DOUG VARONE is a choreographer of contemporary dance for the concert stage, as well as opera, Broadway, regional theater, film, and
television. He is the Artistic Director of Doug Varone and Dancers which he established in 1986 as an opportunity to explore and process his particular choreographic vision.
Varone is the recipient of numerous honors including a Guggenheim Fellowship, a New York Dance and Performance Award (Bessie) for Sustained Achievement in Choreography and,
most recently, a 2006 OBIE Award for his production of Ricky Ian Gordon’s Orpheus and Euridice at Lincoln Center. His work has been supported annually by the NEA since 1988.
In addition to his own company, Varone has been commissioned by numerous dance companies including
the Limón Company, Dancemakers (Canada), Batsheva Dance Company (Israel), Uppercut Danse (Denmark), AnCreative (Japan) and
most recently the Dayton Contemporary Dance Company and Colorado Ballet.
Varone is also known as a choreographer for opera. He
choreographed a new production of Stravinsky’s Le Sacre du Printemps, for New York’s Metropolitan Opera and returned to the Met in the
spring of 2004 for a new production of Strauss’ Salome. Recently, he choreographed the Met’s World Premiere production of Tobias Picker's An
American Tragedy. Other Opera credits include Berlioz’ Les Troyens, (Metropolitan Opera); Wagner’s Die Walküre, (Washington Opera); the
American premiere of Antheil’s Transatlantic, (Minnesota Opera); and Rossini’s Il Viaggio a Reims (New York City Opera). He both directed
and choreographed Gluck’s Orphée et Eurydice and Rossini’s Il Barbiere di Siviglia for Opera Colorado.
Varone is also active in theater, television,
and film. His theater credits include Broadway’s Triumph of Love and productions at Baltimore’s Center Stage, Yale Repertory
Theater, Walnut Street Theater, Princeton’s McCarter Theater, Music Theater Group, the Vineyard Theater and Via Theater. Choreography
for television and fashion include the dance and underwater sequences of the A&E Network production, The Planets (nominated for an
International Emmy and Grammy Award for Long Form Video) and designer Geoffrey Beene’s Couture Fashion Ballets in NYC.
His collaboration
with photographer Michael Thompson was commissioned by W magazine and featured in its February 2004 edition.
Recent projects include directing and choreographing Ricky Ian
Gordon’s Orpheus and Euridice for Lincoln Center and The Invisible Man with Aquila Theatre Company (Fall 2005). In May 2006 he
directed and choreographed the US premiere of Laurent Petitgirard’s Joseph Merrick: The Elephant Man for Minnesota Opera.
Born in Syosset, New York, he received his Bachelor’s Degree in Fine Arts from Purchase College.
