Dance St. Louis and Edison Theatre OVATIONS! present Doug Varone and Dancers March 31 to April 2

Eight-time Bessie Award-winner Doug Varone is among the most acclaimed choreographers of his generation. Later this month, Varone will bring his renowned company, Doug Varone and Dancers — now entering its 20th year — to Washington University’s Edison Theatre for a trio of performances March 31 to April 2.

Shows, sponsored by Dance St. Louis and the Edison Theatre OVATIONS! Series, begin at 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday, March 31 and April 1; and at 2 p.m. Sunday, April 2. Tickets are $28; $24 for seniors and Washington University faculty and staff; and $18 for students and children.

Tickets are available at the Edison Theatre box office, (314) 935-6543; the Dance St. Louis box office, (314) 534-6622; the Dance St. Louis Web site, www.dancestlouis.org; and through MetroTix, (314) 534-1111. Edison Theatre is located in the Mallinckrodt Student Center, 6445 Forsyth Blvd. The Dance St. Louis box office is located at 3547 Olive Blvd., Suite 301.

For more information, call (314) 935-6543.

Doug Varone

Long considered a “choreographer’s choreographer,” Varone captures the nuances of human interaction in works of extraordinary physical daring and vivid musicality. He founded Doug Varone and Dancers in 1986 and over the years has developed a body of work that has been hailed by critics as “among the most compelling in the contemporary repertory.”

“Doug Varone is that rare choreographer with a gift for expressing emotion through dance,” notes The New York Times. “He has a company of daredevils, profoundly human superhumans who dance on a dime —wheeling, darting and slicing the air at lethal looking speeds.”

Varone has choreographed work for the concert stage as well as for opera, Broadway, regional theater, film and television. The company has toured extensively throughout the United States, Europe and Asia, performing regularly at the Tokyo, Jacob’s Pillow and American Dance Festivals, and at preeminent venues such as The Joyce Theater in New York; The Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C.; Queen Elizabeth Hall in London; and the Stanislavsky Theater in Moscow.

Varone has won more than 20 commissions from many of the nation’s leading dance presenters, including as Jacob’s Pillow, The Joyce Theater and the Wolf Trap Foundation for the Performing Arts. Other honors include three National Dance Project Awards as well as the American Dance Festival’s Doris Duke Award for New Work.

Program

The program will open with Varone’s signature, 28-minute “Rise” (1993), set to John Adams’s jazzy “Fearful Symmetries.” The piece begins as a series of duets that soon spiral into trios and larger, more intricate groupings, gathering speed and power as the piece approaches an explosive climax.

Next up is the dramatic, 22-minute “Tomorrow” (2000), set to Belle Epoque love songs by Reynaldo Hahn; and the searing “Short Story” (2001), a passionate five-minute duet set to music of Sergei Rachmaninoff.

The program will conclude with “Castles” (2004), an epic, 29-minute ballroom piece for eight dancers. Set to a half-dozen waltzes by Serge Prokofiev, including “Cinderella” and “War and Peace,” this lyrical, romantic work is structured around a pair of duets, one for two men, one for a man and a woman.

“I’m drawn to the lushness of the score,” Varone told Dance Magazine on the occasion of “Castles” premiere. “There are hints of fairy tales — you might quickly glimpse four white mice — but all within a contemporary context.”

Edison Theatre

Edison Theatre’s OVATIONS! Series serves both Washington University and the St. Louis community by providing the highest caliber national and international artists in music, dance and theater, performing new works as well as innovative interpretations of classical material not otherwise seen in St. Louis. Focusing on presentations that are interdisciplinary, multicultural and/or experimental, Edison Theatre presents work intended to challenge, educate and inspire. Edison Theatre programs are made possible with support from the Missouri Arts Council, a state agency; the Regional Arts Commission, St. Louis; and private contributions.

Dance St. Louis presents Doug Varone and Dancers as part of its 40th Anniversary Season. From the time that Dance St. Louis was founded in 1966 by a small group of dance enthusiasts headed by Annelise Mertz, Washington University professor of dance, the organization has burgeoned into one of the St. Louis area’s cultural treasures and a national dance landmark—a dance-only presenter, one of only six organizations in the entire United States that specialize every year in a complete fall-to-spring season of dance. Dance St. Louis is a funded member of the Arts and Education Council of Greater St. Louis, and receives support from the Missouri Arts Council, Regional Arts Commission, Heartland Arts Fund—a joint venture of Arts Midwest and Mid-America Arts Alliance, National Endowment for the Arts, and other sources. American Airlines is the official airline.