GUMPDROPS & THE FUNNY UNCLE and NUT-CRACKED to Play in Rep at Boston Center for the Arts

Critically-acclaimed Holiday dance favorites, Peter DiMuro / Public Displays of Motion's Gumdrops & The Funny Uncle and David Parker and The Bang Group's Nut/Cracked perform in repertory December 14 - 18, 2016 at the Boston Center for the Arts Black Box, 527 Tremont Street, Boston's South End. Tickets for both performances are available at bostontheatrescene.com.

Peter DiMuro / Public Displays of Motion's Gumdrops & The Funny Uncle is an alternative non-Nutcracker dance/theater performance celebrating families of choice through an LGTBQ lens. In partnership with The Dance Complex and The Theater Offensive, an intergenerational cast (12 to 70 years of age, professional and community performers alike) illuminates the adapted holiday celebrations of families we're born to and families of choice through stories, through dance and even a little drag. "Gumdrops" will also perform at The Dance Complex's Winter Wonder Festival December 28 - 30.

A witty response to the Nutcracker, David Parker and The Bang Group's Nut/Cracked has delighted audiences for more than a decade. Nut/Cracked takes its inspiration from all corners of the dance canon, from tap riffs to en pointe ballet, by way of bubble wrap, disco, and Chinese take-out noodles (consumed en pointe!). Choreographer David Parker finds beauty in the ridiculous, waltzing us through many incarnations of Tchaikovsky's score, including versions by Duke Ellington and Glenn Miller, as well as the traditional orchestral suite. You'll never watch the Nutcracker in quite the same way again!

Peter DiMuro is the creative director of Peter DiMuro / Public Displays of Motion and has been making dances for a long while that have toured worldwide. He often uses subject matters from his background as a Midwesterner, a gay man and as a dance-maker, working with professionally trained performers in a mix with those whose training comes from lives lived. He is one of 11 newly named Artists in Residence of The City of Boston. Peter DiMuro/Public Displays of Motion continues a residency at the Boston Center for the Arts this year. He is also the Executive Director of The Dance Complex.

The Bang Group (TBG) is a contemporary theatrical dance troupe devoted to choreographer David Parker's fascination with the rhythmic potential of the dancing body. At the center of his work is an abiding love of rhythmic form and the intensity of communication it allows between audiences and performers. Among his best known works are the 21st century neo-vaudeville Nutcracker entitled Nut/Cracked as well as ShowDown, a choreographic reinvention of Annie Get Your Gun for cabaret and concert stages, and a series of male duets ranging from Slapstuck for two velcro-clad gentlemen, to Bang and Suck, Friends of Dorothy, The Missing Reel and Old Fashioned Wedding. These dances were created for Jeffrey Kazin and David Parker who now direct the company together, building a choreographic dialogue between show business, classical and contemporary dance traditions.

Performance schedule is Wednesday, December 14, 2016 (7:30 PM) Gumdrops & The Funny Uncle; Thursday, December 15 (7:30 PM) Nut/Cracked; Friday, December 16 at 6:30 PM Gumdrops & The Funny Uncle and 8:30 PM Nut/Cracked; Saturday, December 17 6:30PM Gumdrops & The Funny Uncle and 8:30PM Nut/Cracked, and Sunday December 18 2PM Gumdrops & The Funny Uncle and 4PM Nut/Cracked.

Tickets are general admission $30 for theater seats and $12 for pillow seating (plus fees). BDA Discounts For tickets and information, visit bostontheatrescene.com.

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