UB Center for the Arts Announces Residency with Doug Varone & Dancers

BUFFALO, N.Y. -- The Center for the Arts at the University at Buffalo has announced that Doug Varone & Dancers will be professional artists-in-residence March 12-24. This residency is made possible by a $30,000 grant from the National Endowment for the Arts in support of the Center's Arts in Healthcare Initiative. The company's March 24 public performance is sponsored by M&T Bank.

Founded in 1986, Doug Varone & Dancers has commanded attention for its expansive vision, versatility and technical prowess. Varone is renowned for his ability to create kinetically thrilling dances that range from the smallest gestures to full-throttle bursts of movement.

Inspired by a 2006 hip replacement surgery and subsequent rehabilitation, Doug Varone needed to develop a new way of creating movement with his dancers that did not rely on his body. The experience helped Varone develop a concept called "Blind Eye Choreography" that involves the use of descriptive language and dream imagery to help create dance. As part of the Center for the Arts' Arts in Healthcare Initiative, Varone and his dancers plan to use Blind Eye Choreography with patients at both Roswell Park Cancer Institute and Women and Children's Hospital of Buffalo.

While in the hospitals, the company will utilize digital flipcams to record their sessions with patients (only the artists will be filmed). The dancers will then review the footage and workshop it into choreography. The final product will be a new, 10-minute piece that will not only be shared at both hospitals, but will also be a part of the company's performance at the Center for the Arts on March 24.

During the second week of the residency, the company will provide master classes for UB dance students as well as give a lecture/demonstration at Tapestry Charter School in Buffalo.

Since 1997 the Center for the Arts has conducted more than a dozen professional dance outreach projects to provide arts education for more than 24,000 students at schools primarily in the City of Buffalo. These students have been afforded the opportunity to experience a live professional dance performance in their schools, free of charge, by some of the world's finest companies. In addition, UB dance majors benefit from master classes with members of these professional dance companies.

For more information on the Center for the Arts and its activities, visit http://www.ubcfa.org.