Doug Varone and Dancers’ highly popular series of pared-down, informal showcases entitled Stripped returns to the 92nd Street Y Harkness Dance Center for a second season with four intimate studio showings beginning September 24, 2010 and running through May 6, 2011.  Featuring a new work-in-progress along with an exciting mix of excerpts from Varone’s signature dances and guest appearances by some of his renowned collaborators, these evenings will allow audiences to gain a continuing, first-hand look at the company’s artistic process, drawing them viscerally into Varone’s choreographic world.

The centerpiece of this year’s series will be the creation of Carrugi. The title is taken from the Italian word for the narrow and often steep lanes that penetrate the heart of Italy’s Liguria region where Varone recently studied on a Jerome Robbins Fellowship.  Inspired by the patterns and energy of these labyrinths, the dance will visually and architecturally rise and fall against the beauty of selected Italian arias and operatic choral selections. Caruggi will be developed over the course of the Stripped series, changing and evolving at each showing. The complete work will be premiere during 2011-2012, the company’s 25^th anniversary season.

In addition to Carrugi, September’s showing will include an extended excerpt from the wintery, darkly-jagged Victorious (2007), set to an Edward Elgar concerto.  Like the cello and piano lines that come into relative then perfect harmony and then pull away, the dancers continually coalesce and retreat in a piece that pours out onto the stage.  Victorious was commissioned by the Bard College Summerscape Series.

Other repertory pieces to be shown throughout the season include revivals that haven’t been seen in many years including Care (1989), Sleeping with Giants (1999), and Cantata 78 (1986) among others; signature pieces such as the exhilarating Lux and Bessie-Award winning Boats Leaving; other new works-in-process, and performances by guest artists.

The Stripped series will take place at the 92^nd Street Y Harkness Dance Center, 1395 Lexington Avenue, at 8pm on the following Fridays: September 24 & November 5, 2010; January 7 and May 6, 2011.  Single tickets are $20 in advance or $25 cash at the door.  A cash bar will be available at each performance.  The Stripped series is general admission.

[photo by Phil Knott]