Carnegie Hall - Steve Reich @ 70

The first time I heard Steve’s music, I remember thinking to myself that I had entered into a whole new universe. It was vibratory and alive and transporting, sounds I had never heard before. A sense of time suspended for me, and I could actually hear myself breathing alternate rhythms. As a choreographer, each time I create a dance to one of Steve’s scores, it becomes a similar profound journey of the spirit. His works are like landscapes that keep revealing new layers of meaning under the surface of the soil. The further I dig, the more secrets are exposed, and the road map to creating a parallel work unfolds. There is a soul in the sound that I find deeply moving, almost exhilarating, and the intricate and complicated interplay between musical characters creates narratives for me. They are conjured stories and are purely driven by the nuance and passion of the score. In that regard, they are more felt than understood. It’s as if a sense of time and space were newly created through sound.

There’s something about following the intuition of the score and letting that take you into the physical, the visceral. As a dancer, it seems easy, almost meditative, to enter into these works as the body takes over the aural. Each time I create to a Reich score, I explore new choreographic territory, and the brilliance of Steve’s music remains a great challenge for my imagination. I keep returning for more, and as a result, I keep learning more.

Doug Varone is a choreographer of contemporary dance for the concert stage, as well as opera, Broadway, regional theater, film, and television; he is best known for the dances he has created for his company, Doug Varone and Dancers.