Dance

In his latest work, choreographer David Dorfman looks to the messiness of daily life and the ingenious ways we persevere within it. His muse is the late Benjamin Smoke—eccentric front man of the 90s underground band Smoke, queer activist, occasional drag queen, and the subject of Jem Cohen and Peter Sillen’s acclaimed 2000 documentary—whose raw rock music touched on every facet of resiliency and loss.

Amid a junk-strewn set—designed by Brooklyn-based sculptor Jonah Emerson-Bell (in collaboration with street artist Caledonia “Swoon” Curry), Come, and Back Again features projections by video artist Shawn Hove and arrangements of Smoke’s music performed live by a band led by Brooklyn-based musician 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.