The Volpe Sisters (1989)
Peggy Baker Dance Projects has five works from the celebrated New York choreographer Doug Varone in our repertoire: two are commissions (The Volpe Sisters, Heaven), and three are acquisitions (In Thine Eyes, Home, and armour).
When asked about making this first work for Peggy, Doug wrote “It would have been easy to craft something physically sublime for her dancing body but I was interested in challenging both of us to dig deep into a non-dance narrative work that embraced the emotional center of Peggy’s talents. Letting that then define the physical nature of the work was a constant stripping away process of anything remotely dance related. Watching Peggy inhabit this character as an actor more than a dancer was revelatory and an aspect of her artistry I was in awe of.”
Of her performance partners for the piece, Peggy writes: “My original partner for The Volpe Sisters was Janie Brendel, and the duet was a commission for a concert we produced together at Danspace Project at St Mark’s Church in New York City. Janie is thin, with a fragile looking body that belies her strength and grit, and Doug threw her into the position of attempting to manage, guide and calm me as my big boned body pushed and obessed inside the choreography. Janie danced The Volpe Sisters with me in my debut solo concert in Winnipeg, May 1990, and a few months later Doug donned a housedress to perform a studio showing with me at the Amercan Dance Festival. Over the next few years Janie toured with me across the country from Vancouver to St. John’s, plus a hop across the pond to Ghent, Belgium.
Then in 2000, The Volpe Sisters was revived as an opportunity for me to perform with the great actor, Jackie Burroughs. We reconstructed the piece in Toronto prior to a rehearsal week in New York City. Doug is an incredible performance coach and an impeccable director of his work, and it was magnificent to be in rehearsal with the two of them - Jackie opening herself to her character and to the choreography with complete vulnerability, and Doug guiding her with clarity, nuance and tenderness. Throughout our week in NYC, Jackie narrated every street with memories from the 1960s and her time with Lovin’ Spoonful guitarist, Zal Yanovsky. The time with Jackie went deep. The performances with her are unforgettable.”
Deborah Jowitt reviewed the Danspace premiere of the work in The Village Voice in 1989: "Baker...is a woman damaged in some way, watched over almost emotionlessly...Everything between the women is careful and fugitively tender, as if love long ago had eroded into patience.” Read the full review here.
Learn more about Doug Varone and his incredible NY-based company Doug Varone and Dancers here.
Learn more about the story of Jackie Burroughs meeting Zal Yanovsky in Spacing here.
