THE STAR LEDGER
Tuesday, May 4, 2010
A MANY-SPLENDORED THING
Carolyn Dorfman’s dances about love win hearts
By Robert Johnson, Star Ledger Staff

When love flies in the window, the ability to think straight often slips out the door. But choreographer Carolyn Dorfman manages to keep her head screwed on straight, however…(Download Full PDF)

THE DAILEY GAZETTE
Monday, March 31, 2008
DORFMAN, KAHAN COLLABORATION BEARS EMOTIONALLY CHARGED FRUIT
Choreographer, Musician Weaves Holocaust Tales
By Wendy Liberatore
Kaatsbaan, Tivoli
Works: Cat’s Cradle

Cat’s Cradle is a compelling tour de force. It’s a reminder that war and the injustice it inflicts is beyond tragic. It also leaves one to lament and question if the human race will ever end the madness… (Download full PDF)

THE STAR LEDGER
Wednesday, December 26, 2007
DANCE HIT LIST
By Robert Johnson
Two River Theater, Red Bank
Works: Cat’s Cradle

Cat’s Cradle summons the ghosts of the Nazi concentration camp Theresienstadt. Dorfman’s dark and visceral work reminds audiences of the power choreography can have in a narrative setting… (Download Full PDF)

THE STAR-LEDGER
Monday, May 21, 2007
GIVING BACK THE LOVE
Artistic Community Pays Respect to Philadelphia Painter Maitin Noted For His Humanism
By Robert Johnson
Middle Township Performing Arts Center, Cape May Courthouse
Works: He Walk on the Wings of the Wind

Dorfman creates an ingeniously layered environment in He Walks on the Wings of the Wind, where the dancers manipulate folding screens that organize the space. These latticed screens by Christine Martens both reflect colored light and allow the changing hues of the backdrop to pass through. The dance builds steadily with acrobatic partnering; the message: we can fly if we all work together... (Download Full PDF)

EL NUEVO HERALD
Wednesday, May 2, 2007
UNA CELEBRACIÓN DE LAS RAÍCES / A CELEBRATION OF ROOTS
By Orlando Taquechel (Translated by Jen Zelnick)
Miami Beach Dance Festival, Miami
Works: Cat’s Cradle, Echad, Love Suite Love, Pastorale Pause

“Dorfman’s work is a celebration of her Jewish roots. The style is postmodern, the most frequent theme is family, and a recurrent motif in her choreography (in movement and narrative) is the interaction between human beings.” “Dorfman’s most recent work… Cat’s Cradle is an impressive work, very close to perfection. It is also the most Central European of her creations, and not only because the better part of the music is sung in German. The approximation of Dorfman’s expressive dance is elegant, very smart in its economy of resources, and the elements of utility are integrated in an organic manner of action.” (Download Full PDF)

ARTSHOUSTON
Thursday, April 19, 2007
MIAMI MOVES: A WEEKEND AT THE MIAMI BEACH DANCE FESTIVAL
By Nancy Wozny
Miami Beach Dance Festival, Miami
Works: Cat’s Cradle, Echad

“Dorfman crafts dances that delve deeply into her Jewish history, her love of storytelling, and her finesse with props. Not just any props, but big ones, like a huge 120 lb. wheel in Echad. Dorfman is a whiz at making the stuff she puts on stage look like it really belongs there.”… (Download Full PDF)

CULTUREVULTURE.NET
Thursday, April 12, 2007
CAROLYN DORFMAN DANCE COMPANY – MIAMI BEACH DANCE FESTIVAL
By Nancy Wozny
Miami Beach Dance Festival, Miami
Works: Cat’s Cradle, Echad, Love Suite Love, Pastorale Pause

“Dance is supposed to touch the deep parts of our being. With Carolyn Dorfman Dance Company (CDDC) doing the dancing you can plan to leave moved and then some. As part of the Miami Beach Dance Festival, the CDDC presented a quartet of works that showed off the troupes range, depth, and technical finesse.”… (Download Full PDF)

THE STAR-LEDGER
Monday, April 02, 2007
A COMPELLING YARN
Dorfman’s ‘Cat’s Cradle’ Recounts Family’s Memories of Holocaust Ordeal
BY ROBERT JOHNSON
Two River Theater, Red Bank
Works: Cat’s Cradle

“Chilling in its impact, yet buoyed by the love shared by the narrators, Cat’s Cradle tells a story in dance that theatergoers will not forget.”…. (Download Full PDF)

THE STAR-LEDGER
Saturday, April 7, 2003
HUMOR ON THE FRONTLINE
By Robert Johnson
F.M. Kirby Shakespeare Theatre, Drew University, Madison, NJ
Works: Echad, Love Lines, Sextet, Under My Skin

Choreographer Carolyn Dorfman is a formalist with a mischievous streak. Her playfulness contributes to the enjoyment of viewing even a brainy, abstract dance like her Sextet. Watching patterns emerge becomes a game that’s fun and absorbing.”… (Download Full PDF)

OBSERVER TRIBUNE
Wednesday, April 4, 2002
DORFMAN’S ‘ECHAD’ POSES PHILOSOPHIC QUESTIONS
By Sheila Abrams, Dance Critic 04/04/2002 – Recorder Newspapers
F.M. Kirby Shakespeare Theatre, Drew University, Madison, NJ
Works: Echad, Love Suite Love, Mayne Mentshn

This is a uniquely fascinating piece, which holds the attention and takes the audience on an intellectual, emotional and visual trip. The dancers exhibit amazing timing and brilliant athleticism.” ‘One’ is a potent concept. When translated into Hebrew, Echad, it brings into focus monotheism and a bundle of issues that follow. Carolyn Dorfman, a choreographer whose work frequently stands out for its cerebral underpinnings, has taken Echad as the name of her newest work… (Download Full PDF)

THE STAR-LEDGER
Monday, March 25, 2002
MAKING A WHIRL OF DIFFERENCE
By Robert Johnson
F.M. Kirby Shakespeare Theatre, Drew University, Madison, NJ
Works: Echad

“When they mount the wheel and start to roll with it, the tension builds. Brought to the center, the gleaming object defines the stage as a sacred space.” For her latest dance, choreographer Carolyn Dorfman has reinvented the wheel. An 8-foot high, aluminum disc creates an exciting focus within her premiere, Echad. … (Download Full PDF)

BACKSTAGE
Friday, January 18, 2002
CAROLYN DORFMAN DANCE COMPANY
By Phyllis Goldman
John Jay College Theater, New York
Works: Mayne Mentshn

Mayne Mentshn (My People)…is a remarkable evening of theatre,” “…in the middle of the piece: an exchange of words between dancers (a translation of Yiddish to English) is a duel of language superbly carried off…” (Download Full PDF)

THE NEW YORK TIMES
Tuesday, December 18, 2001
THE ARTS/CULTURAL DESK: DANCE REVIEW
ASPECTS OF JEWISH LIFE, THOUGHTFUL OR ROLLICKING
By Jennifer Dunning
John Jay College Theater, New York
Works: Mayne Mentshn

“… the messages were universal, communicated by a group of strong dancers who could act.” “Wasn’t that wonderful? And it was so Jewish,” a beaming audience member said at Mayne Mentsn (“My People”). Ms. Dorfman set her tone in the opening moments of “The Klezmer Sketch” and “The AmericanDream,” danced to rollicking and sad music by Greg Wall, with solos danced eloquently by Wendee Rogerson, as an anonymous figure in a trench coat and hat who might have symbolized the plain, enduring Jewish spirit… (Download Full PDF)

OBSERVER-TRIBUNE
Thursday, March 29, 2001
DORFMAN DANCERS EVOKE SENSE OF FAMILY HISTORY
By Sheila Abrams, Dance Critic – Recorder Newspapers
F.M. Kirby Shakespeare Theatre, Drew University, Madison, NJ
Works: Mayne Mentshn

“It is romantic and lyrical, funny and startling. The dancers stretch physically as the choreography stretches metaphorically.” With her creative energies reaching higher and higher levels and with a superbly gifted troupe of dancers the company performed Mayne Mentshn (My People), an evening-long work recalling the history of two generations of the choreographer’s family… (Download Full PDF)

ASBURY PARK PRESS since 1879
Wednesday, March 21, 2001
MAYNE MENTSHN WEAVES A TALE OF OUR JOYFUL SPIRIT
By Karyn D. Collins
F.M. Kirby Shakespeare Theatre, Drew University, Madison
Works: Mayne Mentshn

“Dorfman now takes us from the wrenching pain and confusion of the Holocaust to the bewilderment and fascinated interest of immigrants encountering the snappy rhythms of American life.” Mayne Mentshn is about Dorfman’s family’s experiences as Holocaust survivors and immigrants, but the magic is that this is also a work about all of us.”… (Download Full PDF)

THE STAR-LEDGER
Tuesday, March, 20, 2001
STEPPING INTO THE DREAM
Carolyn Dorfman Troupe Energizes Tale of Holocaust Survivors’ Struggle to Find Place in America
By Robert Johnson
F.M. Kirby Shakespeare Theatre, Drew University, Madison
Works: Mayne Mentshn

“Of course, it doesn’t hurt when the dancers know they have a hit on their hands, which Mayne Mentshn most definitely is.” The dynamic energy and polish that they brought to Dorfman’s dance-theater piece Mayne Mentshn (My People) makes a good argument in favor of extended residencies like the one this Union-based choreographer has developed at Drew University… (Download Full PDF)

THE NEW YORK TIMES
Friday, February 11, 2005
THE LISTINGS; CAROLYN DORFMAN DANCE COMPANY
By Jennifer Dunning
The Duke, New York
Works: “Echad”, “Odisea”

“She is probably best known these days for dances that explore Jewish lives and legacies. A humanist, she offers her audiences the dance equivalent of a cherished book of family photographs.” Carolyn Dorfman, who is based in Union, New Jersey, seems to have benefited from the distance, for her work glows with the quiet authority of someone who burrows comfortably into material that interests her, whether fashionable or not… (Download full PDF)

THE TIMES
Friday, March 16, 2001
DORFMAN STILL TAKING STEPS TO EXPLORE THE HOLOCAUST
By Anne Levin, Staff Writer – The Times, Trenton
Works: Mayne Mentshn

“We’ve spent 50 years in the Jewish community remembering the pain,” she says. “All my life, growing up, I heard ‘Never forget, never forget.’ But it was never forget the pain, the death, the loss. I realized I wanted to remember the life. I wanted to know about it.” As a child of Holocaust survivors, Carolyn Dorfman has carried the horrific experiences of her mother and father with her for as long as she can remember… (Download Full PDF)