Big Dance Theater: Cage Shuffle

Paul Lazar speaks a series of one-minute stories by John Cage from his 1963 score Indeterminacy while simultaneously performing choreography by Annie-B Parson. The stories are spoken in a random order with no predetermined relationship to the dancing. Chance serves up its inevitable blend of strange and uncanny connections between text and movement. With live tape and digital collage scored and performed by composer Lea Bertucci.

Paul Lazar co- founded Big Dance Theater in 1991 with Annie-B Parson and Molly Hickok, and continues to lead the company as co-artistic director. His work with Big Dance includes conceiving, directing and/or performing in such works as Comme Toujour Here I Stand, PLAN B, and Mac Wellman’s Antigone. 

In addition to her work as co-founder and co-artistic director of Big Dance Theater, Annie-B Parson has made dances for Mikhail Baryshnikov, David Byrne, David Bowie, St. Vincent, Laurie Anderson, Salt ‘n Pepa, Jonathan Demme, and more. Her honors include Bessie Awards, a Guggenheim Fellowship, and an Olivier nomination.

Founded in 1991, Big Dance Theater is known for its inspired use of dance, music, text and visual design. The company often works with wildly incongruent source material, weaving and braiding disparate strands into multi-dimensional performance. The company, which has won BESSIE and OBIE awards, recently celebrated its 25th Anniversary at the Kitchen, performed at the Menil Collection, BAM, Berlin, and was honored by PS122.