CANDLER CONCERT SERIES
DOUG VARONE AND DANCERS
Artistic Director
Doug Varone The Company
Courtney Barth
Madison Elliott
Kanon Sugino
Jake Bone Claude Johnson Joniece “JoJo” Boykins
Will Noling Ryan Yamauchi
With students from the Emory Dance Company
Vivian Corry, Gab Crum, Genevieve DeBell, Deena Goodgold
Lydia Hamby, Jillian Lee, Alice Stern, Abigail Yi
Lighting Designers
Derek Van Heel Robert Wierzel Burke Wilmore
Costume Designers
Liz Prince Caitlin Taylor
Production Manager
Tricia Toliver
General Manager
Patty Bryan
Friday, October 25, 2024, 7:30 p.m.
Saturday, October 26, 2024, 2:00 p.m.
Saturday, October 26, 2024, 7:30 p.m.
Dance Studio
Schwartz Center for Performing Arts
Courtney Barth
LUX (2006)
Choreography by Doug Varone
Music by Philip Glass: The Light
Lighting Design by Robert Wierzel
Costume Design by Liz Prince
Claude Johnson Jake Bone Will Noling Joniece “JoJo” Boykins Kanon Sugino
Madison Elliott Ryan Yamauchi
Lux premiered on October 19, 2006 in San Luis Obispo, CA and was solely commissioned by the Daniel and Dianne Vapnek Family Fund. It was created, in part, while in residence at SUMMERDANCE, Santa Barbara, CA.
— Pause —
OCTET (2021)
Choreography by Doug Varone
Staged by Courtney Barth
Faculty Rehearsal Director: Kristin O’Neal
Music by Philip Glass: Violin Sonata, Movement II
Lighting Design by Burke Wilmore
Costumes Originally Designed and Coordinated by Gail Beldoni
October 25 and October 26 (7:30 p.m.)
Jake Bone Madison Elliott Claude Johnson Ryan Yamauchi with students from the Emory Dance Company
Vivian Corry Gab Crum Genevieve DeBell Deena Goodgold
October 26 (2:00 p.m.)
Courtney Barth Joniece “JoJo” Boykins Will Noling Kanon Sugino with students from the Emory Dance Company
Lydia Hamby Jillian Lee Alice Stern Abigail Yi
Understudies
Nadia Piecyk, Rebecca Urato
This performance of Octet is part of Doug Varone and Dancers’ Education/Performance Project created in alliance with college and university dance departments across the country. The Project gives student dancers the opportunity to learn DOVA repertory and be mentored by company dancers in their roles. The culmination of the Project uniquely casts student dancers alongside company members in performance. The company’s Education/Performance Project builds an important dialogue between professional and college dancers and creates an opportunity for detailed learning, delving deep into performance and mentoring skills for all involved. —Doug Varone
Double Octet was commissioned by the Performing Arts Center at Purchase College, along with the Conservatory of Dance. It premiered on April 7, 2021.
— Intermission —
RESTORE (2024)
Choreography by Doug Varone
Music Arranged by Festival Voices and Nico Bentley: Handel Remixed
Lighting Design by Derek Van Heel
Costume Design by Caitlin Taylor
Courtney Barth
Claude Johnson
Jake Bone Will Noling
Joniece “JoJo” Boykins Kanon Sugino
Madison Elliott Ryan Yamauchi
To My Arms/Restore was created in residence at the Atlantic Center for the Arts, Hunter College, NYU Tisch School of the Arts, Purchase College, Marbletown MultiArts Center, and The Wheelhouse. The work was commissioned with major individual funding support from Lida Orzeck, Jody and John Arnhold Foundation, Vapnek Family Fund, Joseph Smith, and Gavin Berger. The dance received its first performance on March 16, 2024 at the Performing Arts Center at Purchase College, Purchase, NY.
Doug Varone and Dancers’ programs are supported in part by Jody and John Arnhold, The Bulova Gale Foundation, Fan Fox and Leslie R. Samuels Foundation, Gladys Kreible Delmas Foundation, Harkness Foundation for Dance, Howard Gilman Foundation, the New York Community Trust, O’Donnell-Green Music and Dance Foundation, SHS Foundation, Vapnek Family Fund, and Shubert Foundation, as well as public funds from the National Endowment for the Arts, and the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Kathy Hochul and the New York State Legislature. We also gratefully acknowledge our many individual supporters.
Doug Varone and Dancers
“Each creative process is a tremendously collaborative event with the dancers, embracing all of our imaginations, instincts, and artistry. My thanks and love to them for being such great, caring allies in the creation of the many dances that fall from my brain.” —Doug Varone
The 2024–2025 season marks the company’s 39th year. On the concert stage, in opera, theater, and on the screen, Varone’s kinetically thrilling dances make essential connections and mine the complexity of the human spirit. On tour, the company has performed in more than 125 cities in 45 states across the US and in Europe, Asia, Canada, and South America. Stages include The Kennedy Center, Lincoln Center, Brooklyn Academy of Music, San Francisco Performances, London’s Queen Elizabeth Hall, Toronto’s Harbourfront, Moscow’s Stanislavsky Theater, Buenos Aires’ Teatro San Martin, the Venice Biennale, Marble Hall in Tokyo, and the Bates, Jacob’s Pillow, and American Dance Festivals. In opera and theater, the company regularly collaborates on the many Varone-directed or choreographed productions that have been produced around the country.
Doug Varone and Dancers are among the most sought-after ambassadors and educators in the field. The company was selected to tour as part of the DanceMotion USASM program, a joint project between BAM and the US Department of State, touring, performing, and teaching in Argentina, Paraguay, and Peru for a month. This project culminated in the premiere of a new commissioned work for Brooklyn Academy of Music’s Next Wave Festival, in collaboration with the Argentina-based Brenda Angiel Aerial Dance. Other BAM produced seasons include Dense Terrain (2007), and the 30th Anniversary Season (2016) and In the Shelter of the Fold/Epilogue (2019). For the past 20 years, the company’s annual summer intensive workshops at leading universities have attracted students and professionals from around the globe. The DEVICES Program, a mentoring initiative for emerging choreographers, began its pilot year in 2014. This unique program mentors 10 artists over the course of several months in the creation and presentation of new works. Other educational initiatives include Virtual Varone, a program which creates virtual residencies around the globe and the Education/Performance Project which enfolds college dance students into the company’s repertory, directly sharing the stage with company dancers. The Project has been a cornerstone in the
company’s teaching and mentorship programs, creating an important dialogue with young dancers about their artistry and the effect they can have in the world today.
Varone, his dancers, and designers have been honored with 11 Bessie Awards. The company’s creative output is as varied as Varone’s interests. Recent projects include: everything is fine, a full evening movement play based on the poems of Billy Collins, with a new score by David Van Tieghem; The Scrapbook, a digital journal of 10 films created and directed by Varone, set to iconic songs from the 1940s–50s and Somewhere, Varone’s acclaimed non-narrative version of Leonard Bernstein’s West Side Story, and To My Arms/Restore set to Handel. The Company’s Winter Intensive for pre-professional dancers will be held at the Juilliard School in NYC from January 6–10, 2025. To learn more about the Winter Intensive and Company, visit dovadance.org.
Doug Varone (Artistic Director) Award-winning choreographer and director Doug Varone works in dance, theater, opera, film, and fashion. His New York City-based Doug Varone and Dancers has been commissioned and presented to critical acclaim by leading international venues for over three decades.
In the concert dance world, Varone has created a body of works globally. Commissions include Paul Taylor’s American Modern Dance Company, the Limón Company, Hubbard Street Dance Chicago, Rambert Dance Company, Martha Graham Dance Company, Batsheva Dance Company, and Bern Ballet, among others. In addition, his dances have been staged on more than 100 college and university programs around the country.
In opera, Doug Varone is in demand as both a director and choreographer. Among his productions at the Metropolitan Opera are Richard Strauss’ Salome, the world premiere of Tobias Picker’s An American Tragedy, Stravinsky’s Le Sacre du printemps, designed by David Hockney, and Hector Berloiz’s Les Troyens. He has staged multiple premieres and new productions for Minnesota Opera, Opera Colorado, Washington Opera, New York City Opera, and Boston Lyric Opera, among others. His numerous theater credits include choreography for Broadway, OffBroadway, and regional theaters across the country. Recent projects include directing and choreographing MasterVoices production of Dido and Aeneas at New York City Center—starring Tony Award winners Kelli O’Hara and Victoria Clark; staging Julia Wolfe’s Pulitzer Prize-winning oratorio, Anthracite Fields for the Westminster Choir and the Bang on a Can All-Stars; and choreographing the revival of Kurt Weill’s musical Lady in the Dark at City Center.
Varone received his BFA from Purchase College where he was awarded the President’s Distinguished Alumni Award. Numerous honors and awards include a John Simon Guggenheim Fellowship, two individual Bessie Awards, an Obie Award, a Doris Duke Artist Award, the Jerome Robbins Fellowship at the Bogliasco Institute in Italy, and the Lifetime Achievement Award from the American Dance Guild.
Courtney Barth is a New York-based dancer originally from Las Vegas, NV. They are a graduate of SUNY Purchase where they studied abroad at London Contemporary Dance School. While abroad, Barth performed Crystal Pite’s Polaris at Sadlers Wells. Since graduation, she has worked with Shannon Gillen at NYC fashion week, Kensaku Shinohara at the Queens Museum, and is currently a company member with Hannah Garner’s 2nd Best Dance Company. They joined Doug Varone and Dancers in 2017 and also act as costume manager and workshop coordinator for the company.
Jake Bone, originally from Dallas, Texas, earned a BFA in Dance with summa cum laude honors at the University of North Texas where he performed works by Bebe Miller, Nick Cave, Kihyoung Choi, and Anna Sokolow. Since moving to New York City, he has been a company member for Bare Dance Company, Gibney Dance Company, and Awakening Movement. He has also had the pleasure of working with the Median Movement, the Metropolitan Opera, Bulareyaung Pagarlava, Kensaku Shinohara, and Steeledance. Bone joined Doug Varone and Dancers in 2015 and serves as the company manager and tour manager.
Joniece “JoJo” Boykins is an African American native of Inglewood, California. She received her BFA in dance from the Conservatory of Dance at SUNY Purchase College. During her time at Purchase, she performed the works of Doug Varone, Peter Chu, Kevin Wynn, Jonathan Reidel, Alexandra Beller, and Nejla Yatkin. Alongside her studies, she has attended professional programs such as Springboard Danse Montreal, Hubbard Street, Alvin Ailey, and Ron K. Brown/ Evidence’s summer workshop. She has performed in works by Donald McKayle, Rennie Harris, Christopher Huggins, Tommie Waheed, Lula Washington, and Tamica WashingtonMiller. Boykins joined Doug Varone and Dancers in 2021.
Madison Elliott is a dancer, choreographer and Countertechnique teacher based in NYC. She attended high school at UNCSA and received
her BFA in Dance at SUNY Purchase College. She has worked with companies such as ZviDance, MJ Willis Project, DanceLabNYC, TU Dance, and more. Elliott has taught at Gibney Dance, Peridance, Steps on Broadway, and SUNY Purchase College and is an Adjunct Professor at Adelphi University. In 2020, she founded and is now the director of Headlights Theater—an immersive performing arts organization in her home town of Sioux Falls, South Dakota. Elliott joined Doug Varone and Dancers in 2024.
Claude Johnson, a Chicago native, is a dancer, choreographer, and movement director. He studied at the Chicago Academy for the Arts and Suny Purchase College, earning the Adopt-A-Dancer Scholarship. From 2017 to 2022, he danced full-time with A.I.M. by Kyle Abraham, becoming a Princess Grace 2021 nominee. Johnson has performed works by renowned artists such as Kyle Abraham, Merce Cunningham, Trisha Brown, and more. As a performer and black queer artist, he uses dance to convey the human experience, advocating for self-expression and social change. He believes in expanding community perspectives through art, fostering understanding and growth in every artistic endeavor.
Will Noling is a performer and educator born and raised in Brooklyn, NY. They graduated summa cum laude from SUNY Purchase, having spent a term on exchange at London Contemporary Dance School. In addition to performing with Doug Varone and Dancers, they are a founding collaborator with Hannah Garner’s 2nd Best Dance Company. Noling is also a collaborator with Megan Williams Dance Projects and previously served as artistic associate with Gibney Dance Company. Additional performance credits include works by Raja Feather Kelly, Chuck Wilt, and Crystal Pite.
Kanon Sugino is a Japanese American dance artist born and raised in New York. After graduating from Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School, she graduated Summa Cum Laude from Purchase College, SUNY. She has performed in works choreographed by Bill T. Jones, Norbert De La Cruz lll, Peter Chu, Darrell Grand Moultrie, MICHIYAYA, Jie-Hung Connie Shiau, Merce Cunningham, Martha Graham, and more. Soon after graduating, she joined Nimbus Dance as a company dancer, and is now working with MICHIYAYA Dance and Doug Varone and Dancers. Sugino is thrilled to be dancing with DOVA for the first time this season.
Ryan Yamauchi was born and raised in Honolulu, Hawaii and began his dance training at the Mid-Pacific Institute School of the Arts. He later moved to New York and received his BFA in Dance from SUNY Purchase. Yamauchi has had the pleasure of dancing with 2nd Best Dance Company, Loni Landon Dance Projects, NVA & Guests, and Sidra Bell Dance New York. He has also performed as a guest dancer with Gibney Dance Company, Santa Fe Opera, and Santa Barbara Dance Theater. Yamauchi began working with Doug Varone and Dancers in 2015.
Tricia Toliver (Lighting Director, Production Stage Manager) was the resident Lighting Designer/Production Manager for the Barnard College Dance Department from 2009–2022, designing lighting for new works by many noted choreographers. She has had the pleasure of working primarily in the dance world for such companies as the Trisha Brown Dance Company, Lucinda Childs, Lar Lubovitch, the Limón Dance Company, Doug Varone and Dancers, Donald Byrd/The Group, Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo, Susan Marshall, David Dorfman Dance, Camille A. Brown Dance Company, Parsons Dance, and Complexions. She danced with Donald Byrd/The Group from 1987–1991.
Liz Prince (Costume Designer) designs costumes for dance, theater, and film and has had the great pleasure of designing costumes for Doug Varone since 1997. Her work has been exhibited at the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, 2011 Prague Quadrennial of Performance Space and Design, Cleveland Center for Contemporary Art, Rockland Center for the Arts, and Snug Harbor Cultural Center. She received a 1990 New York Dance and Performance Award (Bessie) for costume design and a 2008 Charles Flint Kellogg Award from Bard College for achievement in her field.
Caitlin Taylor (Costume Designer) is a freelance dancer and costume designer based in New York City. She has designed costumes for Sidra Bell Dance New York, UNA Projects, Cirio Collective, HIVEWILD, the Dash Ensemble, Loni Landon Dance Projects, Kayla Farrish, Brandon Coleman, the Limón Dance Company, New York City Ballet, and NVA & Guests. Taylor has done costume reconstruction for Alexander Whitley Dance Company, the touring production of RENT, and Doug Varone and Dancers. Assisting designer Mark Eric, she has worked on commissions for Ballet Hispánico, Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, Ailey II, and Ballet X, among others.
Derek Van Heel (Lighting Designer) designs have been seen in venues large and small; from Jazz At Lincoln Center, the Town Hall, and the
Metropolitan Museum of Art, to the kinds of basements, bars, churches, and teeny-tiny rooms where New York theater is often forged. He is especially drawn to new works, and has contributed to dozens of premieres and workshop productions. Notable collaborations include New York City Opera, Pittsburgh Opera, Madison Opera, the Montana Repertory Theatre, Finger Lakes Opera, Syracuse Opera, Red Fern Theatre Company, Palm Beach Opera, Actor’s Studio Drama School, Scandinavian American Theatre, Origin Theatre, and the Civilians. His award-winning designs for Ren Gyo Soh’s Butoh Medea have been seen internationally in Italy, Turkey, Poland, Czechia, and at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe.
Robert Wierzel (Lighting Designer) has worked with artists from diverse disciplines and backgrounds in theater, dance, new music, and opera on stages and museums throughout the country and abroad. Wierzel has a 30-year history with choreographer Bill T. Jones and his company, the Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company (garnering several Bessie Awards, along with productions at the Lyon Opera Ballet and Berlin Opera Ballet). Other dance collaborations include with choreographers Larry Goldhuber and Heidi Latsky—Worse Case Scenario (Bessie Award), Margo Sappington, Alonzo King, Sean Curran, Molissa Fenely, Susan Marshall, Trisha Brown— How long…, and Doug Varone—Orpheus and Euridice (Obie Award-Special Citation). Broadway credits include: Lady Day At Emerson’s Bar & Grill, staring Audra McDonald; FELA! (TONY Award nomination); and David Copperfield’s Dreams and Nightmares. Regional credits include: A.C.T. San Francisco, Arena Stage, Shakespeare Theatre DC, Hartford Stage, Long Wharf Theatre, Goodman Theatre, the Guthrie, Mark Taper Forum, Berkley Rep, Milwaukee Rep, Chicago Shakespeare, and Westport Country Playhouse, among many others. Wierzel is currently on the faculty of New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts.
Burke Wilmore (Lighting Designer) is a member of United Scenic Artists Local 829 and an honors graduate of Wesleyan University. He has designed or adapted seven works for the dance company BODYTRAFFIC and has also lit the work of Camille A. Brown (Black Girl: Linguistic Play, Mr. Tol E. Rance, and City of Rain). He was the resident designer for Battleworks (2001–2010) and to date has lit eight of Robert Battle’s works for Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater. He has collaborated with André de Shields on the Louis Armstrong musical Ambassador Satch, and designed de Shields’ production of Ain’t Misbehavin’. Wilmore designed scenery and lighting for Apollo Club Harlem, Ellington at Christmas, and Ella at 100 at the Apollo Theater. He lights events and concerts at New Jersey Performing Arts Center, including Aretha Franklin (twice), and recently George Clinton and Parliament Funkadelic.
Festival Voices (Score Arrangement) Formed in 2017 by creative producer Oskar McCarthy and conductor Gregory Batsleer, Festival Voices’ mission is simple: to create transformative choral experiences. Festival Voices believes in the power of choral music to change lives. At Festival Voices’ core is a professional vocal ensemble dedicated to advancing and redefining the choral tradition, with a particular focus on presenting large-scale choral works reimagined live with electronic music. Festival Voices has curated performances for various UK summer festivals, including Wilderness and Latitude. The group has appeared twice at the London Handel Festival and created multi-art performances at Ugly Duck and Southbank Centre. In summer 2024, Festival Voices partnered with Bold Tendencies, London, for the launch of their summer season in a program that included Festival Voice’s new version of Mozart’s Requiem. www.festivalvoices.com | @festivalvoices
Nico Bentley (Composer) Nico Bentley is a composer, producer, and DJ from London. He takes a deep interest in all forms of music, but especially jazz, classical, African, and electronic music, holding a BA and MA in the first two respectively from Leeds Conservatoire. Bentley is a key regular collaborator with Festival Voices and the musical director and producer of the live African dance music collective Afriquoi, fusing traditional African music with western electronic music. He has performed as a session musician live on tours around the world; credits include Seal, Shift K3y, Secaina Hudson, and Idris Elba/Wretch 32. Studio credits include James Morrison and Billie Martin. Bentley has extensive experience of producing music for advertising and TV, including for Schwarzkopf Live, McArthur Glenn, Tesco, and Adidas/Stella McCartney. He was also a producer for the Beating Heart project, including producing an LP release for Faith Musa, released on Decca in 2019.
Patty Bryan (General Manager) has been involved with dance companies and dance organizations throughout her professional career. She has held senior administrative positions with Rena Shagan Associates, Armitage Gone! Dance, DanceBrazil, Gina Gibney Dance, Shen Wei Dance Arts, and the New York State Dance Force. She has served as Board Chair of Pentacle Dance/Works, President of the Nancy Meehan Dance Company Board, President of the Laban/Bartinieff Institute for Movement Studies Board, and was co-founder and Board President of Dance Umbrella in Austin, TX. She also performed with the Nancy Meehan Dance Company. She has been with DOVA since 2019.
DOUG VARONE AND DANCERS is incorporated as DOVA, Inc., a not-for-profit tax-exempt organization founded in 1995. Contributions to the company’s work are tax-deductible and greatly appreciated. Please make your gift payable to: DOVA, Inc.
224 W. 35th St, Suite 500 #591, New York, NY 10001
Website: dovadance.org
Instagram and Facebook: @dovadance
Email: info@dovadance.org
Board of Directors, DOVA, Inc.
Carol Walker, President
Richard J. Caples
Guillermo Izabal
Jeanne Murphy
Barbara Parker
Gabrielle Presser
Mylene Ramos Seidl
Doug Varone
Advisory Board
Julia Glawe
Lawrence Greene
Lynn Wichern
DOUG VARONE AND DANCERS
Artistic Director: Doug Varone
General Manager: Patty Bryan
Development: Fran Kirmser
Financial Officer: Lynn Wichern
Production Manager: Tricia Toliver
Rehearsal Director: Ryan Yamauchi
Company Manager: Jake Bone
Education Manager: Brad Beakes
Tour Manager: Jake Bone
Costume Manager: Courtney Barth
Workshop Coordinators: Courtney Barth, Ryan Yamauchi
Licensing and Staging: Brad Beakes
Social Media Coordinator: Joniece “JoJo” Boykins
This presentation of Doug Varone and Dancers is presented with the collaborative administrative support of Performing Arts Strategies. For touring/performance information: info@performingartsstrategies.com
Music Credits
The State of Georgia maintains contracts with ASCAP and BMI for performances of licensed works. This permission was granted:
Philip Glass, The Light, © 1989 Dunvagen Music Publishers Inc. Used by permission.
Philip Glass, Violin Sonata, Movement II, performed by Piotr Plawner and Gerardo Vila. Permission granted courtesy of Naxos of America, Inc. and Dunvagen Music Publishers Inc.
The Handel Dixit Dominus performed by the Bavarian Radio Chorus, Concerto Koln, Dijkstra, recorded on the BR Klassik label, is used by permission of Naxos USA.
Handel Remixed was commissioned and premiered by Festival Voices. Cast and program are subject to change.
Emory Dance Production Staff
Residency Coordinator: Gregory Catellier
Production Manager: Kendall Simpson
Technical Director: Gregory Catellier
Assistant Stage Managers: Thales Lathrop, Carly Wynans
Light Board Programmer: James Branstetter
Electricians: David Reingold, Mack Scales, Ethan Weathersbee
Audio Engineer: Wesley Eccelston
Wardrobe: Cynthia Church
To learn more about Emory Dance or support this student-centered program by giving to Emory Friends of Dance, visit dance.emory.edu.
