3 REASONS NOT TO MISS THIS SHOW:
1. Who else can put works inspired by and playing with Ionesco, John Cage and Balanchine on one bill? Who else has tried? Annie-B Parson’s unique vision shines in this showcase, which includes 2 North American premiers.
2. Let us just highlight this detail verbatim so you don’t miss it: Annie-B Parson stages a birthday party for a company of esteemed dance elders… You should probably bring a gift.
3. Consider it an evening of continuing education – Annie-B Parson and Paul Lazar are both faculty in NYU Tisch’s esteemed Experimental Theatre Wing.
“It’s hard to do justice to the freewheeling brilliance of Big Dance Theater.” — The New York Times
OBIE & Bessie award-winning company, Big Dance Theater brings two North American premieres and a beloved solo to the NYU Skirball stage.
The Road Awaits Us
Based loosely on an absurdist play by Ionesco, in this North American premiere, Annie-B Parson stages a birthday party for a company of esteemed dance elders, including Bebe Miller, Meg Harper, Keith Sabado, Sheryl Sutton, Douglas Dunn, Betsy Gregory, Brian Bertscher, and Black-Eyed Susan. This piece was originally created for Sadler’s Wells Elixir Co.
ballet dance
Annie-B Parson takes on ballet with her own choreographic voice. Drawing from her experience of watching and re-watching Balanchine’s Agon as well as the novel The Complete Ballet by John Haskell, she creates a duet from the imagery, the fundamental actions, the objects, and the narratives of ballet traditions.
Cage Shuffle: redux
Back by popular demand, this solo features Paul Lazar speaking a series of one-minute lectures by John Cage from his 1963 score “Indeterminacy,” while simultaneously performing a complex choreographic score by Annie-B Parson.
Under the Artistic Direction of Annie-B Parson, Big Dance Theater (BDT) creates original works which mix dance, music and visual design with literary and found text. Founded in 1991, the company has received numerous commissions from BAM, The Walker Arts Center, National Theatre of Paris/ Chaillot and The Old Vic/London among others. BDT received two Bessie Awards, an OBIE, a Jacob’s Pillow Dance Award, a Franky Award, and was honored by PS 122. The company received its first commission from Dance Theater Workshop in 1991 and has worked with collaborators that include Anne Carson, Jonathan Demme, and Mikhail Baryshnikov. bigdancetheater.org
Skirball Moves programming is made possible in part with support from the Mertz Gilmore Foundation and the Harkness Foundation for Dance.