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"NO ROLES BARRED" David
Dorfman Dance’s most recent community project, No
Roles Barred, decentralizes the notion of who can make art.
This ambitious and wildly successful project is customized to reach
out, energize and involve different communities which an individual
presenter might want to incorporate.
For instance, a group of business people, from companies both large
and small, corporations, university and government staff, foundations, or
other businesses might be targeted for participation in creating a
dance/theater work that examines business-related issues such as the
nature of organization, control, diplomacy, power, authority, agenda, and
the competition between institutional and personal growth. Another
scenario could be a group of social dance enthusiasts challenged to create
a new social dance of their own within the context of No
Roles Barred, therefore questioning the nature and sources of social
dance and attempting to bridge the gap between popular and concert forms
of music and dance. The pliable structure of No
Roles Barred is the key to its success.
Initial partnerships will serve as a catalyst for the creation of
other meaningful partnerships for the project from across the entire
spectrum of a community's life. In
all cases, the results will be representations of a unique nature and role
reversals of great consequence. No
Roles Barred is
directed by artistic director David Dorfman and structured much the same
as the company's other successful community projects.
The project began with a creative/rehearsal period in New York
during December 1998. The company created movement, as well as exercises,
improvisational structures, and a broad framework in which its ideas could
flourish. Input from
presenters during an intensive weekend workshop midway through the
rehearsal period was an integral part of this process. The glory of this
project is that it has the potential to reach whichever group or groups
within a community that a presenter would like to involve. Extensive
planning will take place in each participating community to decide which
particular organizations and populations to target for participation.
About four to six weeks in advance of the residency, a workshop will be
dedicated to establishing a cast for the project and defining specific
residency activities. During
the two-week residency itself, the company will engage in daytime
workshops, classes, and lectures (See Residency Activities), while at
night, rehearsals with the community participants will take place,
culminating in one or more performances of the new twenty to thirty minute
dance/theater work to be presented along with other company repertory.
PROJECT
HISTORY
“In
rehearsal, Dorfman had each Boulderite create words and gestures
expressing their various social roles: past, present and wished-for in the
future. “No Roles Barred” became an impressively artful and soulful
construction based on that rich material, showing with interwoven text and
movement how the performers cope with their repertoire of roles and grope
for authenticity transcending confining labels.”
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