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Rita Kohn
Performance Reviews
Dance-theater
Modern/Contemporary
The Tarkington
United States
Indiana
Carmel, IN

Remember Me: Parsons Dance Company

by Rita Kohn
June 23, 2012
The Tarkington
The Center for the Performing Arts
355 City Center Drive
Carmel, IN 46032
317-843-3800
This review was originally published in NUVO Newsweekly, Indianapolis, IN.

Rita Kohn is a member of the Board of the Dance Critics Association.
Choreographer David Parsons and East Village Opera Company members Annamarie Milazzo and Tyley Ross reimagined classical opera as a modern rock dance opera, fitting a love triangle onto a dozen arias from Mozart, Rossini, Bizet, Puccini, Delibes, Verdi, Schubert and Purcell. It ended badly with the three dead. There was not much depth to the story — no physiological searching, political pondering or cultural crusading — but the choreography was demanding and the company of nine dancers were commanding in it. Within a gathering of young people, two men vied for the attentions of a woman whose bewilderment over the fuss was maddening for the two guys but amusing to the audience. Eventually the girl gets with the program, chooses one guy, and off they went. The rejected suitor descended into a rage of passion and foul play then ensued. Parsons effectively utilized a stage-length narrow swath of white cloth for both a tryst by the two lovers and a rape scene involving the rejected suitor. What happened in the opera was predictable, but could it be avoidable? Could the girl's more worldly friends be a bit more helpful? Could the other men take time to reason with their friend who was visibly and emotionally distraught? Could the chosen lover be more understanding instead of going into a virtuoso womb-floating funk? Maybe it's a cautionary tale.

The program opened with Parsons' iconic "Caught" featuring dancer Steve Vaughn as the man in flight.
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