Photo by Matt Furman

Award-winning choreographer and director Doug Varone works in dance, theater, opera, film and fashion. He is a passionate educator and articulate advocate for dance. By any measure, his work is extraordinary for its emotional range, kinetic breadth and the many arenas in which he works. His New York City-based Doug Varone and Dancers has been commissioned and presented to critical acclaim by leading international venues for close to three decades. Since its founding in 1986, Doug Varone and Dancers has commanded attention for its expansive vision, versatility and technical prowess. On tour, the company has performed in more than 125 cities in 45 states across the U.S. and in Europe, Asia, Canada and South America. Stages include The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Lincoln Center, Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM), London’s Queen Elizabeth Hall, Moscow’s Stanislavsky Theater, Buenos Aires’ Teatro San Martin, the Venice Biennale and at Jacob’s Pillow, American Dance Festival and Bates Dance Festival. Varone, his dancers and designers have been honored with 11 New York Dance and Performance (“Bessie”) Awards.

In the concert dance world, Varone has created a body of works globally. Commissions include the Paul Taylor American Modern Dance Company, Limón Dance 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, 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, Off-Broadway and regional theaters across the country. His choreography for the musical Murder Ballad at Manhattan Theatre Club earned him a Lortel Award nomination. Recent projects include directing and choreographing MASTERVOICES production of Dido and Aeneas at New York’s City Center, starring Tony Award winners Kelli O’Hara and Victoria Clark, and staging Julia Wolfe’s Pulitzer Prize-winning oratorio Anthracite Fields for the Westminster Choir and the Bang on a Can All-Stars.

Varone received his BFA from Purchase College where he was awarded the President’s Distinguished Alumni Award in 2007. Numerous honors and awards include a John Simon Guggenheim Fellowship, an Obie Award (Lincoln Center’s Orpheus and Euridice), the Jerome Robbins Fellowship at the Boglaisco Institute in Italy and two individual Bessie Awards. In 2015, he was awarded both a Doris Duke Artist Award and the Lifetime Achievement Award from the American Dance Guild.