Heralded by The New York Times for its "good-time funkiness," David Dorfman Dance returns to The Joyce Theater from January 24-29, 2012 with the NYC Premiere of Prophets of Funk, a work that reinvigorates "boomer memories to the sounds of Sly & the Family Stone." (Boston Phoenix). The Joyce Theater is located at 175 Eighth Avenue (at 19th Street), NYC. Tickets range in price from $10-$39. Ticket prices are subject to change. Tickets are available by phone at 212-242-0800 or Joyce.org.

Prophets of Funk celebrates the groundbreaking, visceral and politically innovative music of Sly and The Family Stone, one of the first major national bands integrated along race and gender lines. The piece for eight dancers explores the prophetic possibilities of music and dance and invites everyday people to find strength and joy in the muck and mess – the funk – of everyday life. The Joyce Theater performance will be the NYC premiere of the fully staged version of Prophets of Funk and a return of David Dorfman Dance to The Joyce for the first time since 2005.

Conceived and directed by David Dorfman, choreography and text by David Dorfman Dance. Collaborators on Prophets of Funk include OBIE Award winning dramaturge Alex Timbers, creative consultant/scholar-in-residence David Kyuman Kim, media designer Jacob Pinholster, sound designer Samuel Crawford, lighting designer David Weiner in association with Dans Sheehan, and the music of Sly & The Family Stone.

Dancers: Kyle Abraham, Meghan Bowden, David Dorfman, Luke Gutgsell, Renuka Hines, Raja Kelly, Kendra Portier, Karl Rogers, and Whitney Lynn Tucker.

David Dorfman Dance will perform Prophets of Funk from January 24-29, 2012 at The Joyce Theater, with shows on Tuesday and Wednesday at 7:30pm, Thursday and Saturday at 8pm, and Sunday at 2pm. The Joyce Theater is located at 175 Eighth Avenue (at 19th Street), NYC. Tickets begin at $10 and are available by calling JoyceCharge at 212-242-0800, in person at the Box Office (Monday-Friday, 12-6pm), or online by visiting Joyce.org.

A special New York City Intensive featuring classes with David Dorfman and the Company Members in Repertory, Technique, Partnering, Unique Body Maintenance, Improvisation and more will precede the performances at the Joyce from January 16-21, 2012 for. Visit www.daviddorfmandance.org for more information.

ABOUT DAVID DORFMAN DANCE
Since its founding in 1985, David Dorfman Dance (DDD) has performed extensively in New York City and throughout North and South America, Great Britain, and Europe, most recently in St. Petersburg and Krasnoyarsk in Russia and Bytom and Cracow in Poland. David Dorfman and the company's dancers and artistic collaborators have been honored with eight New York Dance and Performance ("Bessie") Awards. Past works of DDD include Disavowal, inspired by the life and legacy of radical abolitionist John Brown, premiered in Chicago in September 2008 with its New York premiere at Danspace Project/St. Mark's Church in May 2009. Other recent creative projects include underground, which received its New York premiere in 2006 during the company's second appearance at the Brooklyn Academy of Music's Next Wave Festival (following performances at the American Dance Festival, the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco, and tours around the world); Older Testaments, to music by composer/trumpeter Frank London of The Klezmatics; Lightbulb Theory, to an original commissioned score by Michael Wall; and A Cure for Gravity, set to music by popular composer and recording artist Joe Jackson. The company's community projects have been presented over 30 times in 18 states and two foreign countries. DDD performed Prophets of Funk throughout the United States during the 2010-2011 season, and will continue to tour extensively during the 2011-2012 season culminating in its New York season at The Joyce Theatre. David Dorfman Dance has been Company-in-Residence at Connecticut College since 2007 and has an annual residence at the Tisch Dance Summer Residency Program at New York University. For more information, visit www.daviddorfmandance.org.

DAVID DORFMAN (Artistic Director) is a native Chicagoan and recipient of a 2005 Guggenheim Foundation Fellowship. Dorfman's honors include: fellowships from the NEA, the New York Foundation for the Arts, and the first Paul Taylor Fellowship from The Yard; an American Choreographer's Award; a New York Dance & Performance Award ("Bessie") for DDD's community-based project Familiar Movements (The Family Project); the 2007 Mid-Career Award from the Martha Hill Fund for Dance; and the 2009 Distinguished Alumni Award from the Olin Business School at Washington University, St. Louis. Dorfman's choreography has been produced at venues throughout New York City, from the Brooklyn Academy of Music to The Joyce Theater. Dorfman has received commissions throughout the U.S. and Europe, including AXIS Dance, and the Prince Music Theater for the musical Green Violin (2003 Barrymore Award for best choreography). As a performer he toured internationally with Kei Takei's Moving Earth and Susan Marshall & Co. Dorfman received his M.F.A. in Dance from Connecticut College, where he joined the faculty in 2004 and is currently Professor of Dance and Department Chair.

ABOUT THE JOYCE THEATER
The Joyce Theater Foundation, Inc., a non-profit organization, has proudly served the dance community and its audiences since 1982. The founders, Cora Cahan and Eliot Feld, acquired and renovated the Elgin Theater in Chelsea, which opened as The Joyce Theater in 1982. The Joyce is named in honor of Joyce Mertz, beloved daughter of LuEsther T. Mertz. It was LuEsther's clear, undaunted vision and abundant generosity that made it imaginable and ultimately possible to establish the theater. One of the only theaters built by dancers for dance, The Joyce Theater has provided an intimate and elegant New York home for more than 300 domestic and international companies. The Joyce has also commissioned more than 130 new dances since 1992. In 1996, The Joyce created Joyce SoHo, a dance center providing highly subsidized rehearsal and performance space to hundreds of dance artists. New York City public school students and teachers annually benefit from The Joyce's Dance Education Program, and adult audiences get closer to dance through pre-engagement Dance Talks and post-performance "Dance Chat" discussions. The Joyce Theater now features an annual season of approximately 48 weeks with over 340 performances for audiences in excess of 135,000.

David Dorfman Dance's Prophets of Funk
The Joyce Theater, 175 Eighth Avenue (at 19th Street), NYC
January 24-29, 2012
Tuesday & Wednesday at 7:30pm; Thursday & Saturday at 8pm; Sunday at 2pm
Tickets range in price from $10-$39. Ticket prices are subject to change.
JoyceCharge: 212-242-0800, joyce.org