Production Details / Press Releases
This genre-exploding troupe from New York City excavates the past so as to comprehend on the present. Their new performance “17c” rips open Samuel Pepys’s diaries, in which this 17th century man meticulously, and without censorship, notes his daily doings – from his infidelities, and perversions, to his dancing lessons and binge-shopping sprees. Was he a forerunner of our social-media culture as he carefully crafts his identity through his image? This intimate portrait is complemented by the voice of his contemporary, the writer Margaret Cavendish. In this way Big Dance Theater creates a savvy texture of music, dance, text and video.
New York City’s Big Dance Theater was founded in 1991, and is well known for its inspired use of dance, music, text and visual design. Led by artistic director Annie-B Parson, the company frequently works with disparate materials decontextualized into multidimensional performances.With its longstanding group of dancers, actors, composers and designers, Big Dance Theater has created over 20 pieces, for which it received the Bessie Award in 2002 and 2010. Big Dance Theater was last at Tanz im August in 2014.
bigdancetheater.org
tanzimaugust.de
[Source: play bill]
Tanzschreiber review on www.tanzraumberlin.de
TFB Nr. 1224
Cast & Credits
Concept & Artistic Direction: Annie-B Parson
Artistic Co-Direction: Paul Lazar
Choreography: Annie-B Parson und die Kompanie
With: Elizabeth DeMent, Cynthia Hopkins, Paul Lazar, Mikéah Jennings und Kourtney Rutherford
Sound Design: Tei Blow
Set Design: Joanne Howard
Costume Design: Oana Botez
Wig Design and Construction: David Bova
Lighting Design: Joe Levasseur
Video Design: Jeff Larson
Associate Sound Design: Eben Hoffer
Associate Set Design: Andreea Mincic
Sound Engineering: Tyler Kieffer
Video Assistant and Operation: Jorge Morales Picó
Executive Productio: Aaron Mattocks
Production Management: Carl Whipple
Production Stage Management: Ilana Khanin
Set Construction: Joseph Silovsky und Infinite Studios
Costume Construction: Talla Dia/Talla Design, Karen Boyer
Production: Big Dance Theater
Company Management: Sara Pereira da Silva
Co-Commissioned by: FringeArts Philadelphia, Carolina Performing Arts / UNC Chapel Hill, Brooklyn Academy of Music, Old Vic London, The Yard Chilmark, Diane and Adam E. Max, Virginia and Timothy Millhiser, Starry Night Fund, Helen and Peter Haje, Heimbinder Family Foundation
Funded by: the Big Dance Theater Creation Circle, individual contributers committed to the development and support of the company’s newest works
Supported by: Howard Gilman Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts, Doris Duke Performing Artist Awards program, the Emma A. Sheafer Charitable Trust, the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation New York Theater Program, the W Trust, New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council, the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew Cuomo and the New York State Legislature
Residency supported by: MacDowell Colony, AIRspace program at Abrons Arts Center.
In cooperation with Deutsches Theater Berlin.
Special thanks to Aaron Mattocks, producer and generative performer in the original cast of 17c; Anne Delaney and the Big Dance Theater board for their leadership; Chris Giarmo for helping us sing; and David R. White, Ben Pryor, Jay Wegman, and Craig T. Peterson, for providing homes for each stage of this process.
Thanks to Brian Teare, Amber Reed, and Ted Zeiter for inspiration.
Thanks to Molly Hickok for everything.
Tanz im August 2018
Artistic Director: Virve Sutinen
Executive Producer: Isa Köhler
Producer & Assistant to Artistic Director: Marie Schmieder
Curator & Producer: Andrea Niederbuchner
Assistant Producer: Alina Sophie Lauer
Technical Director: Patrick Tucholski
Tanz im August is a festival by HAU Hebbel am Ufer, funded by the Capital Cultural Fund.
Deutsches Theater Berlin
Schumannstr. 13
10117 Berlin
Video Documentation
The video documentation is produced on behalf of the Senate Department for Culture and Social Cohesion. The purpose of this contract is to document productions in the field of contemporary dance in Berlin. The master recordings are archived by the University Library of the Berlin University of Arts. Copies of the recordings on DVD are available for viewing exclusively in the reference collections of the following archives (at media desks in these institutions):
University Library of the Berlin University of Arts
Mediathek für Tanz und Theater des Internationalen Theaterinstituts / Mime Centrum Berlin
Inter-University Centre for Dance Berlin (HZT)