Bates Dance Festival

Chapters from a Broken Novel is a dance of interconnected short stories drawn from choreographer Doug Varone’s journal of photos, illustrations, snippets of overheard conversations, and quotes.  The presenters can choose to present all of the “chapters” in their entirety or shown individually as if from a book.  To aid new audiences in understanding the piece, presenter partners have coordinated pre-performance talks with dance critic, Debra Cash, and post-show question and answer sessions.  In addition, a creative residency for dancers has been established, as well as “Mapping workshops” based on Varone’s idea of using movement and verbal exercises to explore how identities and beliefs are shared.