Doug Varone's 'Alchemy': Daniel Pearl Inspired Choreographer's Work

I spoke with choreographer Doug Varone, whose company returns to the Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center at the University of Maryland, on Friday with a work based on the life and, moreso, the death of journalist Daniel Pearl.

"Can horror inspire beauty? For New York-based choreographer Doug Varone, the act of creating a dance based on the 2002 murder of Jewish-American journalist Daniel Pearl was both a way to honor the life and work of ... the slain writer and to offer healing -- to those who knew the writer and to those pained by the horrifying, and very public, events surrounding his death. In the course of a wrenching journey through grief and pain, beauty can arise, and in that realization Varone found solace and hope." 

The article appears in this week's Washington Jewish Week.