JULY—AUGUST 2014 

The Istanbul-based Korhan Başaran Company partnered with BAM and David Dorfman Dance to take part in a US residency and collaborative production.

JULY—AUGUST 2014

The Istanbul-based Korhan Başaran Company partnered with BAM and David Dorfman Dance to take part in a US residency and collaborative production.

ABOUT THE COLLABORATION

As part of the Bates Dance Festival, Korhan Başaran Company worked for four weeks with two Armenian dancers and David Dorfman Dance to develop an original piece around the theme of reconciliation. The 16 dancers blended movement styles and choreographic inspirations while taking classes together across the Festival—including a master class in traditional Turkish dance taught by the company. Their final evening-length piece Unsettled premiered at the BAM Fisher space at the end of the summer, and was live-streamed to audiences in Istanbul and Yerevan.

ABOUT THE COLLABORATION

As part of the Bates Dance Festival, Korhan Başaran Company worked for four weeks with two Armenian dancers and David Dorfman Dance to develop an original piece around the theme of reconciliation. The 16 dancers blended movement styles and choreographic inspirations while taking classes together across the Festival—including a master class in traditional Turkish dance taught by the company. Their final evening-length piece Unsettled premiered at the BAM Fisher space at the end of the summer, and was live-streamed to audiences in Istanbul and Yerevan.

MEET THE ARTISTS ON THE BLOG

“Davit started dancing when he was five years old. In 2006, he entered Yerevan State Choreographic College in the Department of Armenian Dances and entered the Song and Dance State Ensemble. In 2009, he was drafted as a dancer into the army.”

—About Davit Grigoryan, one of two Armenian guests in the residency

MEET THE ARTISTS ON THE BLOG

“Davit started dancing when he was five years old. In 2006, he entered Yerevan State Choreographic College in the Department of Armenian Dances and entered the Song and Dance State Ensemble. In 2009, he was drafted as a dancer into the army.”

—About Davit Grigoryan, one of two Armenian guests in the residency

David Dorfman Dance

Since its founding in 1987, David Dorfman Dance (DDD) has performed extensively throughout North and South America, Great Britain, Europe, and Central Asia. DDD has regularly performed in New York City at major venues including the Brooklyn Academy of Music, The Joyce Theater, The Kitchen, Danspace Project/St. Mark’s Church, La Mama Theater, The Duke on 42nd Street, The Met Breuer, and the 92nd St. Y/Harkness Dance Festival. David Dorfman, the company’s dancers, and DDD’s artistic collaborators have also been honored with eight New York Dance and Performance (Bessie) Awards. Dorfman’s work has enjoyed broad and diverse audiences nationally and internationally by sustaining a vision to create innovative, inclusive, movement-based performance that is radically humanistic.

DDD’s creative projects include: Aroundtown (2017); Come, and Back Again (2013); Prophets of Funk (set to the music of Sly and the Family Stone); Disavowal (inspired by radical abolitionist John Brown); underground (inspired by The Weather Underground); Older Testaments (2005, set to music by composer/trumpeter Frank London of The Klezmatics); Lightbulb Theory (2004, original commissioned score by Michael Wall); Impending Joy (2004, original commissioned score by Chris Peck); and See Level (2003, original commissioned score by Chris Peck and visual design by Samuel Topiary).

DDD is company-in-residence at Connecticut College, has its own summer intensive at the college, a winter intensive at Gibney Dance in New York, and appears annually at the Tisch School of the Arts Summer Dance Residency Program at NYU.

In the community-based projects Out of Season (The Athletes Project) and Familiar Movements (The Family Project), the members of the company rehearsed and performed with volunteer groups of athletes and families in a host of cities. In No Roles Barred, DDD examined social roles, engaging groups ranging from corporate executives and “at-risk” youths to college administrators, doctors, carpenters, and social dance enthusiasts. These three community projects have been presented more than 30 times in 18 states and two foreign countries.

In March 2016, DDD performed at the opening day of the Met Breuer Museum in New York City, dancing to an original live score by Ken Thomson throughout the day in the Sunken Garden. The company embarked on a landmark tour to Athens, Greece in the summer of 2016, working with community athletes, dancers, and mixed ability movers to animate the new Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Center for their Metamorphosis Festival. DDD’s newest evening length work, Aroundtown had its World Premiere at Bates Dance Festival in July 2017, and its NY Premiere at the BAM Next Wave Festival in November 2017. In May 2018, DDD partnered with USAID El Salvador to bring dance to youth in El Salvador. Together they pledged to use their bodies for peace rather than gang warfare. All of these efforts help DDD promote its mission of kinetic diplomacy: if you’re dancing, you’re not hurting another human being.

ABOUT THE COMPANIES

David Dorfman Dance

Since its founding in 1987, David Dorfman Dance (DDD) has performed extensively throughout North and South America, Great Britain, Europe, and Central Asia. DDD has regularly performed in New York City at major venues including the Brooklyn Academy of Music, The Joyce Theater, The Kitchen, Danspace Project/St. Mark’s Church, La Mama Theater, The Duke on 42nd Street, The Met Breuer, and the 92nd St. Y/Harkness Dance Festival. David Dorfman, the company’s dancers, and DDD’s artistic collaborators have also been honored with eight New York Dance and Performance (Bessie) Awards. Dorfman’s work has enjoyed broad and diverse audiences nationally and internationally by sustaining a vision to create innovative, inclusive, movement-based performance that is radically humanistic.

DDD’s creative projects include: Aroundtown (2017); Come, and Back Again (2013); Prophets of Funk (set to the music of Sly and the Family Stone); Disavowal (inspired by radical abolitionist John Brown); underground (inspired by The Weather Underground); Older Testaments (2005, set to music by composer/trumpeter Frank London of The Klezmatics); Lightbulb Theory (2004, original commissioned score by Michael Wall); Impending Joy (2004, original commissioned score by Chris Peck); and See Level (2003, original commissioned score by Chris Peck and visual design by Samuel Topiary).

DDD is company-in-residence at Connecticut College, has its own summer intensive at the college, a winter intensive at Gibney Dance in New York, and appears annually at the Tisch School of the Arts Summer Dance Residency Program at NYU.

In the community-based projects Out of Season (The Athletes Project) and Familiar Movements (The Family Project), the members of the company rehearsed and performed with volunteer groups of athletes and families in a host of cities. In No Roles Barred, DDD examined social roles, engaging groups ranging from corporate executives and “at-risk” youths to college administrators, doctors, carpenters, and social dance enthusiasts. These three community projects have been presented more than 30 times in 18 states and two foreign countries. In March 2016, DDD performed at the opening day of the Met Breuer Museum in New York City, dancing to an original live score by Ken Thomson throughout the day in the Sunken Garden. The company embarked on a landmark tour to Athens, Greece in the summer of 2016, working with community athletes, dancers, and mixed ability movers to animate the new Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Center for their Metamorphosis Festival. DDD’s newest evening length work, Aroundtown had its World Premiere at Bates Dance Festival in July 2017, and its NY Premiere at the BAM Next Wave Festival in November 2017. In May 2018, DDD partnered with USAID El Salvador to bring dance to youth in El Salvador. Together they pledged to use their bodies for peace rather than gang warfare. All of these efforts help DDD promote its mission of kinetic diplomacy: if you’re dancing, you’re not hurting another human being.

Korhan Başaran Company

Company RAu has been a vital part of Turkey's movement scene for the past 15 years. Başaran's project oriented troupe began with the dream of changing the world for the better through reflecting on and recreating the self. Hence the works the company creates engage deeply with the emotional intensity and objective reality of life, with an eye always towards a hopeful future. 

Korhan Başaran Company

Company RAu has been a vital part of Turkey's movement scene for the past 15 years. Başaran's project oriented troupe began with the dream of changing the world for the better through reflecting on and recreating the self. Hence the works the company creates engage deeply with the emotional intensity and objective reality of life, with an eye always towards a hopeful future.