Dance Major Journee Hardaway participating in West African Dance II taught by Professor Shani Collins.
David Dorfman, Professor of Dance, described over a Zoom call the many ways that dance students are adapting to remote learning, as well as the steps that Professor Dorfman in his 16th year at the College and the rest of the Dance Department are taking to continue classes and ongoing projects.
Professor Dorfman himself had been working on two shows: “Indecent” in London and “Whisper House” in New York. This semester, he is teaching Dancers Act/Actors Dance (DAN 264), with students in all class years, as well as overseeing the Senior Capstone Project. Dancers Act/Actors Dance cater to students with dance training combining dance with text and embodiment, as well as students who may not have had much dance training, but perhaps have some theater training. Professor Dorfman described the 23 students as an “incredible combination of students.”
While Professor Dorfman stated that “schedul[ing] can be a difficulty” with students in different time zones, keeping classes at their originally scheduled times has been important to Professor Dorfman. “To me, doing the classes where they originally existed is one solidity that I’d like to keep,” he said. Professor Dorfman and teaching assistant Scott Leff ‘20 sent a survey to the students prior to classes resuming to ensure students had internet access, and a small dance space. “We wanted to make sure on an equity basis that we weren’t asking too much to actually have the Zoom classes. That was sent out before class re-commenced. We got positive feedback and were able to go forward,” Professor Dorfman explained.
“On any given day, someone is going to be fed up with COVID-19 and distance learning and we just have to admit that. And I, as a leader in this case, as a professor whose job is to educate, even if I am in a little bit of a bad mood, I am certainly not when I go in to teach. That’s my job. To lead and to be up energy,” Professor Dorfman said. Finding a way to continue the energy that was fostered before Spring Break, the Actor/Dancer class undergoes “dance breaks,” different points in the class to put music on and dance around, and has been watching videos collectively, using the break-out room and the gallery feature of Zoom.
“We were having a blast. Our class is usually in the second floor studio of Crozier Williams. We were just having such a fun time moving. It’s such a range of movers in there, and from all different backgrounds, languages, countries, and so it’s just been really fun,” Professor Dorfman said.
Additionally, Professor Dorfman discussed ongoing conversations the department has been undergoing, explaining that Heidi Henderson, Dance Department Chair, asked last week: “How would you feel when the world goes back ‘to normal?’ How would you feel about online teaching?” Professor Dorfman stated: “I said, if it were necessary to do it, for example, if it were a way to reach out to students in different countries or to make a more diverse learning space for Connecticut College, or, for any reason, there are many reasons why one would add that to our already live teaching. I would be happy to do it. It’s not my first choice, because I’m so dependent on interaction. And literally, we use contact. We use physical contact in our dance styles. Even if we are in the same room, we can’t do that now. Really it’s like three stages removed.”
He did, however, discuss the many ‘silver linings’ that have emerged from watching video. “I don’t think I would have assigned video or certainly not as much video in any of my classes. And now I think the perspective of dance in a frame and on screen … is now being imparted, kind of in a pleasantly forced manner, on the students. So they’re going to learn different skills than they would have learned before, of necessity, and I don’t know if this is the same in like a language course or a science course,” Professor Dorfman said. “We are actually learning a different art form that is combining with the art form, either dancing or dancing and acting … I think that there is this invitation and this time of opportunity with the time that we have on our hands, to learn new skills and that’s really lovely.”
Professor Dorfman’s wife, Lisa Race, also teaches in the department. The two have been grappling with the limitations of video conferences. “In order to be seen, you need to stay in a box, which is so new … whereas if you’re in a room, in a dance studio or a classroom, you don’t disappear in the same way,” he explained. Professor Race teaches a pure movement class and an improv class this semester. “I think she’s had it more difficult than I have because she, where I am now, is trying to lead exercises, some on the floor, some standing. And then the dance folk are limited to their space, the point of view, what they’re seeing, so it’s hard,” Professor Dorfman said. Using the large yard space that they have to create a larger dance space and lead bigger dance phrases is something the two have discussed.
Professor Dorfman also discussed the “democratization of Zoom” and other platforms. Now more than ever, professional dancers are offering live classes on social media platforms to engage dancers all over the world. “The fact that those kinds of classes that you might go to in a studio that maybe you’d even be intimidated to go to, in New York City or some other major city, now those wonderful teachers are doing things online,” Professor Dorfman said. At noon EDT every Monday, Professor Dorfman picks a new topic of discussion on his dance company’s instagram account, @dorfmandance, to “inspire us to ‘move and be moved.’” His most recent discussion was centralized in the theme “Alone Together,” in which the main topic of discussion was solo dances, consisting of what is mostly being facilitated now that dancers are removed from one another. Professor Dorfman also noticed how much more his senior dancers are engaging in workouts together. “They’re doing things they probably wouldn’t normally do. And they maybe even —I’m not speaking for them— but it is almost overcompensating. It’s like, I can’t be in a studio dancing, so I am really going to workout,” Professor Dorfman explained.
On the Senior Capstone: “The senior majors I’ve had for two semesters now, this is Senior Seminar, this is culmination, this is Capstone, that has is greatly greatly thwarted and changed. That has cast a pall on our work and I think that we’re week by week getting more positive momentum. The seniors now have each made/modified a proposal for their own individual work, how they’ll carry it forward. All will involve some form of video. Some will make or at least want a solo version of a dance they had begun. Many will be using a little bit of video clips or of a showing we did just prior to Spring Break and then also add in new video material, assignments they’ve given cast members wherever they’re living, phrases that they had made in the process but now they’ll make on their own, and some put them on a Zoom screen or however they will video edit. It will appear that they’re in the same place. Some were very intent on changes. They were just on the edge of making these wonderful changes and they will probably do those changes on their own body so there will be a solo section that would have originally been a group section.”
“The sadness of their show, you know, it’s not just ‘the show.’ It’s all that goes into ‘the show.’ And then the feedback, and the response, and the afterglow after the show, and what you get to learn after a show. All that stuff has been ceased and stunted. And that is such a tragedy,” Professor Dorfman said. He explained that he has put his dance as the lowest priority to allow the focus on students’ performativity and creativity on the forefront of their projects. While there had been three intended soloists for the senior concert, everyone is working individually now. Honors Theses through different departments, such as art and technology, and art history with dance, are also continuing for minors of Dance. A senior student who has returned to his home in Vietnam, as well as one of the intended soloists, had been encouraged by Professor Dorfman to use dancers in the area, either in New London or at the College. Professor Dorfman described this as another silver lining to remote learning: “Now that he’s back in Vietnam and he has a long history with some dancers there, he is going to incorporate other dancers.”
Professor Dorfman stated that he and the students are not certain about the way they will “present” the senior project. It is unclear whether they will live stream the projects, or if it will be like a senior concert with links available for viewing. And this is not a top priority for them either. “I’m trying to take my cues from them. It’s more important that they feel good and fulfilled in the best way possible in this very singular situation, that they are learning and doing work that they are proud of.” On the ten senior dance majors working on the senior capstone project, Professor Dorfman stated: “This is such an incredibly generous, talented, human, intelligent group of senior dance majors. It’s kind of mind boggling.”
Professor Dorfman illuminated the support from the College that he and the Department have received. The “free flowing congenial help, advice and just being there for any kind of help … has been really formidable and really helpful,” he said. And for his seniors, who he has tried to “give a little perspective as an elder that there is so much more to come … even though it seems like one of the largest pitfalls, tragedies, defeats, this is the beginning of your artistic, wonderful adult life in the world. So there’s going to be so many triumphs ahead of you and so many accomplishments and wonderful, wonderful communions with people and art.” •
