VCU dance features David Dorfman in a year-long exploration of his work

By J. Suzanne Horsley and Valerie Jeremijenko

RICHMOND, VA – Virginia Commonwealth University's Department of Dance and Choreography will present the David Dorfman Company in a new work on Oct. 19 and 20 at the Grace Street Theater. Premiered at the Brooklyn Academy of Music, the foremost showcase for contemporary experimental performance in the United States, To Lie Tenderly investigates the half truths we construct to create an illusion of safety in our lives and the conflict between following the masses versus our desire to be unique.

The performance of To Lie Tenderly is part of VCU Dance’s year-long exploration of David Dorfman’s work. In addition to performing with his company, David Dorfman will conduct a five-week teaching residency. He also will create a new work for VCU Dance students, which will be presented at Peak Performance Plus, the Department’s celebration of the beginning of their third decade, on Feb. 19 at the Carpenter Center. On March 21 he will return to perform Live Sax Acts with Dan Froot, an evening of daring physical performance celebrating male bonding and friendship.

"David Dorfman is without doubt one of the greatest modern dance makers," says Martha Curtis, chair of the Department of Dance and Choreography. "His work is edgy, subversive, humorous and cross disciplinary. It is characterized by a wryness of tone, an engaging dramatic framework and exuberant physicality."

To Lie Tenderly is actually two new pieces of choreography, To Lie Tenderly and Subverse. The opening piece, To Lie Tenderly, is a cultural blueprint of a society wrestling with notions of truth, individuality, and the uneasy dynamics of group mentality. It features music by award-winning composer Amy Denio, lighting by Jane Cox, costumes by Naoko Nagata and set and video design by Paul Clay. Subverse is a meditation on the choreographer’s early playing grounds—the New York dance club culture of the late 1970s and 1980s—and the distance traveled since. It is a study of a party culture's coming of age, and throughout the piece we see individuals and groups gradually exchange youth and innocent exuberance for things just a bit darker.

The Grace Street Theater is located at 934 West Grace Street. Tickets are $15 or free to VCU students with valid ID.

The presentation of To Lie Tenderly is part of the 2001-2002 dance season at VCU which is made possible by the E. Rhodes and Leona B. Carpenter Foundation. Additional funding comes from the Virginia Commission on the Arts and the National Endowment for the Arts. The presenting program of VCU Dance is committed to the goal of building and enlightening the dance audience in the University and Richmond community while providing opportunities for artists to present and create work.

Virginia Commonwealth University’s Department of Dance and Choreography offers a creative learning and working environment for students preparing for careers in dance. The program culminates in a B.F.A. in Dance and Choreography. For more information contact Valerie Jeremijenko at (804) 828-1711.