THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, April 25, 1996 TAG: 9604250041
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E6 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY SUE VANHECKE, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 74 lines
TACKLING such unlikely topics as the plight of French Canadian immigrants to New England, using unlikely music from big band to rock, or choreographing for the unlikely venue of a Geoffrey Beene fashion show - you've got to expect the unexpected from Doug Varone.
The esteemed dancer and choreographer brings his modern dance company to Virginia Beach Saturday, performing a versatile program that aims to reveal the sheer human-ness of dancing.
The evening's first work, ``Aperture,'' created in 1994, is an intriguing gestural series that builds and expands from a very small focal point onstage.
``It's a trio that explores people's perception of space,'' Varone said from his home in New York City. ``Over time, I've been really interested in how light can arrange and disarrange what a viewer sees. `Aperture' is like looking at a photograph that's come to life, in a way, and people keep coming in and out of the picture to change the dialogues that are occurring in the dance.''
``Let's Dance,'' subtitled ``Riffs On Seven Vernaculars'' and which enjoyed a critically hailed premiere at Manhattan's Joyce Theater in February, will follow. Set to music of the '40s, it's a joyful exploration of popular dance idioms, most of which Varone learned as a Broadway-dreaming, tap-dancing kid keen on Gene Kelly and Fred Astaire.
The third piece, ``Strict Love,'' which premiered in 1994, finds Varone toying with contrasts - of movement and music, of old and new Varone styles.
``A lot of the work that I do is very immediate, it's very personal, it deals with a lot of physicality and partnering, there's a real nice sense of humanness about it,'' Varone said. ``I wanted to create a work that denied that. So it's a dance for seven people who never touch, a lot of it is in unison, a lot of it is almost robotic in its approach.''
``Strict Love's'' unusual score is a tape taken from an oldies radio station, a countdown of the best songs of 1970 that includes ``a lot of Jackson Five, Diana Ross and Bread - all these crazy songs that I grew up with that we all know by heart and all speak so ridiculously about how great love is. So it's a juxtaposition of what you're hearing and what you're seeing.''
The company's signature piece, ``Rise,'' which Varone describes as ``a physical exploration of the score'' by John Adams, will conclude the program.
Varone, who founded his company in 1986 after dancing as a soloist with the Jose Limon and Lar Lubovitch Dance Companies, is no stranger to Virginia. For seven weeks a year from 1992 to 1995, he and his company enjoyed a residency at Richmond's Virginia Commonwealth University.
``It was a great opportunity for the company and the students,'' Varone recalled. ``It gave us a temporary home, a lot of creative time and a chance to discover an academic environment, which is very rare for professional artists.''
Education, in fact, has become a very vital aspect of Varone's work.
``I think a lot of what's gone wrong in the art world right now is that people aren't educated to what's happening,'' he mused. ``There are ways to inform people of what you're doing without losing your sense of integrity. We've been devising a lot of ways to kind of open up the door, particularly for audiences that aren't as educated in contemporary dance.
``There's a misnomer out there that (modern dance) is this wild thing that can't be understood, even when it's the most obvious picture in front of you.'' ILLUSTRATION: Graphic
IN PERFORMANCE
Who: Doug Varone and Dancers
When: 8 p.m. Saturday
Where: Virginia Beach Pavilion Theater
Tickets: $18-$20
Call: 627-2314
by CNB