Punk, indie, folk-rock drive Dorfman Dance in ‘Come, and Back Again’

David Dorfman Dance performs "Come, and Back Again." (Adam Campos)

David Dorfman Dance performs “Come, and Back Again.” (Adam Campos)

In its seventh creative residency at the Bates Dance Festival since 1995, David Dorfman Dance examines the 1990s underground music scene in “Come, and Back Again,” in performances at 7:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday, July 25-26, in Bates College’s air-conditioned Schaeffer Theatre, 329 College St.

Tickets cost $25 for the general public, $18 for seniors and $12 for students. Purchase tickets online, by phone at 207-786-6381 from 1-5 p.m. Monday-Saturday, by mail or in person. Learn more about buying tickets at http://batesdancefestival.org/tickets.php.

“Come, and Back Again” is an elegiac, evening-length exploration of daily life, vulnerability and mortality. Featuring five dancers and five musicians, the virtuosic piece follows a course of reckless abandon driven by the charged poetry and raw ferocity of indie, punk and folk-rock music by such venerated artists as punk legend and queer activist Benjamin Smoke and the godmother of punk, Patti Smith.

Dorfman Dance holds a free Show & Tell lecture-demonstration at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, July 22, and offers question-and-answer sessions following the July 25-26 performances. Preceding the July 26 show, at 7 p.m. in Schaeffer, dance writer Debra Cash offers an Inside Dance lecture.

Amid a junk-strewn set designed by sculptor Jonah Emerson-Bell, “Come, and Back Again” features projections by video artist Shawn Hove and arrangements of Smoke’s music performed by a band led by Brooklyn-based Sam Crawford. Dorfman’s athletic, heroic dancers abandon themselves to the mire, exploring how time, humility, hope and love help us manage our teetering existence.

For more information about the company and the performance, please visit http://batesdancefestival.org/EventNotes/DavidDorfman14.html.

During its residency at the festival, Dorfman and company will collaborate with the Korhan Basaran Company from Turkey and two dancers from Armenia in creating a work that will have its world premiere this August at Brooklyn Academy of Music. The project is an outcome of the company’s participation in DanceMotion USA, a program of the U.S. Department of State produced by BAM.

“We are so proud to be hosting the David Dorfman Dance collaboration,” says festival director Laura Faure. “Supporting the creation of new work by U.S. and international choreographers is a core principle of BDF’s mission.”

In residence at the festival for four weeks this summer, the visiting dancers will be able to immerse themselves in an important American dance community, taking classes, offering workshops, sharing meals, and showcasing their own work.

DanceMotion USA is designed to showcase the finest contemporary American dance abroad while facilitating cultural exchange. During spring 2014, Dorfman and an expanded company including many Bates Dance Festival alumni toured Turkey, Tajikistan and Armenia, both performing and working with candidates for the summer collaboration.

“DMUSA strives to build a global community of dance practitioners and create bonds of mutual understanding,” says Michael Blanco, project director of DanceMotion USA. “This is in perfect synergy with the community that Bates has been nourishing for over 30 years.”

Founded in 1985, David Dorfman Dance has performed extensively in New York City and throughout the Americas, Great Britain and Europe — most recently in Russia and Poland. Dorfman and the company’s dancers and artistic collaborators have been honored with eight New York Dance and Performance (“Bessie”) Awards.