Award-winning choreographer and director Doug Varone works in dance, theater, opera, film, and fashion. His company has been commissioned and presented to critical acclaim by leading international venues for over three decades. 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. In the concert dance world, Varone has created a body of works globally. Commissions include the Paul Taylor 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. The Company was in residence as part of SUMMERDANCE Santa Barbara in 1997, 1998, 2001, and 2007.
While in residence, Varone will create an ode to West Side Story, set to Leonard Bernstein’s iconic musical score. Inspired by Varone’s life-long obsession with the 1961 movie version of West Side Story, Doug Varone and Dancers will create a purely abstract dance work by absorbing the iconic masterpiece in all its aspects set to Leonard Bernstein’s iconic musical score. 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, and premiere the new work on September 6 & 7.