Varone’s ability to convey depths of emotion through highly charged, physically exciting choreography has made him a rarity among his generation.
- The New York Times
Design Collaborators
Lighting and projection designers Ben Stanton and Lucy Mackinnon will create starkly different performance environments for the two parts. Costumes, which will underscore and embellish the underlying themes and emotions of each section, will be designed by long-time Varone collaborator Liz Prince.
Length
Part 1: 40 minutes Part 2: 30 minutes
Touring
To MY Arms / Restore can be presented as an evening-length program, or each part can be presented individually and combined on a program with other works from our repertory.
Touring personnel: 10-12
Commissioning opportunities are available.
TO MY ARMS / RESTORE
To My Arms / Restore is a two-part work embodying Varone’s decades’ long choreographic fascination between the deeply emotional and the immensely physical. Set to a suite of exquisite operatic arias by Georg Fredric Handel, To My Arms (Part 1), builds a rich and distinct landscape of love and loss within a suite of ten dances, evoking a strange otherworld of intimacy. In stark contrast, Restore (Part 2) is visceral, tactile, and unsparing movement that explodes across the stage, revealing a new and wide-open terrain of physicality. It is driven by the 21st century sound of DJ Nico Bentley’s Handel Remixed, a score that fuses the fundamentals of Handel’s 18th century choral score Dixit Dominus with beats more commonly heard in clubs around the globe; the result of which is a marriage between a score and a dance that is unabashedly glorious. With To My Arms/Restore, Varone’s masterly hand at crafting rich dances of emotional and physical resonances is on full display.
Music
Both parts can be performed with either live or recorded music. Live music options provide opportunities for college and community opera and chamber music groups to participate and perform, enriching the capacity to bring local audiences to the project.
Options for live music are:
Part 1: Chamber ensemble with two or more vocalists.
Part 2: Chamber ensemble with four vocalists, or chamber ensemble with twelve-person (or larger) chorus.
Live music options involve a DJ electronically remixing the score during the performance.
Link to Part 1/To My Arms studio in process-recording:
REPERTORY PROGRAM
Photo: Jose Gato
SOMEWHERE (2019)
Somewhere reimagines Leonard Bernstein’s timeless West Side Story by stripping the orchestral score of its narrative connotations. The result: pure choreographic vibraPncy, brimming with nuance and emotional heft generated by the musical structure.
"Somewhere, is Doug Varone’s ravishing take on the orchestral score to West Side Story, Filled with the most sublime invention, Somewhere seems destined to become a classic work of contemporary dance. The entire work stands as a testament to this choreographer’s prolific creation of movement.” – Santa Barbara Independent
“The beauty of Varone’s version of West Side Story performed in its New York premiere for an audience that surely could sing along to the original by heart, is that he presents the story as if it were a dream sequence. Somewhere is pure dance relieved of storyline and lyrics.”
Length: 30 minutes
Touring Personnel: 10-12
Music: Recorded
Photo: Jose Gato
RISE (1993)
For the 23-24 season, Varone has reconstructed a new production of his master work Rise. In Rise, dancers spill across the stage in swirls of controlled chaos, with composer John Adam’s Fearful Symmetries underlying each step.
“The choreography and staging, combined with Adams’s score, create the kind of visual excitement that’s rare in any dance, much less one where non-stop movement provides the only basis for excitement.”
Critical Dance
"Mr. Varone has a company of daredevils, profoundly human superhumans who dance on a dime -- wheeling, darting and slicing the air at lethal-looking speeds -- and subside into passing moments of gentle, sometimes almost drowsy near-stillness filled with sweetness and affection. "Rise," danced to music by Mr. Adams, communicates all this and suggests how good Mr. Varone is at structuring his choreography." - The New York Times
Length: 30 minutes
Touring Personnel: 10-12
Music: Recorded
About the company
For more than 35 years, Doug Varone and Dancers has built a legacy of award-winning dances. From the smallest gesture to full-throttle bursts of movement, Varone’s work can take your breath away with both its athleticism and its passion. Reaching out well beyond the proscenium arch, this legacy is underscored with the company’s renown residency and outreach programs. On tour, the company has performed in more than 125 cities in 45 states across the U.S. and in Europe, Asia, Canada, and South America. Stages include The Kennedy Center, Lincoln Center, Brooklyn Academy of Music, San Francisco Performances, London's Queen Elizabeth Hall, Toronto's Harbourfront, Moscow's Stanislavsky Theater, Buenos Aires’ Teatro San Martin, the Venice Biennale, Marble Hall in Tokyo, and the Bates, Jacob's Pillow and American Dance Festivals. Varone, his dancers and designers have been honored with 11 Bessie Awards.
The Company is creating a full-length dance work that absorbs the iconic masterpiece in all its aspects (editing, camera angles, music, etc.) without re-enacting any of its dramatic narrative. For Somewhere, Varone dissected Thomas Stanford’s radical editing choices, as well as Jerome Robbin’s camera movements and angles—translating them into dances that are dynamically skewed and off-kilter in form and vocabulary. Somewhere is performed to Leonard Bernstein’s masterful orchestral score for West Side Story. Its symphonic complexity and arresting melodies have been mined purely for their choreographic energy.
Somewhere’s dancesexplore a strikingly unique physical and visual environment. Key collaborators include award-winning lighting designer Ben Stanton, whose intricate lighting designs change the stage picture in swift increments, much like fast paced film editing. Wendall Harrington’s moving projections envelop the stage, working seamlessly with the choreography and giving the score new visual context.
Somewhere will be available for touring in the 2019-20 season and be part of a mixed repertory evening. The Company works closely with presenters to create a balanced evening that works best for their venue and constituents.
Somewhere
8 dancers | 30 minutes in length
ChoreographybyDoug Varone
Music by Leonard Bernstein
Lighting Design by Ben Stanton
Visual Design by Wendall Harrington
Costume Design by Reid and Harriet
“The first time I ever heard the Westside Story score, I think I must have been 5 yrs old and I remember it as being one of the first records that my folks ever bought and it was the Mantovani and his orchestra recording, so it was only an orchestral version of these. I had no idea what they were, didn’t know they were from Westside Story, but I would build dances to them.”
Doug Varone
Award-winning choreographer and director, Doug Varone works in dance, theater, opera, film, and fashion. He is a passionate educator and articulate advocate for dance. By any measure, his work is extraordinary for its emotional range, kinetic breadth and the many arenas in which he works. His New York City-based Doug Varone and Dancers has been commissioned and presented to critical acclaim by leading international venues for close to three decades.
Inspired by Varone’s life-long obsession with the 1961 movie version of West Side Story, the Company will create a purely abstract dance work by absorbing the iconic masterpiece in all its aspects (music, camera angles, editing, etc.) without re-enacting any of its dramatic narrative.
Leonard Bernstein’s musical score, with its symphonic complexity and arresting melodies, is a timeless masterwork. Varone will strip the Bernstein orchestral score of its narrative connotations and reimagine the score purely on the choreographic energy generated by its sounds and musical structure.
Varone has spent endless hours viewing the film and examining Thomas Stanford’s visceral film editing. For Somewherehe will dissect those, as well as Jerome Robbin’s camera movements and angles, using them as inspiration to craft new dances, askew and off-kilter in form and vocabulary. Against the Bernstein score, a strikingly unique physical and visual environment will be explored.
Key collaborators will include award-winning lighting designer Ben Stanton, creating complex lighting designs that will “change the stage picture” in swift increments, much like fast paced film editing; and Wendall Harrington who will provide moving projections that will envelop the stage, working seamlessly with the choreography and giving the score new visual context.
Somewherewill be available for touring in the 2019-20 season and be part of a mixed repertory evening. The Company works closely with presenters to create an balanced evening that works best for their venue and constituents.
8 dancers | 30 minutes in length
Artistic Team & Credit
ChoreographybyDoug Varone
Music by Leonard Bernstein
Lighting Design byBen Stanton
Visual Design byWendall Harrington
Costume Design byReid and Harriet
Support
Doug Varone and Dancers’ programs are supported in part by the Alphawood Foundation, Barbara Bell Cumming Charitable Trust, Bulova Gala Foundation, Doris Duke Performing Artist Awards, Dubose and Dorothy Heyward Memorial Fund, Exploring the Metropolis Foundation, Fan Fox and Leslie R. Samuels Foundation, Gladys Kreible Delmas Foundation, Harkness Foundation for Dance, Howard Gilman Foundation, Jerome Robbins Foundation, O’Donnell-Green Music and Dance Foundation, and Shubert Foundation, as well as public funds from the National Endowment for the Arts, the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew M. Cuomo and New York State Legislature, and public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council. We also gratefully acknowledge our many individual supporters.
“Doug Varone and Dancers command attention as soon as the curtain goes up. Rarely do you find a choreographer so dedicated to the full and generous complexity of the human spirit. Many choreographers can create interesting movement; few can make it mean so much.” - CHICAGO TRIBUNE
For more than 30 years, Doug Varone and Dancers has devoted itself to the humanity and virtuosity of dance, reaching out to our audiences well beyond the proscenium arch. We believe this philosophy has allowed us to endure, earning the reputation as one of the most respected dance companies working today. Over time, we’ve created an expansive legacy encompassing dance, theatre, opera and film – establishing an impressive body of work.
The recipient of 11 Bessie Awards, the Company has toured to more than 100 cities in 45 states across the U.S. and in Europe, Asia, Canada, and South America. Stages include The Kennedy Center, Lincoln Center, Brooklyn Academy of Music, New York City Center, San Francisco Performances, London's Queen Elizabeth Hall, Toronto's Harbourfront, Moscow's Stanislavsky Theatre, Buenos Aires’ Teatro San Martin, the Venice Biennale, and the Tokyo, Bates, Jacob's Pillow and American Dance Festivals. In opera and theatre, the Company regularly collaborates on the many Varone-directed or choreographed productions that have been produced around the country.
Doug Varone and Dancers continues to be among the most sought-after ambassadors and educators in the field. The Company's multidisciplinary residency programs take audiences deeper into the work, with a hands-on approach that moves beyond of the studio to speak directly to people of all ages and backgrounds, both dancers and non-dancers alike. Our annual intensive workshops at leading universities have attracted students and professionals from around the country, and through our innovative DEVICES choreographic mentorship program, we are training the next generation of artists and dance-makers.
Whether on the concert stage, in opera or theatre or on the screen, choreographer Doug Varone creates kinetically thrilling dances with rich musicality and emotional depth. From the smallest gesture to full-throttle bursts of movement, Varone's work can take your breath away with both its athleticism and its passion.
DOUG VARONE, ARTISTIC DIRECTOR
Award-winning choreographer and director, Doug Varone works in dance, theater, opera, film, and fashion. He is a passionate educator and articulate advocate for dance. By any measure, his work is extraordinary for its emotional range, kinetic breadth and the many arenas in which he works. His New York City-based Doug Varone and Dancers has been commissioned and presented to critical acclaim by leading international venues for close to three decades.
In the concert dance world, Varone has created a body of works globally. Commissions include the Paul Taylor American Modern Dance Company, Limón Company, Hubbard Street Dance Chicago, Rambert Dance Company (London), Martha Graham Dance Company, Dancemakers (Canada), Batsheva Dance Company (Israel), Bern Ballet (Switzerland) and An Creative (Japan), among others. In addition, his dances have been staged on more than 75 college and university programs around the country.
In opera, Doug Varone is in demand as both a director and choreographer. Among his four productions at The Metropolitan Opera are Salomewith its Dance of the Seven Veils, the world premiere of Tobias Picker’s An American Tragedy, Stravinsky’s Le Sacre du Printemps, designed by David Hockney, and Hector Berloiz’s Les Troyens. He has staged multiple premieres and new productions for Minnesota Opera, Opera Colorado, Washington Opera, New York City Opera, and Boston Lyric Opera, among others. His numerous theater credits include choreography for Broadway, Off-Broadway and regional theaters across the country. His choreography for the musical Murder Balladat Manhattan Theater Club earned him a Lortel Award nomination. Film credits include choreography for the Patrick Swayze film, One Last Dance. In 2008, Varone’s The Bottomland, set in the Mammoth Caves of Kentucky, was the subject of the PBS Dance in America: Wolf Trap’s Face of America. Last season he directed and choreographed MASTERVOICES production ofDido and Aeneasat NY’s City Center, starring Tony Award winners Kelli O’Hara and Victoria Clark, alongside the Company. Most recently, he staged Julia Wolfe’s Pulitzer Prize winning oratorio, Anthracite Fieldsfeaturing the Bang on a Can All-Stars and the Westminster Choir.
Varone received his BFA from Purchase College where he was awarded the President’s Distinguished Alumni Award in 2007. Numerous honors and awards include a John Simon Guggenheim Fellowship, an OBIE Award (Lincoln Center’s Orpheus and Euridice), the Jerome Robbins Fellowship at the Bogliasco Institute in Italy, and two individual Bessie Awards. In 2015, he was awarded both a Doris Duke Artist Award and the Lifetime Achievement Award from the American Dance Guild. Varone teaches workshops and master classes around the world for dancers, musicians and actors. He is currently on the faculty at Purchase College, teaching composition.
