UM Students Chosen to Perform with the Best in the Business

OXFORD, Miss. – A group of 11 University of Mississippi students is set to perform an original 15-minute dance piece as part of David Dorfman Dance Company’s show “Prophets of Funk” at the Gertrude C. Ford Center for Performing Arts.

The collaboration is part of Ford Center’s programs in conjunction with the South’s Arts’ Dance Touring Initiative. The show is at 7 p.m. April 9. Tickets are $33 each and are available by calling the UM Box Office at 662-915-7411 or online. Special pricing is available for UM faculty, staff, students and retirees. Proper ID is required, and the number of discounted tickets is limited.

In January, dancers from David Dorfman Dance spent three days with Ole Miss dance and theatre students. Jennifer Mizenko, UM professor of theatre arts, says she is grateful to Norm Easterbrook, Ford Center director, for writing the grant that allowed this project to happen. The chance to construct choreography that will be incorporated into a professional performance is a first for the students and for Mizenko.

“What is unique about this opportunity is that the work is actually an extension of a piece the David Dorfman Company will be performing, and we will be performing with this professional company at the Ford Center,” Mizenko said. “It is always exciting to have a guest artist come in and set a work on the students, and we are excited for be a part of the whole production process, from rehearsal, to tech to performance in early April.”

The David Dorfman Dance Company was founded in 1985 and has performed in North and South America, Great Britain and Europe, while being based in New York. David Dorfman and the company’s dancers and collaborators have been honored by the National Endowment for the Arts, three New York Foundation for the Arts fellowships, an American Choreographer’s Award, the first Paul Taylor Fellowship from The Yard, and eight New York Dance and Performance (“Bessie”) Awards.

“Prophets of Funk” has been performed 34 times in 24 venues, including The Joyce Theatre in New York, the Lincoln Center Out of Doors festival and a six-night sold-out run at Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival in Beckett, Mass.

The students are excited by the opportunity to collaborate with a professional dance troupe, said David McKell, a freshman from Starkville who is part of the UM dance company.

“I feel that it is a wonderful opportunity not only to further our skills as dancers, but also to meet some wonderful people who are in the business,” McKell said. “It has been a wonderful learning opportunity. Everybody we met has been very willing to give advice and tell stories, which creates a wonderful atmosphere.”