Dorchel Haqq
Dorchel is a world builder who creates work with attention to intention. Her physical theater work serves as a vessel through which she and her collaborators navigate the complexities of being who they are in this present moment while reflecting on how their collective history and lineage shape the future. As a Reiki practitioner, Dorchel shapes memories into movement, creating stories and characters that explore time, space, and form in conversation with sociopolitical responses in the nervous system.
Raised in Harlem, Dorchel began her journey embodying history at LaRocque Bey School of Dance Theatre and the Dance Theater of Harlem. She studied at Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts and received her BFA from the Conservatory of Dance at Purchase College, SUNY. While at Purchase, she studied abroad at the Korea National School of Arts and at B12/Berlin, which broadened her perspective in her field. These following organizations have supported Dorchel in find herself again and again through singular and collaborative investigations: Springboard Danse and the Springboard Danse curated Jonah Bokaer Arts Foundation Founder’s Residency (inaugural resident), Gallim Moving Artist(inaugural resident), Leimay Incubator AIR 2021, Center for Performance Research AIR 2024, Baryshnikov Arts Center AIR 2024, Triskelion Arts 2019+2026, Beyond the Black Box 2021+2023, Black Aesthetics Judson Commons 2024, MADE BY WOMAN Festival 2023, Estrogenius Festival 2025, Arts On Site 2019+2021, ART CAKE 2021, Movement Research Van Lier Artist of Color Fellow 2025, DraftWork by Danspace Project 2025, Battery Dance Festival 2020+2025, Fresh Tracks NYLA 2025/2026, City Artist Corps Grant 2021, and the Foundation for Contemporary Arts.
Dorchel has performed in works by AIM by Kyle Abraham, Kayla Farrish, Loni Landon, Vanessa Goodman, Maya Lee-Parritz, Stefanie Batten Bland, Johannes Wieland, Punchdrunk’s Sleep No More Shanghai, and Emursive’s Life and Trust. Dorchel is in her first season with David Dorfman Dance. She is an adjunct lecturer at Purchase College, where her work has also been commissioned. Through her Movement Research Van Lier Artist of Color Fellowship, she is mentored by Nora Chipaumire.
