Blog by Don Jay Smith and Anita Thomas
In June, Olga Levina, Executive Producer of Jersey City Theatre Center (JCTC), presented “Voices International Theatre Festival,” a multi-week program that featured global theatrical performances, music, and dance to foster cross-cultural dialogue. An ambitious event that ran from June 4 – 22, 2026 at various locations across Jersey City.
Carolyn Dorfman Dance has been in partnership with Olga Levina and JCTC since 2017. We were thrilled to be invited to participate in a daylong conference on June 11th and to do an encore performance with Jersey City Poet Laureate Rashad Wright on June 24th.
The theme of the June 11th conference was Theater, Culture & The Future of International Arts and it was held in White Eagle Hall in Jersey City. Approximately 100 people from different countries and around NJ gathered for panel discussions, creative exercises and networking followed by an evening of headline performances.
Our Executive Director Anita Thomas participated in a panel entitled Arts & Business: building sustainable creative ecosystems. The moderator of the panel was Samuel Pott, Artistic Director of Nimbus Dance, and the others on the panel included Ben LoPiccolo, CEO of BLDG-UP, John McEwen, Executive Director of NJ Theatre Alliance, Gina Hulings, Director of the Hudson County Office of Culture & Heritage Affairs, and Barbara Bickert, Senior Advisor of Arts & Culture at the NJEDA. The discussion centered around what businesses gain by having strong partnerships with cultural organizations and ways that arts organizations navigate funding opportunities from earned income through sponsorships.
In the afternoon, the company’s Artistic Director Carolyn Dorfman drew on her decades of experience to reflect on how movement can carry narrative. As part of her presentation, Telling Stories Through Dance, she led the audience through a movement exercise ending with groups of participants telling their story through unique movement phrases they created inspired from Dorfman’s piece, Mayne Mentshn (My People), “The Table.”
“The Rhythm and The Fire” Performance
On June 24th, Carolyn Dorfman Dance and poet Rashad Wright performed an enhanced encore of “The Rhythm and The Fire” at the Nimbus Dance Center. The performance blended poetry and dance to share global stories of survival, healing, and reflection. Carolyn narrated her dance works.
Performance Highlights
- Introductions: Carolyn Dorfman dancer performed My Father’s Solo, sharing lessons of hope and survival. Rashad recited his poem, Intro, sharing his background.
- Healing: Carolyn spoke on art’s healing power. CDD then performed Cries of the Children, exploring her identity as a child of Holocaust survivors.
- Soldier Stories: Rashad recited Guard Song and In Step (2019) to reflect on his military days.
- Global Connections: CDD shared an excerpt from DANCE/STORIES, highlighting shared tragic human experiences across cultures.
- The Father of Modern Greenville: Rashad read Joy and Its All Love. This led to Carolyn’s new prologue for The Hero Within, a piece tracking the life of Max Heller, the impactful, first Jewish mayor of Greenville, South Carolina.
- Provocative Data: The duo read a joint poem, The Daily Numbers of Now (2026). This data-driven work spotlighted modern government persecution.
- Finale: The show ended with NOW, a powerful piece by choreographer Juel D. Lane.
Upcoming Show
If you missed this Voices International Theatre Festival program, you can see Carolyn and Rashad perform together again at the Bickford Theatre at the Morris Museum on March 7, 2027.