Doug Varone and Dancers 2014 Opening Night Gala
Company:
Doug Varone and Dancers
Doug Varone and Dancers
To Honor
Visionary Dance Educator and Advocate
Jody Gottfried Arnhold
Opening Night Gala will feature World Premiere of Dome,
the New York premiere of Doug Varone’s solo The Fabulist, and a revival of Castles
Tuesday, December 2
At The Joyce Theater
New York, NY (week of Nov 2) – Doug Varone and Dancers is pleased to announce that its Opening Night Gala, to be held on Tuesday, December 2, 2014 following the performance at The Joyce Theater, will honor Jody Gottfriend Arnhold for her dedication to New York City schools and the development of dance education programs for young people.
“Jody is a champion of dance and a leader in arts education. Her vast contribution to the art form continually inspires us as we further develop our own initiatives towards dance engagement,” says Doug Varone.
The Company returns to The Joyce Theater from December 2-7 and will celebrate Ms. Arnhold at their Opening Night Gala. John Lanasa chairs the event along with Katryn Geane, Joyce Lee, Allison Mui, Jeanne Murphy, and Lida Orzeck. Season sponsors include Hanky Panky, Situation Interactive, rpm: projects, and Uber. Tito’s Handmade Vodka and Monsieur Touton will provide vodka and wine for the event.
The evening will include an opening night performance of the World Premiere of Dome, set to Christopher Rouse's haunting "Trombone Concerto," the New York premiere of The Fabulist, a new solo performed by Doug Varone, and a major revival of the company’s lauded masterwork Castles (2004). A celebratory party will follow at The Maritime Hotel. For more information, or to purchase tickets, please contact Sarah Bodley at sbodley@dougvaroneanddancers.org or 212-279-3344.
Jody Gottfried Arnhold, visionary dance educator and advocate, is the Founder of the Dance Education Laboratory (DEL) at the 92nd Street Y, which provides intensive workshops and courses in a variety of skills and methodologies for dance artists and educators who seek to improve their teaching abilities in the classroom or other settings. She created DEL in response to the need for a practical and focused dance pedagogy program. DEL was recently named Outstanding Program by the National Dance Education Organization (NDEO).
Jody taught dance in the NYC public schools for more than 25 years, providing her with the experiences that have guided her dance education efforts. She serves on the Advisory Council for Arts Education at the New York City Department of Education (NYCDOE) and is Co-Chair of the Committee that created the NYCDOE Curriculum Blueprint for Teaching and Learning in Dance PreK-12. Jody is Chair of the Hunter College Dance Advisory Committee, Vice Chair of the Board of the Center for Arts Education, Chairman of the Dance Center Task Force at the 92nd Street Y where she serves on the Board, and Honorary Chair of the Board of Ballet Hispanico.
Jody received the Visionary Award from the National Dance Education Organization in 2009, the Spotlight in Dance Education Award presented by the NYCDOE in June 2008, and the Irmy Award for Dance Education from the Laban Institute of Movement Studies in November 2008.
About the Company
Doug Varone and Dancers, founded in 1986, has commanded attention for its expansive vision, versatility, and technical prowess. On the concert stage, in opera, theater, film, and fashion, Varone’s kinetically thrilling dances make essential connections and mine the complexity of the human spirit. At home in New York City, Doug Varone and Dancers is the resident company at the 92nd Street Y Harkness Dance Center. On tour, the Company has been commissioned and presented to critical acclaim across the US and internationally at venues including the Kennedy Center, Lincoln Center, Brooklyn Academy of Music, the Jacob’s Pillow and American Dance Festivals, London’s Queen Elizabeth Hall, Moscow’s Stanislavsky Theater, and the Venice Biennale, among others. The Company are sought-after ambassadors and educators in the field, and were selected to take part in the 2013 DanceMotionUSA(SM) program, a joint project between BAM and the US Department of State, which sent them on month-long tour of South America. Varone, his dancers, and designers have been awarded 11 New York Dance and Performance Awards (Bessies).
Award-winning choreographer and director Doug Varone works in dance, theater, opera, film, and fashion. In the concert dance world, Varone has created a body of works globally. Commissions include the Limón Company, Hubbard Street Dance Chicago, Rambert Dance Company (London), Martha Graham Dance Company, Dancemakers (Canada), Batsheva Dance Company (Israel), Bern Ballet (Switzerland) and An Creative (Japan), among others. In addition, his dances have been staged on more than 75 college and university programs around the country. In opera, Doug Varone is in demand as both a director and choreographer. Among his four productions at The Metropolitan Opera are Salome with its Dance of the Seven Veils for Karita Mattila, 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, which was broadcast worldwide in HD. His numerous theater credits include choreography for Broadway, Off-Broadway and regional theaters across the country. His choreography for last season’s musical Murder Ballad at Manhattan Theater Club earned him a Lortel Award nomination. Numerous honors and awards include a John Simon Guggenheim Fellowship, an OBIE Award (for direction/choreography of Lincoln Center’s Orpheus and Euridice), the Jerome Robbins Fellowship at the Boglaisco Institute in Italy, two individual Bessie Awards, two American Dance Festival Doris Duke Awards for New Work, and four National Dance Project Awards.
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