CriticalDance Forum

This is an article from the New York Times by Anna Kisselgoff:

The Heroine is Unhappy but it Doesn't Matter Because She is Dead

<small>[ 08 February 2003, 05:22 PM: Message edited by: Azlan ]</small>

New York Times article by Christopher Reardon on Experimental Choreographer Doug Varone:<P><A HREF="http://www.nytimes.com/2000/12/10/arts/10REAR.html" TARGET=_blank>Gathering the Ghosts from the Lower East Side</A><P><BR>

For the setting, it has similarities to the site-specific work 'Salome' that I saw 2 years ago. It took place along a marked out route through a semi-derilict Victorian hotel. It was a stunning experience. <P>Here is a review which gives a good description of the work, but David Dougill didn't enjoy it as much as me. His colleague Donald Hutera enjoyed it more, but the review is no longer available on the Internet.<P> <A HREF="http://www.sunday-times.co.uk/news/pages/sti/99/05/02/sticuldnc02002.html?1376249" TARGET=_blank>http://www.sunday-times.co.uk/news/pages/sti<BR>/99/05/02/sticuldnc02002.html?1376249</A> <P> <P><p>[This message has been edited by Stuart Sweeney (edited December 11, 2000).]

Deborah Jowitt begins her column in The Village Voice quite intriguingly:<P> <BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>in the small, empty rooms of the Lower East Side Tenement Museum, Doug Varone's dancers swoop about like bats, rocketing off the peeling walls, bracing themselves momentarily against spectators (never more than 20 at a time), whispering to us.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE><P><B><A HREF="http://www.villagevoice.com/issues/0050/jowitt.shtml" TARGET=_blank>More</A></B>

From the New York Times:<P><B>DANCE THEATER'S AIM AT DISLOCATION</B><P> <BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>FOR many years, the phrase "dance theater" made me want to run as fast as I could in the other direction.<P>Don't get me wrong. I've always been an avid theatergoer and a lover of good dance. But to my ear the phrase dance theater suggested something tediously instructive or laxly improvised, something with a loud buzzing noise on the soundtrack, something Germanic and aggressively modern. So I kept away from Pina Bausch and her ilk.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE><P><BR><A HREF="http://www.nytimes.com/2001/03/18/arts/18LESS.html" TARGET=_blank><B>MORE...</B></A><P>

Interesting about Doug Varone. As a dancer with Limon co. and then Lar Lubovitch, he was a true modern dance virtuoso. Virtually, a technique machine. And his earlier choreographic work was definetly kinetic, movement based. Now, this recent turn in his choreographic repertoire reveals a more experimental side, dealing with site-specific works and a questioning of the performer/audience relationship. What do folks think, do choreographers tend to experiment more at the beginning of their choreographic ouvere (did I spell that right, sorry!) like Twyla or Paul Taylor, or more at the end, like Doug Varone or Misha (an example of a dancer doing the same)?

Well, Trina - I think it could work both ways - LOL - how's that?<P>It seems that for some people youth is a time for innovation - and as they get along in their careers they might not want to rock the boat.<P>However, for others, they might feel that their age, experience and "place" in the dance world might give them the freedom to experiment. <P>And then there are those who innovate their entire lives. Diagelev is an example of a life-long artistic innovator - or at least a facilitator of innovation. Baryshnikov comes to mind as a dancer, as you said, who has spent his later years experimenting. Isadora Duncan seems to have been more innovative in her earlier years. So maybe it depends on the person and their perceived place within their chosen field.<P>(spoken like the true Libra that I am LOL)

A review from Honolulu:<P> <BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR><B>Varone brought warmth<BR>to modern dance</B><P>Vivien Lee, Honolulu Star-Bulletin<P>Doug Varone and Dancers didn't rely on any gimmicks, flashing lights, props or fancy backdrops as they performed at the University of Hawaii's Kennedy Theatre. There was only fabulous dancing and stimulating choreography.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE><P><A HREF="http://starbulletin.com/2001/03/19/features/story5.html" TARGET=_blank><B>More</B></A>

Yay for Doug Varone!! It sounds, from the review, that he still is producing luscious, very "movement" based work..good! <BR>And Basheva...I can't believe you're a Libra!! So am I...and my husband as well!!

Anyone who loves Doug Varone's work and is looking for a vacation spot this summer, consider going to Santa Barbara for the Summerdance Santa Barbara Dance Festival. Varone will be in residence for two weeks, doing lecture-demos, site-specific performances, open rehearsals, etc. and then presenting a world premiere during a rep program in an intimate little Spanish Colonial style theater called the Lobero. Before Doug, Urban Tap dance company will be in residence for a week. Anyway, I've been to this festival in years past (I think this is the sixth season) and it's truly wonderful. And so is the town! Among the choreographers they've hosted so far are Tere O'Connor, Mark Dendy, and Doug Elkins. Oh, and also they hold open dance classes with company members. The festival is the second week of July, I think. Their website is <A HREF="http://www.summerdance.com" TARGET=_blank>www.summerdance.com</A> <P>

<BR><font size=1>Choreographer Doug Varone</font><P>The Oregonian - Catherine Thomas, 03/06/01:<BR> <BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR><B>Moving movements</B><P>Choreographer Doug Varone layers pure momentum over emotional intensity <P>A quicksilver movement master who can sketch the subtleties of a jazz melody with an improvisationist's finesse, Doug Varone also is a choreographer of formal large-scale works of pure momentum, spatial complexity and searing physicality. <HR></BLOCKQUOTE><a href="http://www.oregonlive.com/eventsguide/index.ssf?/events/oregonian/al_61slede06.frame" target="blank"><B>more...</B></a><P><BR>

The refreshing thing about the Oregonian/Doug Varone interview, is that Varone appears to be modern dancer with the consciousness and humanistic approach of the "old masters" of modern dance. He mentions Jose Limon (he danced in that company)as an inspiration and point of departure. He wants the audience to examine their own attitudes about different issues; he mentions aging at one point. It is wonderful to see contemporary artists feeling a commitment to present works which refer to the original motivations and aesthetic necessities of the original modern dancers: Humphrey, Anna Sokolow (very politically/socially oriented), ie. interpreting themes which are timeless and universal.

From the Chicago Sun Times:<P><B>'Ballet Mecanique' eerily reflects N.Y. tragedy</B> <P>October 7, 2001<P>DANCE REVIEW BY HEDY WEISS <P> <BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Doug Varone's "Ballet Mecanique" would be a sensational piece of work even if the Sept. 11 cataclysm had never happened.<P>But the fact that the New York-based choreographer created the piece many months before the attack--and that he just happens to have lived within sight of the World Trade Center towers--now endows it with an eerie, almost dizzyingly prescient quality. This fact did not go unnoticed by the audience at the Dance Center of Columbia College, where this weekend his company, Doug Varone and Dancers, presented the 26-minute work as part of its all-too-brief Chicago engagement.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE><P><A HREF="http://www.suntimes.com/output/show/cst-nws-dance07.html" TARGET=_blank><B>MORE...</B></A><BR>

Another article on "Ballet Mécanique" and a companion work:<P> <BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Works With a New Ring in the Wake of Sept. 11<P>JENNIFER DUNNING, NY Times<P>"I'D kind of rather not go there," Doug Varone said when asked about the reported impact of the Sept. 11 terrorist attack on dances that he will present at the Joyce Theater this week. Living on Canal Street in Lower Manhattan, Mr. Varone finds the sky's new emptiness to the south to be "very present." Choreographers tend to be reluctant to interpret dances for their audiences. But Sept. 11 loomed as a spectral presence in the conversation.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE><P><a href=http://www.nytimes.com/2001/12/09/arts/dance/09DUNN.html target=_blank>More</a>

I have always admired Doug Varone's choreography. He always seems to strive to expand his vision, as an artist and person, even during the most difficult of times, as evidenced by his current work, developed in the aftermath of Sept.11. I give him a lot of credit.