INTERVIEW: The Bang Group is back with its witty version of ‘Nut/Cracked’
Photo: The Bang Group presents Nut/Cracked at The Flea Theater, Dec. 15-17. Photo courtesy of Yi Chun Wu / Provided by press agent with permission.
One doesn’t have to travel far in New York City to find some version of the classic ballet The Nutcracker. Around the holidays, Tchaikovsky’s iconic show is as ubiquitous as Christmas trees in the window or snowflakes in the sky. What’s wondrous about this ballet is how expansive and different the various versions of it can be. Take, for example, The Bang Group’s witty, subversive rendition, which is lovably called Nut/Cracked and plays Dec. 15-17 at The Flea Theater.
This version of The Nutcracker is “conceived as a fluid dance world where genres collide and jostle one another with a general clamor in celebration of the winter holidays,” according to press notes. The work is brought to the stage by choreographer David Parker, and the score not only uses the Tchaikovsky original, but also alternate takes by Duke Ellington and Glenn Miller. The Bang Group must be doing something right because Nut/Cracked is celebrating its 20th anniversary in 2022.
Recently Hollywood Soapbox exchanged emails with Parker about the 65-minute show. Under his leadership, The Bang Group has expanded exponentially with their choreographic offerings. They are commonly in residency in New York City and Boston, and they also bring their dance theatrics to Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts. Parker describes his choreography as “percussive dance” that embraces a “full-bodied and wide-ranging vision” that utilizes everything from humor to classicism to drama to brawny intellect. Questions and answers have been slightly edited for style.
For those who have never experienced Nut/Cracked, what can they expect?
First of all, they can expect to laugh because humor is everywhere to be found in Nut/Cracked. We take a loving but irreverent look at inevitable holiday phenomena like greed, indulgence, intoxication, competition, celebration, romance and generosity with genre-bending glee. We don’t use the traditional plot but use Tchaikovsky’s music as a stimulus for celebration of our enthusiastic but ambivalent relationship to the holiday season. You will see tap dance, ballet, modern dance, disco and social dances and even some tap dancing en pointe and on bubble wrap. I won’t give away what happens here, but, once seen, the Grand Pas de Deux is not soon forgotten.
What do you think is gained by presenting this classic in a new and liberating way?
I love The Nutcracker, which is often presented either in a very grand way in opera houses and large theaters with lavish sets and costumes or in very satirical or subversive versions which also frequently feature elaborate sets and costumes. I wanted to create a Nutcracker without any of the frou-frou, stripped of its glitter and streamlined for my world of New York dance, which is full of scrappy, resourceful people with big imaginations, strong senses of humor and limited means. That’s why we have very simple costumes and basic props — a bouquet, a piece of bubble wrap, a wrapped present, a pair of sunglasses, a tiny Christmas tree — all of which are transformed into magical objects through the choreography. I wanted to liberate the Nutcracker from its tinsel and mistletoe and go directly into the kind of imagination that children have about their things and the world around them yet without preconceived social and gender roles. The most important thing for me is that this is done with love for the material and its history.
Is it difficult to gain attention this time of year because there are so many Nutcrackers around town?
Yes, it’s a busy time for Nutcrackers of all stripes, but I think Nut/Cracked has proved so durable because it does something no other version does. It is subversive but loving, it cherishes the traditions of the show while creating entirely new images out of them, it is both beautiful and hilarious, and it has a peculiar but potent innocence.
How difficult is the choreography from a dancer’s perspective?
The range of the choreography requires dancers who can work in contemporary, rhythm-based and classical styles often within the same phrase. That kind of agility and refinement is rare. There are also some demanding classical phrases and sections where both men and women dance on pointe and partner each other at the same time. The dance styles often overlap in unusual and difficult ways, such as tap dancing in pointe shoes, step dancing on bubble wrap, slipping and falling deliberately and rhythmically in the “Snow” section, and sneezing while leaping and turning in “The Waltz of the Flowers” section.
As The Bang Group approaches its 30th anniversary in a couple of years, do you feel the company has achieved its initial goals?
With Nut/Cracked, we’ve certainly surpassed them. I didn’t dream we’d be dancing this for 20 consecutive seasons, even in a truncated, masked version during the worst year of the pandemic. My initial goals included dances which were full-bodied, rhythmic and complicated and yet could directly express states of mind and heart. I wanted to portray intimacy between men in honest and open ways, and I wanted to dissolve gender boundaries in dance techniques and roles. These things I have done. I am convinced that rhythm in dance, whether it be audible as in tap dancing or visual as in classical dance, can create a full psychological and kinetic experience of human interaction. In the final analysis, my dances are social, and I continue to pursue these initial goals with gusto and in very good company.
By John Soltes / Publisher / John@HollywoodSoapbox.com
The Bang Group’s Nut/Cracked plays Dec. 15-17 at The Flea Theater in New York City. Click here for more information and tickets.
