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A PREVIEW BY JENNIFER PONDER T

has been described as "that rare choreograph-

er with a gift for expressing emotion through
dance. He has a company of daredevils, profound-
ly human super humans who dance on a dime —
wheeling, darting and slicing the air at lethal look-
ing speeds."

N ew York choreographer/dancer Doug Varone

ln February, Doug Varone and Dancers will pre- _

sent an evening of emotionally gripping and high-
ly physical work, including boththe new Sleeping
with Giants as well as signature works from the
company’s repertory. lt’s a perfect next step in
Bur|ington’s Flynn Theatre’s ambitious dance sea-
son, which has seen everyone from the Moscow
City Ballet to Australia’s Tap Dogs.

Sleeping with Giants, about‘ a man no longer
capable of moving as fast as the world moves, is
set to Michael Nyman’s Harpsichord Concerto.
Nyman is the well-known composer of film scores
for The Piano and The Cook, the Thief’, His Wz'fe,
and Her Lover, as well as other Peter Greenaway
films. During the development of this piece,
Varone experimented with movement vocabularies
and choreographic structures inspired by filmmak-
ing and script-writing.

Rounding out the evening’s performance are
Varone’s signature piece, Rise, a swirling ener-
getic quartet set to John Adam’s Fearful Symmetry
from 1993, and 1998’s Bel Canto, a hilarious, exu-
berant send-up of Bellini’s opera Norma.

Preceding the arrival of the company, the Flynn
is presenting a free dance lecture series: Inside

'Dance with Suzanne Carbonneau. Carbonneau is

the dance critic for the Washington Post, and a rec-
ognized dance scholar. On Wednesday, February
2, she provides a video-illustrated overview of
Western dance from ballet to postmodernism. The
next evening’s; discussion is on "narrative and
abstraction" —. exploring the concept of dance as a
language that can exist in a range from literal ges-
ture to abstract evocation.

In addition to the Saturday performance, the
Flynn will present a master class with members of
Doug Varone and Dancers on Friday, February 4 at
the UVM Dance Studio. The class, for intermedi-
ate and advanced dancers, will explore repertory,
composition, and improvisation.

Finally, there will be a free pre-performance
lecture/discussion with Doug Varone and Suzanne
Carbonneau, Saturday, February 5, at 6:30pm at
the Flynn Gallery. They will discuss the creative
process, and Carbonneau will provide an overview
of Varone’s work.

V

Doug Varone and Dancers
Flynn Theatre, Burlington
February 5, 2000

lnside Dance with Suzanne Carbonneau

Fletcher Free Library, Burlington
February 2-3, 2000

Varone/Carbonneau lecture/discussion

Flynn Gallery, Burlington
February 5, 2000

Master class with members ol Doug Varone
and Dancers

Flynn Gallery

Feburary 4, 2000

January 2000 I Out in the Mountains I25

They Might Be
Giants

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