few memories of her walking around freely," Dorfman says. "I feel more alive when I'm moving quickly." The New York Times calls Dorfman's work "vocal, playful and raw."

Dorfman has been honored with four fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts. He is also the recipient of two New York Foundation for the Arts fellowships and an American Choreographer's Award. Dorfman's choreography has been produced in New York City at venues ranging from The Joyce Theater to The Kitchen, Dance Theater Workshop, Danspace at St. Mark's Church, P.S. 122, and Dancing in the Streets. Dorfman's company, David Dorfman Dance, has performed extensively in New York and throughout North and South America, Great Britain, and Europe including the Internationales Sommertheater Festival Hamburg, Germany; The Harbourfront Centre, Toronto, Canada; the Festival Internacional de Londrina, Brazil; the Kalamata International Dance Festival, Greece; and the Densescenen in Denmark. The company has received six New York Dance and Performance Bessie Awards since its founding in 1985.

The Village Voice described a recent performance saying, "his wonderful performers whirl and tumble, bounce off one another and cling together, dancing out such hot impulses and inner turbulence that they can't worry about looking graceful. When they stop and hold a pose, they seem to be maintaining perilous stability in a high wind. Then they're off again, addicted to momentum."

The David Dorfman performance of To Lie Tenderly is part of MASS MoCA's Mass Manufacturing series which will bring performing artists to MASS MoCA for residencies which will then culminate in work-in-progress showings.

"We are really pleased to be able to bring performing artists who are charting new territory to MASS MoCA and to give our audience the opportunity to see some really exciting work by up and coming performers," said Jonathan Secor, Director of Performing Arts at MASS MoCA. " The works-in-progress that we'll present as part of Mass Manufacturing will vary in terms of how finished the pieces are so we've kept the admission charge very low to encourage our audience to experiment with seeing companies they may not be familiar with." Other upcoming Mass Manufacturing shows include Timberline by LAVA on Wednesday, December 6 and Hair Stories by Urban Bush Women on Saturday, December 16. Both those performances are at 7:00 pm and tickets are $5.

The David Dorfman residency is supported by The Bari Lipp Initiative for Dance.

Tickets to David Dorfman's work-in-progress showing are $5 and are available by calling the MASS MoCA Box Office at 413.662.2111 or online at www.massmoca.org. Tickets may also be purchased in person from 10 ö 6 daily at MASS MoCA at 87 Marshall St. in North Adams, Mass.

MASS MoCA, the largest center for contemporary visual and performing arts in the United States, is located on a 13-acre campus of renovated 19th-century factory buildings. MASS MoCA focuses on the work of visual and performing artists charting new territory.

For Immediate Release
Contact: Katherine Myers
(413) 664-4481 x8113
katherine@massmoca.org