Artistic Director Doug Varone
The Company John Beasant III Julia Burrer Ryan Corriston Natalie Desch Erin Owen
Alex Springer
Eddie Taketa Netta Yerushalmy Lighting DesignersJane Cox Joshua Epstein Robert Wierzel
Costume Designer Liz Prince Technical Director Dan Feith Executive Director Tom Ward
Doug Varone and Dancers gratefully acknowledges funding
support from the Alphawood Foundation, the Shubert Foundation, Inc., the Fan Fox &
Leslie R. Samuels Foundation, the Harkness Foundation for Dance, the National Endowment
for the Arts, the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, the New York State Council
on the Arts, a state agency, and our many individual supporters.
Program
CASTLES
(2004)
Choreography by Doug Varone
Music by Sergei Prokofiev, Waltz Suite, Opus 110
Lighting Design by Jane Cox and Joshua Epstein
Costume Design by Liz Prince
JOHN BEASANT III JULIA BURRER RYAN CORRISTON
NATALIE DESCH ERIN OWEN
ALEX SPRINGER EDDIE TAKETA NETTA YERUSHALMY
1. Full Company
2. John Beasant III and Alex Springer
3. Julia Burrer, Ryan Corriston, Erin Owen, Netta Yerushalmy
4. Natalie Desch and Eddie Taketa
5. Netta Yerushalmy and Full Company
6. Full Company
Castles
premiered at Dartmouth University on January 15, 2004 and was commissioned by the Carlsen Center of the Johnson County Community College, Kansas, Charles R. Rogers, Artistic Director.Additional funding support for Castles has been provided by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and the National Endowment for the Arts. Castles was created, in part, during residencies at the Bates Dance Festival and at the Purchase College Conservatory of Dance, supported by the New York State Council on the Arts.
Intermission
3 CHAPTERS FROM A BROKEN NOVEL
(2010 Preview Performance)
Glass is an excerpt from Chapters from a Broken Novel, (A Meet the Composer Commissioning Music/USA Commission) a full evening work that will premiere on October 1, 2010 in Fairfield, CT. It is comprised of 22 short dances that can be viewed separately, in small suites (as in this evening) or as a full evening ballet.
Choreography by Doug Varone
Original Score by David Van Tieghem
Lighting Design by Jane Cox
Costume Design by Liz Prince
JULIA BURRER RYAN CORRISTON NATALIE DESCH ERIN OWEN
ALEX SPRINGER EDDIE TAKETA NETTA YERUSHALMY
Chapter 1. Playing in the Shadows (Julia Burrer, Alex Springer and Company)
Chapter 2. Glass (Ryan Corriston and Netta Yerushalmy)
Chapter 3. Égalité (Julia Burrer and Natalie Desch)
The work was developed at the 92nd Street Y School of the Arts Harkness Dance Center as part of their artist in residency program
Chapters from a Broken Novel was commissioned by the American Music Center Live Music for Dance Program, the Charles and Joan Gross Family Foundation and as part of a national series of works from Meet the Composer’s Commissioning Music/USA program, which is made possible by generous support from the Mary Flagler Cary Chartiable Trust, the Francis Goelet Charitable Lead Trusts, New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, New York State Council on the Arts, the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation and the Helen F. Whitaker Fund. Chapters was supported, in part by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs (DCA), the New York State Council on the Arts and a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA)..Chapters is a National Performance Network (NPN) Creation Fund Project co-commissioned by Bates Dance Festival, Portland Ovations, San Francisco Performances, University of Akron and NPN. Major contributors of NPN are the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, Ford Foundation, Nathan Cummings Foundation, MetLife Foundation, and the National Endowment for the Arts (a federal agency). Chapters was also funded, in part, by the National Dance Project (NDP) of the New England Foundation for the Arts, with lead funding from the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation and additional funding from the Ford Foundation, the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, and the Community Connections Fund of the MetLife Foundation.
Pause
LUX
JOHN BEASANT III JULIA BURRER RYAN CORRISTON
NATALIE DESCH ERIN OWEN
ALEX SPRINGER EDDIE TAKETA NETTA YERUSHALMY
Lux premiered on October 19, 2006 in San Luis Obispo, CA and was solely commissioned by the Daniel and Dianne Vapnek Family Fund.
It was created, in part, while in residence at Summerdance, Santa Barbara, CA.
Since its founding in 1986, Doug Varone and Dancers has commanded attention for its expansive vision, versatility, and technical prowess. On the concert stage, in opera, theater and on the screen, Varone’s kinetically thrilling dances make essential connections and mine the complexity of the human spirit. From the smallest gesture to full-throttle bursts of movement, Varone’s work can literally take your breath away. At home in New York City, Doug Varone and Dancers is the resident company at the 92nd St. Y Harkness Dance Center. On tour, the company has performed in 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, San Francisco Performances, London’s Queen Elizabeth Hall, Toronto’s Harbourfront, Moscow’s Stanislavsky Theater, the Venice Biennale, and the Tokyo, Bates, Jacob’s Pillow and American Dance Festivals In opera and theater, the company regularly collaborates on the many Varone-directed or choreographed productions that have been produced around the country during the last decade. Doug Varone and Dancers are among the most sought after ambassadors and educators in the field. Annual summer intensive workshops at leading universities attract students and professionals from around the country. The company’s multi-discipline residency programs on tour capture their concepts, imagery, and techniques across disciplines and for people of all ages and backgrounds, reaching out to audiences in ways that directly relate to their lives and interests.
Varone, his dancers and designers have been honored with 11 New York Dance and Performance Awards (Bessies).
Award-winning choreographer and director DOUG VARONE works in dance, theater, opera, film, television 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 more than two decades. In 2008, Varone’s Bottomland, set in the Mammoth Caves of Kentucky, was the subject of the PBS Dance in America’s Wolf Trap’s Face of America. In opera, Varone is in demand as a director and choreographer. Among his four productions at The Met are Salome with its sensational Dance of the Seven Veils for Karita Mattila, and the world premiere of Tobias Picker’s An American Tragedy. He has staged multiple premiers and new productions for Minnesota Opera and Opera Colorado and choreographed for Washington Opera and New York City Opera, among others. Varone is a frequent collaborator of composer Ricky Ian Gordon: choreography, Grapes of Wrath (2008); direction and choreography, Orpheus and Euridice for Lincoln Center (2006 Obie Award).The two are at work on a new opera about the US Civil War commissioned by the Virginia Festival of the Arts and University of TX/Austin. His numerous theater credits include choreography for Broadway, Off-Broadway and regional theaters across the country. He staged several seasons of designer Geoffrey Beene’s NYC couture runway shows. Film credits include choreography for the Patrick Swayze film, One Last Dance. Varone has also created works for the Limon Company, Hubbard Street Dance Chicago, Rambert Dance Company (London), Dancemakers (Canada), Batsheva Dance Company (Israel), Bern Ballet (Switzerland) and An Creative (Japan), among others. His dances have been staged on more than 30 college and university programs. Varone received his BFA from Purchase College where he was awarded the Presidential Distinguished Alumni Award in 2007. Honors also include a Guggenheim Fellowship, two American Dance Festival Doris Duke Awards for New Work, three from the National Dance Project and two New York Dance and Performance Awards (Bessies) – for Sustained Achievement in Choreography, and for his 2006 Boat’s Leaving.
JOHN BEASANT III of Denver, Colorado, is an MFA graduate of the University of Utah. He has made numerous appearances as an actor, dancer, and singer for the stage, television, and film. Originally joining Doug Varone and Dancers in 2001, John also performs with Keith Johnson/Dancers and serves as a guest artist for The José Limón Dance Company. Several other dance company credits include: ARENA Dances by Mathew Janczewski, Company XIV, Gallim Dance (Andrea Miller), and Shapiro & Smith Dance. John enjoys teachIng and also presents his own work with various companies, universities, and festivals around the globe. He would like to thank all of you for helping support dance as it is deeply appreciated.
JULIA BURRER hails from Austin, Texas and graduated from SUNY Purchase with a BFA in Dance. In 2004, she studied abroad at Rotterdamse Dansacademie in the Netherlands, as well as participated in the International Dance Exchange in Essen, Germany, and in the summer of 2006, performed at the Hong Kong International Dance Festival. She has had the pleasure of dancing with and for the following lovely folks - Megan Williams, Daniel Charon, Adriane Fang, Bill Young & Colleen Thomas, Teri & Oliver Steele, Gwen Welliver, pocket engine and Chimaera Physical Theater. Julia joined Doug Varone and Dancers in 2007.
RYAN CORRISTON started dancing at the age of eight with the Kaleidoscope Dance Company under the direction of Anne Gilbert, and was a company member for eight years. He began dancing again in college and received a BA in Dance from the University of Washington, where he studied under Hannah Wiley, Rip Parker, and Maria Simpson, as well as doing several collaborations with Rob Kitsos. In New York, Corriston has danced in Salome, The Magic Flute, and Sacre at the Metropolitan Opera and has worked with Nancy Bannon, Andrew Robinson, Tiffany Mills, Martha Clarke, and the Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company. He is the Artistic Director of the Harkness Repertory Ensemble. He thanks his beautiful wife Amber and their kids, Toby and Elsie, for allowing him to join Doug Varone and Dancers in 2005.
NATALIE DESCH, a company member since 2001, is originally from New Castle, PA, where she began her dance training under the guidance of Deborah Parou. After receiving her BFA and the Martha Hill Prize from The Juilliard School, under the direction of Benjamin Harkarvy, she joined the Limon Dance Company where she performed from 1996-2001. Additionally she has appeared for Varone with the Metropolitan Opera Ballet and with the Aquila Theater Company. A Hunter College faculty member since 2005, Desch has also taught at the Bates Dance Festival, for the Lincoln Center Institute, and regularly teaches at the 92nd St. Y, the Limon Institute and at Dance New Amsterdam in NYC. She has staged the works of Doug Varone, Jose Limon, and Jiri Kylian. Her choreography has been presented at various venues and festivals around New York City and throughout the country.
ERIN OWEN grew up in Waynesville, North Carolina. She moved to New York after graduating from Scripps College (Claremont, CA) with BA degrees in Dance and Biology. She has since enjoyed dancing with many choreographers, including Daniel Charon, Ivy Baldwin, Faye Driscoll, Melissa Briggs, Netta Yerushalmy, Karinne Keithley, Geraldine Cardiel, Bill T. Jones in the Fall for Dance festival, and David Neumann in his creature movement vocabulary for I Am Legend (film). Though joining Doug Varone and Dancers in November 2006, she has also worked with Doug at the Metropolitan Opera, and in a fashion shoot for W Magazine (February 2004). Erin teaches Pilates and GYROTONIC® to the fine folks of New York, and thanks the PTB for truly wonderful family and friends-and of course, her wonderful family and friends. She is the happy caretaker of several lovely houseplants and wishes to thank Mr. Brown for his unending patience.
ALEX SPRINGER, originally from Farmington Hills, MI has always been a performer. He began his dance training under the direction of Toi Banks and Lisa Campos. He graduated with honors from the University of Michigan while earning a BFA in dance and a minor in Movement Science. He has had the pleasure of working with such artists as Alexandra Beller, Amy Chavasse, Lindsey and Jason Dietz Marchant, Peter Sparling, and Leyya Tawil. Other performance credits include the Chicago-based Leopold Group. Alex creates work with Xan Burley, together alexanDance Performance, and the two have presented their choreography at various venues throughout NYC. Alex joined Doug Varone and Dancers in 2008.
EDDIE TAKETA born and raised in Hilo, Hawaii, holds a BFA in Dance Theater from the University of Hawaii at Manoa. Dancing professionally since 1982, Taketa spent the 80’s through mid-90’s performing with such companies as the Murray Louis Dance Company, Nikolais Dance Theatre, and Lar Lubovitch Dance Company, performed in the Jacob's Pillow's Men Dancers: The Ted Shawn Legacy, and maintained an on-going performing and creative collaboration with Janis Brenner. In 1994, he joined Doug Varone and Dancers, and in 1998, became a recipient of a New York Dance and Performance Award (Bessie) for Sustained Achievement in Dancing. As a teacher, he has taught at numerous universities, festivals and studios throughout the U.S., Europe and Asia. Notably, he taught and choreographed as Guest Artist in Dance at Connecticut College from 1995-2006.
NETTA YERUSHALMY moved to New York in 1996 in order to complete a BFA in dance from
Tisch School of the Arts. In NYC she has danced with Nancy Bannon, Karinne Kiethley, Marc
Jarecki and many others, as well as with Ronit Ziv in Tel-Aviv. Her own choreographic work
has been produced and performed in numerous venues all around NYC, and at The Yard on
Martha's Vineyard and Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival. Originally from Israel, her work was
commissioned there by the prestigious Curtain-Up and International-Exposure Festivals, and
by Tmuna Theater in Tel-Aviv. In December '09 an evening of her newest work will be
presented by Danspace Project, NYC. She has had the pleasure of dancing with Doug Varone
in various settings, including productions of Les Troyens and Le Sacre du
Printemps at the Metropolitan Opera, and has also staged Varone's work at the
University of Michigan & Point Park College. Netta joined Doug Varone and Dancers in
2007.
JANE COX (Lighting Designer) Collaborations with Doug Varone and Dancers includes designs for Victorious, Boats Leaving, Dense Terrain, Agora, Castles, Approaching Something Higher and Bottomland. Other designs for Doug Varone include Faust and Elephant Man (Minnesota Opera), and Invisible Man (Aquila Theatre). New York theater includes: Come Back Little Sheba and Dame Edna on Broadway; and designs for BAM, Playwrights Horizons, Signature Theatre, Public Theatre and NYTW. Jane is the recipient of a 2007 Bessie Award for her work with Doug Varone on Boats Leaving.
JOSHUA EPSTEIN (Lighting Designer) has recently worked with such choreographers as David Dorfman, Allyson Green, Homer Avila, Wil Swanson, Amanda Loulaki, Edisa Weeks, and Kara Tatelbaum. He has lit pieces locally for Danspace at St. Marks, the 92nd Street Y’s Harkness Dance Project, Cunningham Studios, Symphony Space and Joyce SoHo. Theater credits include designs for such companies as: Naked Angels, Rattle-stick Theatre, Target Margin, La Mama ETC, The Berkshire Opera, The O’Neill Playwriting Conference, Bark College, Ford-ham University, and Juilliard. He received his MFA from NYU.
DAN FEITH (Technical Director) has been working as a Production Manager/Lighting Designer/Stage Manager/Technical Director in dance for the past 19 years. The companies he has worked for range from Pilobolus and Momix to the Tulsa Ballet and Hubbard Street Dance.
LIZ PRINCE (Costume Designer) has designed costumes for Doug Varone since 1998. Other design
work includes works by: Bill T. Jones (Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company, Boston Ballet, Berlin Opera Ballet and Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater), Trey McIntyre (American Ballet Theater, Houston Ballet, Washington Ballet, Pennsylvania Ballet, PHILADANCO), Mark Dendy (Dendy Dance, Pacific Northwest Ballet, Dortmund Theater Ballet), Mikhail Baryshnikov's White Oak Dance Project (works by Lucy Guerin and Meg Stuart), PILOBOLUS, Jane Comfort, Neil Greenberg, Bebe Miller, Lawrence Goldhuber, Arthur Aviles, Gabriel Lansner, David Dorfman, Ralph Lemon and Irondale Ensemble as well as designing a production of PIPPIN at Goodspeed Musicals directed by Gabriel Barre (National tour). Prince's costumes have been exhibited at The Cleveland Center for Contemporary Art, Snug Harbor Cultural Center, Rockland Center for the Arts and The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts. Prince received a 1990 New York Dance and Performance Award (BESSIE) for costume design.
DAVID VAN TIEGHEM (Composer) Dance: Twyla Tharp, Elizabeth Streb, Michael Moschen, Boston Ballet, Pennsylvania Ballet, Elisa Monte, Jennifer Muller. Broadway: A Behanding in Spokane, After Miss Julie, A Man for All Seasons, Doubt, Reckless, Mauritius, Inherit the Wind, Frozen, Cyrano, Is He Dead?, Three Days of Rain, A Touch of the Poet, The Good Body, The Crucible, Uncle Vanya, Judgment at Nuremberg. Off-Broadway: The Metal Children, The Heart Is A Lonely Hunter, Equivocation, Wit, Farragut North, Jack Goes Boating, Distracted, The Paris Letter, Woman Before a Glass, How I Learned to Drive, The Long Christmas Ride Home, The Dying Gaul, The Grey Zone. Film/TV: Eye of God, Working Girls, Penn & Teller, Wooster Group. Percussionist: Laurie Anderson, Talking Heads, Brian Eno, Steve Reich. CDs: Thrown For A Loop, Strange Cargo, Safety in Numbers, These Things Happen. Internet: www.vantieghem.com
ROBERT WIERZEL (Lighting Designer) has worked with artists from diverse disciplines and backgrounds in theatre, dance, new music, opera and museums, on stages throughout the country and abroad. Mr. Wierzel has a long history (21 years) with choreographer Bill T. Jones and his company, the Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company (several Bessie Awards, along with productions at the Lyon Opera Ballet and Berlin Opera Ballet). Other dance collaborations include choreographers Larry Goldhuber and Heidi Latsky, Worse Case Scenario (Bessie Award), Margo Sappington, Alonzo King, Sean Curran, Molissa Fenely, Susan Marshall, Trisha Brown, How long…, and Doug Varone, Orpheus and Euridice (Obie Award-Special Citation). Other credits- Broadway: David Copperfield’s Dreams and Nightmares, The Deep Blue Sea. Regional: A.C.T. San Francisco; Arena Stage; Shakespeare Theatre DC; Hartford Stage; Long Wharf Theatre; Goodman Theatre; The Guthrie; Mark Taper Forum; Berkley Rep; Milwaukee Rep; Chicago Shakespeare; Westport Country Playhouse, among many others. Opera companies of Paris (Garnier); Berlin; Tokyo; Toronto; Montreal; Boston; Glimmerglass Opera; New York City Opera; San Diego; San Francisco; Houston; Washington; Seattle; Virginia; Portland; Vancouver; and Chicago (including Lyric Opera and Chicago Opera Theatre). Mr. Wierzel is currently on the faculty of New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts.
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DOUG VARONE AND DANCERS is incorporated as DOVA, Inc., a non-profit tax-exempt organization founded in 1995. Contributions to the company's work are tax-deductible and greatly appreciated. Please make your gift payable to: DOVA, Inc. 260 West Broadway, Suite 4, New York, NY 10013 USA Website: www.dougvaroneanddancers.org Email: info@dougvaroneanddancers.org Board of Directors, DOVA, Inc. Bob Sanders, Chair Richard J. Caples Naomi Grabel Rick Michalek Jeanne MurphyJanet Stanton
Pearl Zuchlewski Doug Varone DOUG VARONE AND DANCERS Artistic Director: Doug Varone Executive Director: Tom Ward Program Director: Sarah Rose BodleyDevelopment & Marketing Associate: Kaitlin Hines
Rehearsal Directors: Natalie Desch, Eddie Taketa
Tour Manager: Eddie TaketaCompany Manager: Alex Springer
Technical Director: Dan Feith Costume Manager: Natalie Desch Design & Graphics: Sondra Graff, Pentacle Booking Agent: Lisa Booth Management, Inc. Lisa Booth and Deirdre Valente 145 West 45th Street #602 New York, NY 10036 Tel: 212-921-2114 / Fax: 212-921-2504 Email: artslbmi@msn.comMusic Credits:
The Light by Philip Glass © 1989 Dunvagen Music Publishers Inc. Used by Permission.Sergei Prokofiev, Waltz Suite, Opus 110. Chandos Records Ltd. Performed by the Scottish National Orchestra by arrangement with G. Schirmer, Inc. agents in the U.S. for THE ESTATE OF SERGEI PROKOFIEV publisher and copyright owner.
Cast and program are subject to change.