Parsons Dance presents the World Premiere of REMEMBER ME, a collaboration with the lead vocalists of East Village Opera Company (EVOC), featuring the music of the acclaimed rock opera band. Program A premieres the new evening-length work with EVOC's two lead vocalists live onstage with Parsons Dance. Program B will feature Parsons Dance favorites: the jazzy Fill the Woods with Light, Swing Shift, Ebben, My Sweet Lord, Shining Star, and the stroboscopic Caught.
David Parsons, Tyley Ross (lead male vocalist and co-founder of EVOC) and AnnMarie Milazzo (lead female vocalist) have created a storyline that connects EVOC's signature operatic arias (fifteen songs from the band's albums) with David Parsons' original choreography. REMEMBER ME is a thoroughly modern re-telling of a classic story of a tragic love triangle. With contemporary dance, aerial dance, live and recorded music, video projections, complex digital lighting and visual effects, REMEMBER ME is the most ambitious production created by Parsons Dance in its 22 year history.
"Nearly two years ago, I had the pleasure of meeting the members of East Village Opera Company. We realized that a great deal of artistic synchronicity existed between our companies, and we began to discuss the possibility of creating a work together. Peter Kiesewalter's brilliant arrangements have proven to be incredibly inspirational. Now we are about to present this World Premiere in January," said David Parsons, artistic director of Parsons Dance.
"David Parsons' choreography marries tradition and renewal in a way that physically represents what we try to evoke as a band. It's exciting to see our music take a three dimensional kinesthetic shape in his hands," said Tyley Ross. EVOC recently received a 2008 Grammy Award nomination, Best Classical Crossover Album, for their album Olde School (2008, Decca Records).
"This piece is a strong departure from David Parsons' signature themes, representing a paradigm shift in the work of a legendary choreographer, showcasing David's maturation as an artist and expressing the breadth of his enormous creative range," said David Harrison, executive director of Parsons Dance.
EVOC's signature works re-imagine opera arias as popular songs, including pieces by Verdi, Puccini, Mozart and Schubert. These classics collide with electric sounds from the golden era of rock and roll, pop, R&B, and soul, exploding into a mosaic of sound in a triumphant musical celebration. They have received commissions to pen new works from both the New York Public Theatre and New York City Opera, with whom they have also performed at Lincoln Center. EVOC alternately headlines in prestigious classical concert halls and rock clubs, and records exclusively for Decca/Universal records. They have released three CD's, and are currently on tour supporting their newest release Olde School.
Parsons Dance creates American works of extraordinary artistry that are engaging and uplifting to audiences throughout the world. It is the goal of Parsons Dance to make contemporary dance accessible to the widest possible audiences. In addition to choreography and performance, Parsons Dance positively impacts children, students, and communities through student performances, lecture-demonstrations, master classes, post-show discussions and more. Parsons Dance has a company of eleven full-time dancers and maintains a repertory of more than 70 works choreographed by David Parsons, twenty of which feature originally commissioned scores by leading composers and musicians, including Dave Matthews, Michael Gordon and Milton Nascimento. Parsons Dance has collaborated with many other leading artists, including Julie Taymor, William Ivey Long, Annie Leibovitz, Donna Karan and Alex Katz (to name a few). The New York Times called David Parsons "one of the great movers of modern dance." New York Magazine referred to him as "one of modern dance's great living dance-makers."
Parsons Dance dancers are Julie Blume, Eric Bourne, Sarah Braverman, John Corsa, Kevin Fitzgerald Ferguson, Patty Foster, Zac Hammer, Natalie Lomonte, Miguel Quinones, Abby Silva, Billy Smith, apprentice dancer Steven Vaughn, and understudy Trista Jennings.
The two programs follow:
Program A:
Thu 1/8, Fri 1/9 and Sat 1/10 at 8pm; Sun 1/11 at 2pm and 7:30pm; Wed 1/14 at 7:30pm;
Thu 1/15, Fri 1/16 and Sat 1/17 at 8pm; Sun 1/18 at 7:30pm
World Premiere of REMEMBER ME featuring the music of EVOC: Overture, La Danza, Maria, Mari!, Habanera, Che Gelida Manina, Flower Duet, La Donna E Mobile, Ave Maria, O Mio Babbino Caro, Una Furtiva Lagrima, Un Del Di, Ebben? Ne Andro Lontana, When I Am Laid in Earth, Butterfly Duet
Program B:
Tue 1/6 and Wed 1/7 at 7:30pm; Tue 1/13 at 7:30pm; Sat 1/17 and Sun 1/18 at 2pm
Family Matinee: Sat 1/10 at 2pm
Swing Shift, Ebben (an excerpt from Program A), My Sweet Lord, Fill the Woods with Light, Caught, and Shining Star
