Celebrated Dancer and Choreographer David Dorfman Completes GPS Residency

Girls Preparatory School welcomed acclaimed choreographer and educator David Dorfman to campus in January for an intensive, weeklong residency that immersed students in creative process, collaboration, and conversation.

Over six days, David worked closely with Terpsichord dancers while also teaching classes across grade levels, leading master classes, hosting discussions, and engaging with the broader GPS community. The residency culminated in the creation of an original work for Terpsichord’s spring concert, set to premiere March 6 and 7.

David, a professor at Connecticut College and founder of David Dorfman Dance, brought a distinctive philosophy to the studio—one rooted in accessibility, collaboration, and honoring individual voices. “We don’t necessarily set a piece we’ve done before and say, ‘Okay, you do this choreography,’” he said, explaining they create a new piece inspired by the dancers wherever they travel. “This choreography is going to represent the GPS eight-person cast as much as it represents us.”

That approach shaped rehearsals throughout the week, which included long afternoon and evening sessions as well as extended weekend rehearsals. David encouraged dancers not only to learn movement, but to contribute creatively. “We make movement, but we ask them to make movement too,” he explained.

In addition to rehearsals, David taught eighth-grade modern dance classes, a ninth-grade composition class, and Terpsichord composition, giving students multiple entry points into his work. He also led a master class, participated in lunchtime learning opportunities, and cohosted a college arts panel for students interested in pursuing creative fields beyond high school.

For David, teaching and mentoring are inseparable from choreography. “I feel very, very, very strongly about teaching,” he said, reflecting on mentors who encouraged him early in his own unconventional dance journey. “It’s just amazing what that kind of mentoring can do.”

He emphasized the importance of fully investing in each learning environment and meeting students where they are, a lesson he said he learned from his wife early on in his career. “You have to recreate an environment of welcoming, challenging, learning,” David said. “Eighth grade, sixth grade, graduate acting school—you have to invest everything you have in that moment.”

David noted that what stood out most during his time at GPS was the passion and curiosity of the students. “I swear I just taught grad level dancers,” he said. “These students are so focused.”

He described GPS as “a unique place” with “a very special, supportive, investigatory, inquisitive, focused feel that I think is really extraordinary.”

As rehearsals progressed, David shared moments of discovery with the dancers, including realizing how deeply they had immersed themselves in the work. After having them perform the choreography they had begun working on, he asked them to guess how long they had danced. After responses of three and four minutes, he informed them it had been a solid 14 minutes. “They were just aghast. They just couldn’t believe it because they were just so in it.”

When asked what advice he would offer GPS dancers as they continue their artistic journeys, David spoke about perseverance, curiosity, and sustainability. “I think I have a little bit of talent, but I have a lot more perseverance than talent,” he said. “Being able to keep doing what I really enjoy doing—that’s how I define success.” 

He encouraged students to embrace both comfort and challenge. “Do the stuff that you’re afraid of. Do the stuff you don’t know,” he said. “The idea of what we think we can do is very malleable. So believe in yourself, even at the hardest times.”

David departed campus on Sunday evening, leaving behind not only choreography in progress, but also a lasting impression on students and faculty alike. His residency exemplified GPS’s commitment to experiential arts education, mentorship, and the power of movement.