Doug Varone and Dancers in Denver April 28, 2007

[YouOverThere]

Time for the latest dance review from Ballettalk's most un-educated, un-sophisticated member. Read at your own risk:

I stumbled across an announcement in a local newspaper of a performance in Denver by Doug Varone and Dancers. OK, I thought, Doug Varone's a well-known choreographer and since I don't have anything going on Saturday evening I'll go see the show.

I was even more excited when I opened the program and saw that the first two works were set to music by Prokofiev and Arvo Part. Little did I know what I was in store for.

The first piece was called Castles and was set to Prokofiev's Waltz Suite. This piece was stunning. Stunning because I had never before seen choreography in which the dance sequences stopped several seconds before there was a natural break in the music. The dancers stood for several seconds looking like gymnasts in a floor exercise preparing for their next tumbling run, unless they needed to walk or jog across the stage because the just-finished dance sequence left them on the wrong side of the stage for their next part. The dancing looked non-challenging (and the dancers looked stiff and mechanical), with a lot of meaningless (to me) arm-waving and a continual stream of dancers walking to a corner of the stage and gazing off into the distance. I'm about the biggest Prokofiev fan around, but this piece couldn't get over soon enough.

The second piece was titled Boats Leaving and was set to Arvo Part's Te Deum. That alone should have been a tip-off. Or at least I don't see any connection between a hymn of praise and ships sailing off. This particular piece wasn't even a dance. The dancers walked about the stage, occasionally aligning in a pattern that might have had some meaning to a more sophisticated viewer, and did a lot of flopping on the floor. And there were more dancers walking to corners of the stage and gazing off into the distance. I love Arvo Part's music, but there was a total disconnect between the music and the choreography.

The last piece, Lux, set to Philip Glass' The Light, was the only one that seemed to take serious dancing skills, though it was still below the level that I'm used to seeing with the Colorado Ballet. Unfortunately, it didn't seem to have any point other than to show off the dancers' athleticism. It got to be very repetitious (as did the music), and I thought of it as perhaps an aerobics class for dancers.

All-in-all, I'd say that this show was about the level one would expect of a college dance program. I can only assume that Varone chose music for little reason other than it had the right tempo for what he wanted to do, since for me there was no connection between the music and the choreography. Based on that show, I have no idea why Varone is held in such high esteem.

Of course, my opinion was in the minority. The majority of the audience thought that it was worth a standing ovation.

[Ray]

The last piece, Lux, set to Philip Glass' The Light, was the only one that seemed to take serious dancing skills, though it was still below the level that I'm used to seeing with the Colorado Ballet. Unfortunately, it didn't seem to have any point other than to show off the dancers' athleticism. It got to be very repetitious (as did the music), and I thought of it as perhaps an aerobics class for dancers.

All-in-all, I'd say that this show was about the level one would expect of a college dance program. I can only assume that Varone chose music for little reason other than it had the right tempo for what he wanted to do, since for me there was no connection between the music and the choreography. Based on that show, I have no idea why Varone is held in such high esteem.

Of course, my opinion was in the minority. The majority of the audience thought that it was worth a standing ovation.

I recently say Varone's co. at the Joyce in New York, and while not wowed by it (standing ovation? good grief!) I admired the committment to movement in an age when many modern dance folk seem to be interested in other things. I think for those of us raised on the ballet idiom, it's understandable not to see the connection b/t the music and the steps, but I do think it's there. And Lux did introduce me to Glass's The Light, which I've grown to love (I really get into Glass's repetitiveness sometimes--especially in this short work )

[bart]

Thanks, YouOverThere and Ray. Please excuse me for selecing just one aspect of your comments ...

Stunning because I had never before seen choreography in which the dance sequences stopped several seconds before there was a natural break in the music. The dancers stood for several seconds looking like gymnasts in a floor exercise preparing for their next tumbling run, unless they needed to walk or jog across the stage because the just-finished dance sequence left them on the wrong side of the stage for their next part.

[ ... ]

I can only assume that Varone chose music for little reason other than it had the right tempo for what he wanted to do, since for me there was no connection between the music and the choreography.

I think for those of us raised on the ballet idiom, it's understandable not to see the connection b/t the music and the steps, but I do think it's there. And Lux did introduce me to Glass's The Light, which I've grown to love (I really get into Glass's repetitiveness sometimes--especially in this short work )

Fascinating observations! We often talk about musicality (ior its lack) in the work of choreographers and dancers here. I wonder what others think about this -- whether as applies to Varone or others.

[YouOverThere]

I recently say Varone's co. at the Joyce in New York, and while not wowed by it (standing ovation? good grief!) I admired the committment to movement in an age when many modern dance folk seem to be interested in other things.

My outlook on art is that it is a form of communication, so I care mainly about whether the artist is saying anything to me. The particular style isn't all that important to me. I just want to feel something (besides boredom) when I view it.

I think for those of us raised on the ballet idiom, it's understandable not to see the connection b/t the music and the steps, but I do think it's there.

I couldn't even see any connection between the gist of the dance and the music. Dancing that stops before the music is finished?

[Ray]

I couldn't even see any connection between the gist of the dance and the music. Dancing that stops before the music is finished?

Yet many choreographers use this device, and often in very moving ways--the dancing stops yet the music continues (the tableau in Lilac Garden comes to mind, for one; the shocking fall of the fire curtain in Forsythe's Artefact Suite, where we're left together in a big dark room listening to Bach, is another). Should dance always be glued to the music? Communication can happen in silences too, both visual and aural.

[miliosr]

YouOverThere -- Alastair Macaulay shares your opinion of Doug Varone. He gave Varone's latest -- Dense Terrain -- a killing review in Friday's Times.

[miliosr]

Robert Gottleib has an interesting discussion of critical reactions (Macaulay's pan and Tobi Tobias' rave) to Doug Varone's Dense Terrain in his latest New York Observer column. Basically, he says it all comes down to a matter of taste!