Dance Now Boston/NYC Weekend of Cabaret to Feature Free Snap•Crackle•BANG! Celebration

Dance Now Boston/NYC, David Parker's vision, now in its 4th season, to foster a choreographic bridge between Boston and New York, returns to The Dance Complex, June 16-18, 2017 for a showcase of performance and celebration. Friday will feature Dance Now commissions by four Boston choreographers: Jimena Bermejo, Carey McKinley, McKersin Previlus, and Subject:Matter with Ian Berg and Sunday will offer works by New York's LMnO3 (Deborah Lohse, Cori Marquis, and Donnell Oakley). Saturday night presents Snap•Crackle•BANG!, a gala to benefit The Bang Group, featuring both groups and honoring PFLAG trustee and social activist Stanley N. Griffith. For Snap•Crackle•BANG! celebration information & registration, visit www.thebanggroup.com; For Dance Now Boston/NYC Friday and Sunday performances information & tickets, visit http://dancenowbostonnyc.bpt.me/

Snap•Crackle•BANG!

In its inaugural Boston celebration at the Dance Complex on Saturday, June 17, The Bang Group (TBG) will host an evening featuring Boston choreographers--Ian Berg, Jimena Bermejo, Carey McKinley, and McKersin Previlus--performing with New York choreographers LMnO3 (Deborah Lohse, Cori Marquis, and Donnell Oakley). Gala proceeds will support Dance Now Boston/NYC and its commissioning of local dance artists and choreographers between the two cities. A general reception begins at 7:30 PM; performances at 8 PM. Donations and Sponsorship opportunities are still available at www.thebanggroup.com.

David Parker, co-founder of TBG, created three evening-length works through Dance Now/NYC and found himself invigorated and transformed creating dance for these relaxed settings associated with food, drink, and festive entertainment. "When I first made work in New York for cabaret rather than formal theater--it allowed me to cut loose in ways I'd never dared. In giving full voice to my ideas, moves, and impulses, I saw the chance to do this for others as well," says Parker.

The celebration inaugurates a new tradition with the presentation of the first "Robert B. and Joan H. Parker Compassionate Action Award". Through the award, Parker seeks to honor his parents' legacy as politically motivated philanthropists who combined a love of dance and theater with a passion for social justice in their charitable works. The first award will honor Stanley N. Griffith. According to Parker, "Stan has been a champion for civil and LGBTQ rights, fair and affordable housing and efforts that raise up the human spirit. My parents loved and admired him for his steadfast commitment to our greater good, and his continued efforts make him well deserving of this recognition in their memory."

DANCE NOW BOSTON/NYC

Inspired by the supper clubs of a bygone era, Dance Now Boston/NYC commissions diverse Boston dance artists to create exciting new works for the city's cabaret stages. Dance Now NYC has been commissioning contemporary choreographers to create work especially for the cabaret stage at Joe's Pub at the Public Theater for more than a decade. TBG launched Dance Now Boston in 2013 at the American Repertory Theater's Oberon, and more recently at The Dance Complex Studio 7-creating a lively audience experience in an intimate and high energy cabaret-style environment.

"These performances reflect the explosion of dance, especially in Boston, and the power of bridging and sharing the incredible energy at play between the two cities. The goal is to foster this exciting transformation for Boston artists and audiences, taking their commissioned work to New York and bringing artists commissioned by Dance Now NYC to Boston," says Parker.

Performing Friday, June 16, (8 PM) DanceNow commissions by four Boston choreographers: Jimena Bermejo, Carey McKinley, McKersin Previlus, and Subject:Matter with Ian Berg.

Performing Sunday, June 18, (7 PM), LMnO3 (Deborah Lohse, Cori Marquis and Donnell Oakley) met in 2010 while working with Doug Elkins in Fra?ulein Maria, and launched a choreographic partnership in 2014. Their first evening-length piece, B.A.N.G.S.: made in america, was commissioned by Dance Now NYC and premiered in Feb 2016 at Joe's Pub at The Public Theater. LMnO3 took B.A.N.G.S. to American Dance Festival, SUNY Brockport's Summer Dance Festival, MusikFest in PA, and Ringling International Arts Festival in Sarasota, FL, with excerpts performed in NY at Judson Church, Triskelion Arts, and Gibney Dance Center, at New Haven's Elm City Dance Collective, and at The Yard as part of Follies: Women Dance the Comic. LMnO3 has been granted residencies through Dance Now's Silo, American Dance Institute/Lumberyard, SUNY Brockport, and Fourth Arts Block.

Photo credit: Kristie Gillooly