His 2019 “Somewhere” had its Philadelphia premiere in this well-wrought program and gave us a pithy take on Bernstein’s score for “West Side Story.” The musical arrangement caromed between some of the most well-known sections, gave only brief nods to others and left some sections out altogether. In a brief after show talk, Varone said the Leonard Bernstein Foundation gave his company the rights to the music for “Somewhere” only on the day of its premiere in at Santa Barbara’s Lobero Theater once they saw the work. It was a pretty ballsy risk for Varone to take, but he and his dancers have never been risk averse. It was also updated with a very effective electronic opening mix of subway whistles, police whistles and other New York noises that could be picked out as the dancers entered to it. They mostly wore contemporary street or rehearsal togs, pants in the darker spectrum of colors with pops of color and patterns in the tops.

I first reviewed Varone in 1999 and noted immediately that his choreography bases the footwork on walking (the thought that conceives movement,) running, (the action that embodies the thought,) and small jetés or skips, lifts and crossover kicks that spin the body into drops and downward poses that may end in falls (the consequences of the embodiment of the thoughts.) But it’s the upper body movement that then, and still, catch my breath. Although others see his port de bras emanating from the torso or sternum, I see the arms flung out violently from the midspine giving him and his dance artists the propulsive look that distinguishes them from other choreographic styles. I once asked him why he subjects himself and his dancers to such possibly hazardous moves.

“Because they begin at the spine, mid-torso, they hurt my back and shoulder blades,” he said. “But sometimes it’s the only way to open the chest and suggest vulnerability.”