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Virtuoso group stirs excitement with classes and a world premiere
By Elaine Guregian
Beacon Journal arts and culture writer
Published on Monday, Oct 06, 2008
Even before Doug Varone and Dancers performed the world premiere of Varone's political/psychological Alchemy at E.J. Thomas Hall Saturday night, the climax of a moving performance by this virtuoso group, plenty had already happened.
Last spring, the company connected with students at the University of Akron, teaching them a Varone work that they then performed. For the last week, the whole eight-member company has been in residency at UA, teaching university students and holding a master class for high school dancers and another for professionals. So, by the time a public audience had a look at the company, Varone's dancers had made a lasting impact on Akron's dance community.
What a mark the group made Saturday night, with these fabulously trained dancers carrying out Varone's swooping movements with liquid ease. Saturday's well-attended and enthusiastically received performance began with Tomorrow, choreographed by Varone in 2000 to French art songs by Reynaldo Hahn.
Varone has created a striking opening pose, with two dancers standing in a column of light, one of them half-turned away from the audience. The image of stillness carries through the work, which is most remarkable for its serenity and poise, despite joyful outbursts expressed through thrusting arms and ebullient turns.
It's a mark of maturity that Varone is not afraid to let a few moments pass without any movement. It's this reflective, unhurried quality that was most special, and the dancers — Julia Burrer, Daniel Charon, Natalie Desch, Erin Owen, Alex Springer and Eddie Taketa — brought superb finish to all of their movements.
Varone created Lux in 2006 to a minimalist score by Philip Glass, titled The Light. Dancing alone, Eddie Taketa compellingly opened and closed this piece, which is performed to the backdrop of a rising moon. Ryan Corriston and Stephanie Liapis joined the dancers from Tomorrow in the eight-person cast.
In Lux, the curving lines of the dancers amplified the circular patterns and building intensity of repeating musical motives.
I noticed the moon low on the horizon at the beginning, and not again until it was about three-quarters of the way up in the sky. How did it change so much without my noticing? After the concert, when his dancers joined him for a relaxed Q & A, Varone told the audience that Lux is about the passage of time — how quickly 20 minutes (the length of Lux) or a lifetime can pass.
The program closed with the world premiere of Varone's Alchemy, commissioned by UA and E.J. Thomas Hall. Alchemy was inspired by a Minimalist composition by Steve Reich called Daniel Variations, which quotes from the biblical book of Daniel and words spoken by Daniel Pearl, the American journalist who was executed in Pakistan in 2002.
All eight dancers appeared in the work, a piece of dance theater set against the backdrop of a brick wall. Men wearing grays and brown and women dressed in blue press low to the ground, with the men often on their knees and the women often ministering to them. The dissonance of the music helped evoke the somber mood of their confinement.
It's not easy to balance between telling a story and setting a mood in a programmatic piece like Alchemy. Sometimes I was distracted by trying to puzzle out a story line. Varone was clear in the end, striking a determined note by having the four men, previously on the ground and motionless, rise into the light.
The performance was presented by DanceCleveland, which on Nov. 1 brings Lar Lubovitch to PlayhouseSquare in a co-presentation with Cuyahoga Community College. Call 216-241-6000 or 800-766-6048.
Elaine Guregian can be reached at 330-966-3574 or eguregian@thebeaconjournal.com.
Even before Doug Varone and Dancers performed the world premiere of Varone's political/psychological Alchemy at E.J. Thomas Hall Saturday night, the climax of a moving performance by this virtuoso group, plenty had already happened.
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