Doug Varone and Dancers are going back to 92NY, the company's home from 2007 to 2015, for two nights of new and repertory work marking 40 years since the troupe was founded.
The 92NY Harkness Dance Center presents the company in Buttenwieser Hall at the Arnhold Center on Friday, December 4 and Saturday, December 5, both at 7pm. Tickets start at $45 and are on sale from 92NY.
The evening is built as a survey of four decades. It reaches back to The Bench Quartet (1986), which appeared on the company's very first program at PS 122 and has since been staged by more than 100 colleges across the country, and to Nocturne 1 (1987), where much of Varone's movement language first took shape. Two pieces from 1994, Strict Love and Possession Fast Quartet, had their premieres at the Harkness Dance Festival at Playhouse 91, and Lux (2006) remains one of the company's signature works.
The Nocturne cycle runs through the program as a thread: after the 1987 original come Nocturne 2 (2017), first seen at Jacob's Pillow, Nocturne 3 (2022) and this year's Nocturne 4. Able to Leap Tall Buildings (2012) and Shelter (2016) complete the bill, and some of the work has not been seen in New York for decades.
“I have curated a program that pays homage to our time at and relationship to the 92NY, as well as looking at the trajectory of my career for the last 40 years. The intimacy of Buttenwieser Hall has allowed me to choose mostly smaller works that fit perfectly into the space, sharing an aspect of the scope of my work rarely seen,” said Doug Varone.
Founded in 1986, the company works across concert dance, theater, opera and film and has collected 11 Bessie Awards. During its years as the Harkness Dance Center's resident company, Varone started the festival's Stripped/Dressed series, which lets audiences watch a piece being made before they see it performed. The engagement is part of 92NY's Home season.
92NY is at 1395 Lexington Avenue, and the box office can be reached on 212-415-5500.
