The Dance Division, a part of the school of dance at Ohio University, has created the Summer Dance Institute with guest choreographer David Dorfman of David Dorfman Dance.
The group of students will perform based off of the work they have been doing with Dorfman on June 30 in the Shirley Wimmer Dance Theater in Putnam Hall. The performance will be free to attend and is informal.
“(Dorfman) and (his company) have had a profound impact on many young artists, and it is an honor to have the opportunity to bring them here to share their work with our region,” Ani Javian, Visiting Assistant Professor of Dance, said in an email.
Javian and Dorfman met at Connecticut College in 2001 while Javian was a dance student. She described Dorfman as changing her view of dance.
When Javian asked Dorfman to come back to OU to be the guest choreographer for the Summer Dance Institute, he immediately said yes.
“I’m very glad to be revisiting this very historic department,” Dorfman said. He worked at the university in the 1990s for five weeks while a professor was on leave.
Dorfman has been working with the students from across the United States for two weeks to help showcase their skills and forge professional networks. There are about 30 students working with Dorfman who will be performing.
The Summer Dance Institute includes the students taking multiple classes a day as well as other activities such as social events and watching the company perform. The program also helps form strong bonds with the dancers, according to Javian.
“We are not alone,” Javian said in an email. “Dance is inherently a social form and as such, it is crucial that we take care of each other.”
