Annie-B Parson and Paul Lazar's Big Dance Theater will be performing what Parson refers to as "a dance/theater adaptation of a truly amazing jewel of a story by Gustave Flaubert" at the Hopkins Center tonight and tomorrow.
The company's sensational combination of theater and dance has won it critical acclaim both at home and abroad. The New York Times refers to the imaginative merger of the two genres as "admirable in stylistic coherence;" the movement is "skillfully blended" yet rife with "fantastic theatrical touches."
Co-Artistic Director Barry Edelstein refers to the style as "a thrilling amalgam of potent dramatic narrative, evocative stage imagery and poetic movement of people through space."
Big Dance Theater has performed at numerous dance festivals since its inception 10 years ago, including the prestigious Jacob's Pillow, Dance Theater Workshop and Guggenheim Works and Process Series.
The troupe has also won an OBIE for artistic achievement in 1991.
Tonight's production of "A Simple Heart" was adapted from Flaubert's classic French novella of the same name.
The rueful tale centers on a pious but mystical young country girl who loves and cares successively for her mistress, her mistress' children, a nephew and the family's parrot.
She grieves for the death of each, and eventually comes to view the expired parrot as the Holy Ghost incarnate.
Flaubert reportedly said of the story, "I want to arouse people's pity, to make sensitive souls weep, since I am one myself."
Presumably a sensitive soul by the French novelist's standards, Parson recalls being moved by the story and keeping the worn paperback in her dance bag for a time.
One day, however, she decided to bring its characters to life.
"In a first rehearsal for a dance piece, at a loss for ideas, I pulled the story out thinking I might draw some imagery from it," she wrote in a press release. "Within one rehearsal it was clear that here was a piece my group and I could create together."
The same dancers who received the praise of the dance community for their dual portrayal of the story's protagonist in the 1997 New York City debut will also be performing tonight.
The part of Flicit, the forlorn heroine is played by two dancers -- Stacy Dawson, who has received a BESSIE award for her previous work with the company, and Molly Hickok, who has danced with the company since its inauguration.
The double portrayal of Flicit is an existential artistic decision paradoxically meant to emphasize her solitude.
Tymberly Canale will dance as Flicit's mistress, Madame Aubain. This dancer has proved her own choreographic talents in a variety of national and international venues.
Performer Cynthia Hopkins, who won an OBIE for her performance in past company productions and also composes music for the company, will be portraying Madame Aubain's daughter.
David Nuemann, whose flexible talents as a performer allow him to play all of the three remaining roles, has received two BESSIE awards during his 10-year career in New York City.
The minimal sets, lighting and costumes were designed for Big Dance Theater by Joanne Howard, David Moodey and Amy Mumma, respectively.
Parson is the director and choreographer and currently teaches choreography at New York University.
She has taken her works throughout the United States as well as to Russia, Italy, France and Belgium.
Lazar, co-artistic director, has already directed myriad works for the company since the early 90's.
He has been a guest acting teacher at New York University, Barnard College as well as Rutgers University.
