Parsons Dance Returns with East Village Opera Company 4/16

The phenomenal Parsons Dance returns to New Orleans with a program featuring the critically-acclaimed dance/rock opera Remember Me, a collaboration with the Grammy-nominated East Village Opera Company (EVOC), on April 16 at 8pm at the Mahalia Jackson Theater.

Choreographed by the always innovative David Parsons, Remember Me is a high-energy mix of contemporary American dance, opera and rock music. Parsons teams up with EVOC lead vocalists Tyley Ross and AnnMarie Milazzo to transform a tragic tale of star-crossed love into a "wholly new and visually arresting" evening of high-voltage dance that is "one of the most ambitious pieces created by Parsons." (Broadwayworld.com) Theatermania raves "it is highly theatrical, often compelling, and sometimes breathtaking."

The story follows the age-old tale of two brothers, Marcus and Luca, who are in love with the same woman, Maria. When Maria only returns the love of Luca, the rivalry between the brothers grows, jealousy overcomes Marcus, and tragedy strikes. The drastically modernized arrangements of familiar operatic classics like "Habanera" from Carmen and the "Flower Duet" from Lakme thread this story together, and by combining the intense athleticism of ten remarkable dancers with exhilarating live vocal performances and the unexpected marriage of rock music and classical opera, Remember Me melds a classic dance performance with the feel of a rock concert.
"The juxtaposition of classically arranged and well-known pieces of music, like Mozart's Overture and Schubert's Ave Maria, with the infusion of a rock n' roll edge and modern dance movement is intriguing and had the audience wrapped around its little finger." (Art & Seek)

In addition to the hip soundtrack of classic arias, the production also showcases costumes by Project Runway designer Austin Scarlett, dramatic video projections by Jason Thompson, and brilliant lighting effects by Tony Award-winning lighting designer Howell Binkley. The Dallas Examiner claims "the expressive choreography is enhanced by large screen projected images of the dancers," and another review claims "the lighting scheme of Howell Binkley contributes greatly to the mood. An illusion that makes the dancers seem to be appearing out of nowhere is especially well done."

Also on the evening's program is David Parsons' unforgettable signature work, Caught (1982). This stroboscopic movement features a single dancer defying gravity and flying above the stage who performs more than 100 leaps in less than six minutes. "It was simply one of the coolest things I have seen a real person do in real life, and the effect was beautiful." (Broadwayworld.com) Caught has been performed hundreds of times, worldwide, for more than 28 years and was described by one critic as "one of the great pieces of recent times."

The troupe will include company member and New Orleans native Abby Silva Gavezzoli, who will dance the lead role of Maria in Remember Me. Gavezzoli, who graduated from the New Orleans Center for Creative Arts in 1998, joined the company in 2002. "I'm excited about heading home to New Orleans and performing Remember Me, especially since I was so involved in the creative process of this phenomenal dance work," said Gavezolli. "It's a great feeling to go to my home town and share it with my community."

Remember Me marks the company's third appearance in New Orleans since 1999. In 2006, Parsons Dance opened NOBA's Main Stage season and donated all of their services as the first company to be presented after Hurricane Katrina. "In 2006, David Parsons did not hesitate when we asked him to help us bring our Main Stage Series back to the city, and with extraordinary compassion and dedication, donated all the company's services to make it happen. He traveled to the hardest hit areas to provide inspiration to students in NOBA's free after-school ballet program in St. Bernard Parish. And from the stage, he welcomed a very emotional and appreciative New Orleans audience back to dance."

"Parsons Dance last performed in New Orleans six months after Katrina hit the city, so I was able to see the destruction first hand," said David Parsons. "[Returning to New Orleans] reminds us of the beauty and resiliency of a culture and its people....It's invincible."

Tickets for the performance range from $20 to $80. Students and seniors (65 and older) receive a $6 discount off the regular ticket prices. Group discounts also are available. For tickets or information, call the New Orleans Ballet Association Box Office at (504) 522-0996. Tickets may be purchased online through www.nobadance.com, or via Ticketmaster at (800) 745-3000 or www.ticketmaster.com.

In addition to the performance, the company will also conduct a master class on Saturday, April 15 at Tulane University's McWilliams Hall for the NORDC/NOBA Center For Dance. For more information about residency opportunities call (504) 522-0996 x. 207 or email afloyd@nobadance.com

The Official Airline of the New Orleans Ballet Association is American Airlines, and the Official Hotel is Sheraton New Orleans.

Parsons Dance Company History
Parsons Dance is committed to building new audiences by creating American works of extraordinary artistry that are engaging and uplifting to audiences throughout the world. The company tours regionally, nationally and internationally. 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 ten 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.
Since 1985, Parsons Dance has toured an average of 32 weeks per year, to more than 235 cities, 30 countries, six continents and millions of audience members. Many other fans have seen Parsons Dance on PBS, Bravo, A&E Network, and the Discovery Channel, and millions watched Parsons Dance perform live in Times Square as part of the internationally broadcast, 24-hour Millennium New Year's Eve celebration.
The most prestigious theaters, festivals, and presenters throughout the world engage Parsons Dance in hopes of tapping into its audience's power. Among them: Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts (Washington, D.C.), Maison de la Danse (Lyon, France), Teatro La Fenice (Venice, Italy) and Teatro Municipal (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil). In New York City, Parsons Dance has been featured at The Joyce Theater, City Center, New Victory Theater, Central Park Summerstage, Guggenheim Museum, Metropolitan Museum of Art and The World Trade Center. Parsons Dance is the only dance company in history to perform at all three Spoleto Festivals - Italy, Australia, USA - in a single season.

David Parsons, Artistic Director
David Parsons has enjoyed a remarkable career as a performer, choreographer, teacher, director and producer of dance. He was born in Chicago and raised in Kansas City. Parsons was a leading dancer with The Paul Taylor Dance Company, where Taylor created many roles for him in works such as Arden Court, Last Look and Roses. Parsons performed in the New York City Ballet production of Barber Violin Concerto. He is a recipient of the 2000 Dance Magazine Award, as well as the 2001 American Choreography Award for his work as a co-producer of AEROS, a production featuring the Romanian Gymnastic Federation that was featured on Bravo.
Parsons has created more than 70 works for Parsons Dance. He has received commissions over the years from American Ballet Theatre, New York City Ballet, Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, BatSheva Dance Company of Israel, Jacob's Pillow, the Spoleto Festival and Het Muziektheater in Amsterdam, to name a few. His work has been performed by Paris Opera Ballet, Joffrey Ballet, Nederlands Danse Theatre, National Ballet of Canada, Hubbard Street Dance and Teatro Municipal do Rio Janeiro, among many others.
Parsons danced in the first White Oak Company with Mikhail Baryshnikov, with MOMIX, and with the Berlin Opera. He danced as a guest artist for the New York City Ballet for four years.
He choreographed for many films such as Fools Fire directed by Julie Taymor, American Playhouse, and Rita Blitt's documentary Caught in Paint. Highlights of his television work include Bravo television's broadcast of Aeros, PBS's production of Remember Me, the Parsons Dance repertory production televised in Denmark, the hit Italian reality television show Amici, the PBS production of Billy Taylor music with Parsons Dance, and the RAI television dance celebration of Pisa, Italy.
He has done work in commercials and for the fashion industry for companies including Audi, Mercedes-Benz, Alfa Romeo, Lion pajamas, Missoni, Trusardi, and Roberto Cavalli. Parsons has also collaborated with phenomenal musicians such as Billy Taylor, Morton Gould, John Corrigliano, Steely Dan, East Village Opera Company, and Earth, Wind and Fire, among others.
He teaches at The Juilliard School, Columbia Business School, and the University of California Los Angles. Parsons was awarded an honorary Doctorate from the University of Kansas City and is the recipient of the Howard Gilman fellowship at the Jacksonville University Master of Fine Arts program. In 2007, Parsons was honored as the first contemporary choreographer ever to stage work at one of Italy's most respected operatic venues, the centuries-old Arena di Verona, in Verona Italy, where he choreographed Verdi's Aida. That same year, he also directed and choreographed Gotham Chamber Opera's production of Maria de Buenos Aires, which made its world premiere at a sold-out engagement at New York University's Skirball Center for the Performing Arts. Jennifer Dunning of the The New York Times called David Parsons "one of the great movers of modern dance."
East Village Opera Company
East Village Opera Company (EVOC) was formed in New York City's East Village in 2004 by Canadians Peter Kiesewalter and Tyley Ross. The East Village Opera Company turned the heads of New York's music community with a series of electric genre defying shows at Joe's Pub, the intimate venue housed by The Public Theatre. Initially meant as a one-off project, they were quickly signed to Decca/Universal records and met with universal praise from both classical and rock critics and fans. The Washington Post proclaimed that "Opera crossover acts are becoming a veritable cottage industry, but the East Village Opera Co. is markedly different." They have toured the world with a unique live show, combining a seemingly incongruous classical string section with a powerhouse rock band. Time Out New York stated that the group "electrifies the classics for a new generation." The Associated Press mused the band was "dramatic" and "mesmerizing" while the Wall Street Journal agreed, noting "The band rocks hard, and deranges the opera stuff with savvy skill." In a rare feat not many artists can claim, EVOC headlines around the world in both eclectic rock clubs as well as some of the most prestigious classical concert halls. The band's appeal is evident in both cases. The Chicago Tribune raved "Nobody puts a fresher, friskier contemporary spin on opera's greatest hits than the East Village Opera Company." The band has also performed at esteemed events such as the Sundance Film Festival, the Miss USA pageant (nationally televised on NBC), and the world-premiere of "The Da Vinci Code" in Hong Kong. EVOC's PBS Special "EVOC LIVE" was celebrated with an Emmy at the 2006 Emmy Awards. Their most recent Decca album entitled Olde School was nominated for a Grammy in the Classical Crossover Album category.

Tyley Ross, Lead Male Vocalist
Tyley Ross is a native of Ottowa, Canada. Ross started performing professionally in his early teens while still a student at Canterbury's School of the Arts. In the years since then, he has been a street busker, a cartoon and voice artist, acted for the small and large screen, written and recorded two solo albums (his composition You Take My Breath Away was featured in the film Woman Wanted directed by Kiefer Sutherland and starring Holly Hunter), and he has performed as a guest soloist with orchestras across Canada and in the United States. After being discovered by Pete Townshend of The Who in 1994, Ross was cast in the title role of the Canadian premiere of The Who's Tommy. For his work in that show, he was honored with the Dora Award for Outstanding Performance in a Musical. He spent the next 10 years on musical stages across North America, including starring roles at the Shaw and Stratford Festivals, and on Broadway. In 2001, Ross was introduced to Peter Kiesewalter, and they began experimenting with recording opera arias in a variety of modern contexts. This project led to the release of the CD La Donna and the unveiling of the East Village Opera Company in 2004 with a series of acclaimed performances at New York's Joe's Pub. Within a year, the band had signed a multi-record deal with Decca/Universal and has since released two CD's: East Village Opera Company (2005) and Olde School (2008). Ross has his master's degree in voice studies from London's Central School of Speech and Drama.
AnnMarie Milazzo, Lead Female Vocalist
AnnMarie Milazzo is an arranger, composer and lyricist living in NYC. She has done the vocal arrangements for Spring Awakening, the Broadway musical at the Eugene O'Neill Theater; next to normal, which premiered Off Broadway at Second Stage; Bright Lights, Big City at The New York Theater Workshop; and the Paramount feature film The Marc Pease Experience, starring Ben Stiller. Some of her most recent work includes a new musical, Pretty Dead Girl, which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival and is now being produced by The Araca Group in New York City, book by David Henry Wang. Also currently in progress is the musical Sea Change, based on the Lois Gould novel, book by Karen Hartman. Milazzo is the lyricist for Franco Dragone's Carmen, which premiered at The Jolla Playhouse and will open in Madrid in 2009. She is currently writing lyrics for Cirque du Soleil's Le Reve at the Wynn Hotel in Las Vegas. Milazzo's singing credits include working with artists such as Angelique Kidjo on her Black Ivory Soul Tour, and also singing with Carlos Santana. She also toured with Jonatha Brooke and performed on her DVD Back In The Circus, shot live in NYC. Currently Milazzo is the female vocalist for the East Village Opera Company on Decca/Universal Records.

New Orleans Ballet Association is celebrating 41 years of bringing dance to life and is the Central Gulf region's premiere presenting and service organization dedicated solely to the art of dance. NOBA's dynamic Main Stage season annually features a diverse array of world-class companies and artists. Each year NOBA provides concerts, classes, workshops and lectures to more than 25,000 area dance enthusiasts of all ages. In addition, NOBA's nationally recognized award-winning education programs provide the youth of our community access to quality arts programs with 3,000 free dance classes and workshops annually at eleven sites throughout the Greater New Orleans area.
This project is supported in part by an award from the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), which believes that a great nation deserves great art; a grant from the Louisiana Division of the Arts, Office of Cultural Development, Department of Culture, Recreation and Tourism, in cooperation with the Louisiana State Arts Council. The grant is administered through the Arts Council of New Orleans (ACNO); and a Community Arts Grant made possible through the City of New Orleans as administered by ACNO.