Daniel Charon has been teaching consistently since moving to NYC in 1996. He has taught at the Limón Institute, 100 Grand, Dance New Amsterdam, Peridance Center, and the 92nd Street Y and continues to teach regularly at various venues. He also teaches master classes and workshops around the country and has taught at the Metropolitan Opera, the Bates Dance Festival, and the Varone Summer Dance Workshop where he was on faculty for 10 years. He has been a guest artist at numerous universities and was an adjunct faculty member at Hunter College in NYC. Daniel has staged the works of José Limón, and Jirí Kylián and continues to stage the works of Doug Varone on various schools and companies around the world.
Daniel was a full-time member of Doug Varone and Dancers from 1999 - 2009 where he served as dancer and rehearsal director and before that was with the Limón Dance Company for three years. He has also danced with various other dance, theater, and opera companies. Daniel can currently be seen dancing in Doug Elkin's production of Fräulein Maria.
As a choreographer, Daniel has been creating and presenting his own work since 1995. His choreography has been seen at many venues, as part of various festivals and has been presented by the 92nd Street Y Harkness Dance Festival and as part of the Inside/Out series at Jacob’s Pillow. He has also presented two full evening concerts at Joyce SoHo in NYC and a solo concert at East Tennessee Sate University. Daniel has been commissioned to choreograph new work for various companies, universities, and festivals; most recently the Zenon Dance Company in Minneapolis, MN. He received a choreographic fellowship from the Summer Stages Dance Festival in Concord, MA and has been the company in residence at the Silo at Kirkland Farm three times. Daniel is a recipient of DTW's Outer/Space Creative Residency and of Topaz Arts Solo Flight Creative Residency.
Daniel is from Moorhead, MN and is a BFA graduate of the North Carolina School of the Arts. He also works as a web developer for Design Brooklyn in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. This fall Daniel will pursue his MFA at the California Institute of the Arts.
Natalie Desch is originally from New Castle, PA, where she began her dance training under the guidance of Deborah Parou. After receiving her BFA and the Martha Hill Prize from the Juilliard School, (Benjamin Harkarvy, director,) she performed with the Limón Dance Company from 1996-2001. Since that time, she has been a member and co-rehearsal director of Doug Varone and Dancers and has additionally danced for Varone at the Metropolitan Opera, the Minnesota Opera, Opera Colorado, West Palm Beach Opera and the Aquila Theater Company. As well, Natalie has performed the works of Ariane Anthony, Adriane Fang, Mary Ford, Toshiko Oiwa, Jonathan Riedel and has the pleasure to work with and perform Daniel Charon’s work for over a decade. A Hunter College faculty member since 2005, Natalie also teaches at various NYC studio spaces, at the Bates Dance Festival, the Daniel Charon Dance Intensive, for the Central Pennsylvania Youth Ballet, and conducts master classes around the country. She has staged the works of Varone, José Limón, and Jirí Kylián for companies and universities both domestically and abroad. Her choreography has been presented at various venues in NYC and around the country. In 2008, Natalie completed a teacher training course from YogaWorks in New York City and has been leading classes and semi-private sessions in and around NYC since that time.
photos by: David Schmidlapp