from Doug Varone's "Chapters from a Broken Novel"
In some settings, his company performs all of the sections in an evening-length work; here, they'll display an arrangement of 13 or 14 in a program with LUX, a piece regional audiences saw at the American Dance Festival in 2008. (After their show in Raleigh, Varone's company willl present a briefer grouping of solos and duets from the collection during performances in Asheville on Feb. 9-10.)
The literary reference in the title should come as little surprise for a choreographer long renowned for placing sharply-crafted characters and theatrically resonant interpersonal narratives on stage—without his performers ever saying a single word. True, some of Varone's works, like Lux, are abstract explorations of velocity, arc and kinetic bliss. But when he takes up people's stories, his work is easily comparable to that of Raymond Carver and Joyce Carol Oates. Small wonder I've previously referred to Varone as one of my favorite short story writers—who's simply working in a different medium.
With evocative chapter titles like “Spilling the Contents,” “The Ghosts of Insects,” “Playing in the Shadows,” “Glass” and “Egalite,”—and only several hundred million permutations possible among them—Varone could be mining this particular vein of inspiration for some time to come.
Behind-the-scenes videos describing the creation of two chapters, “Ron Tells the Truth,” and “The Ghosts of Insects,” are on Varone's company website. Further video excerpts from the work are here.
Showtime's 8 p.m. tonight at Stewart Theater; tickets are available at (919) 515-1100.