YEREVAN. – On March 21, the U.S. Embassy in Armenia is honored to welcome the David Dorfman Dance company from the U.S., the Korhan Basaran Company from Turkey and Armenian dancers as they join in a cultural diplomacy program, the Armenian premiere of Unsettled, a modern dance performance that first premiered at the prestigious Brooklyn Academy of Music in August 2014.

Dancers and musicians are from the United States, Armenia and Turkey, and they have collaborated to perform this piece about pain, responsibility, and ultimately, understanding. The group will give the same performance in Istanbul next week.

The David Dorfman Dance company is one of the top American contemporary dance companies, and this is their second visit to Yerevan. In summer 2014, the group performed at the Opera house and also held a series of master classes, from which they chose several Armenian dancers to travel to the United States and work together with Turkish and American dancers. Unsettled is the result of their unique collaboration.

Unsettled is a step towards common ground. It is a profound demonstration of how culture – in this case, dance – can help us confront and engage with past and present traumas.

Led by founder and artistic director David Dorfman, the David Dorfman Dance company engages with its audiences, encouraging and facilitating active conversation around the themes and issues explored through performance. Dorfman’s trademark approach to dance yields an experience of everyday heroism and identifiable humor and pathos. Since it was founded in 1985, David Dorfman Dance has performed extensively throughout North and South America, Great Britain, and Europe, and most recently in St. Petersburg and Krasnoyarsk in Russia and Bytom and Krakow in Poland. The company has been honored with eight Bessie Awards and has been the company-in-residence at Connecticut College since 2007.