they were from her mother.
“My work was a way of saying,
‘Mom, I understand. I know how
important it is to you that your stories be told,’” said Dorfman. Yet
sharing the stories of her heritage
was difficult for Carolyn in the beginning. The first piece she ever
made was “Cries of the Children”
in 1983. This program was not so
much about the survivors of the
Holocaust as it was about being a
child of survivors.
“I did not feel like I could tell
their story,” recalled Dorfman. “Interestingly, as I got older and they
got quieter, I felt it was more important for the next generation to
continue to tell their story. So, as
I got older, I felt more compelled
to have those stories be told.
And some are very joyous stories.
There are elements of the American Dream that are humorous and
poignant, it’s not all sad. There is
hope in all of this. There is joy in
choosing life and how people can
survive and thrive, and make a difference.
“I think work is authentic when
it comes from a specific realm,”
she continued. “Making a dance
about love is very generic. Making a dance about something
more specific to that love actually has better universality. I think
there is beauty in dance, but it is
in the nonverbal as much as the
verbal that we understand life. It
takes us into that realm where our
own imagination fills in the images and thoughts. These are human stories and I think it changes
those of us who do it. We’ve done
shows for survivors and we’ve
asked them what they most want
people to know and they say just
don’t forget us… Don’t forget.”
Thursday, November 13
“The Legacy Project: A Dance of Hope”
South Orange Performing Arts Center, One SOPAC Way, South Orange, NJ
Advertise here for $25 - $100 call 732-280-7625
pg 39