About the Company

Company Bios

Performance History

About the Company

The Bang Group is a rhythm-based, theatrical dance troupe serving choreographer David Parker's fascination with the rhythmic potential of the dancing body.  Working its alchemy on American popular and contemporary forms, The Bang Group brings forth a repertory of joyful, smart, funny dances which resonate with the rich traditions of percussive dance, vaudeville, silent film comedy, movie musicals and classical ballet.

The company, directed by David Parker and Jeffrey Kazin, is best known for its comic/subversive, neo-vaudevillian Nutcracker entitled Nut/Cracked as well as ShowDown, a choreographic refraction of Annie Get Your Gun, Misters and Sisters, a romantic reverie in song and dance for cabaret stages and for a series of male duets ranging from the Velcro-clad Slapstuck to Bang and Suck, Friends of Dorothy and Old Fashioned Wedding.  These dances which chart male intimacy with love and precision were created for David Parker and Jeffrey Kazin and remain in active repertory.

TBG has been presented in New York City eight times by Dance Theater Workshop, now New York Live Arts, twice by Danspace Project, twice by Symphony Space, numerous times by DanceNow/NYC at Joe's Pub, and at Lincoln Center Out-of-Doors, Arts and Events at the World Financial Center's Winter Garden, The Joyce Soho, Harkness Dance Center at the 92nd Street Y, Town Hall and many others.  TBG has been the first-and-only dance company in residence at the West End Theater on Manhattan's Upper West Side where Parker and Kazin present triennial choreographic mini-festivals.  TBG makes its New York Live Arts debut in December with the third annual encore of Nut/Cracked which is in its ninth season of touring having enjoyed nearly 200 performances to date.

The Bang Group has appeared in many European festivals including The Holland Dance Festival (The Hague), International Biennale de Charleroi Danses (Belgium), Konfrontace Festival (Prague), Tanzsprache (Vienna), Dance Week (Zagreb), Divadelna Nitra (Slovakia), Belluard Bollwerk (Switzerland), Nervi Estate (Italy), Ballett Umbria (Italy), Invito Alla Danza (Rome), Tanzmesse NRW (Germany), Dutch Touch (Paris), OT301 (Amsterdam), Monaco Danse Forum, Edinburgh Fringe Festival (2005 and 2009), and others.  TBG has also appeared regularly in Montreal at Tangente, Studio 303, Divers Cite and CINARS as well as in 24 of the United States.

The company has developed a second home in the Boston area where it has appeared for the last 12 seasons at Summer Stages Dance Festival in Concord, MA.  It has also enjoyed regular seasons in Boston at The Theater Offensive's Out on the Edge Festival (2006-2008), First Night (2003,2005,2008) and, most recently, at Boston's Institute for Contemporary Art.  The company has consistently appeared on best-of-the-year lists in Boston as well as in Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Milwaukee, Antwerp, London and Montreal.

Generous financial support has come from The Jerome Robbins Foundation, The Frederick Loewe Foundation, The Hale Matthews Foundation, 2wice Foundation,  Netherland-America Foundation, Greenwall Foundation,  New York Foundation for the Arts (Build Grant), New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, Pentacle's ARC (Advancement, Reinvention and Creativity) Program, Mid-Atlantic Arts Fund, Arts International, Fund for Mutual Understanding, Amy Sue Rosen and Derek Bernstein Foundation and from several private donors. 

Company Bios

KATHY KAUFMANN (lighting designer) loves working with David Parker and The Bang Group and is very happy to be here at The Thalia with the company. During the past year she has taken The Bang Group’s Nut/Cracked to Edinburgh, Tampa, Red Bank, Concord and New Haven. Her recent projects at Danspace, where she is a resident designer, include Curt Haworth’s Descent, Luis Lara’s Badman, Gina Gibney’s Unbounded, Heather Harrington’s Devils Playground and Jordan Fuch’s The Almost and the Nearly. She also designed Ben Munisteri’s Tuesday 4am at DTW and Jody Oberfelder’s LineAge at the Clark Studio Theater. She is the recipient of a 2004 New York Dance and Performance (Bessie) Award, is the production manager for the River to River Festival and enjoys relaxing in Guilford with her family whenever possible.

JEFFREY KAZIN spent his youth in many children’s and community theater groups imagining his escape from Waltham, MA. Today he a founding member and director of The Bang Group. He has created and performed signature roles for the company throughout the U.S., Canada and Europe. Additionally, he proudly serves as TBG’s CFO and General Factotum. Outside of TBG he has appeared in Italy in the title role of the Arena di Verona Ballet’s production of Dylan Dog choreographed by David Parker, as an evil step-sister in New York Theatre Ballet's Cinderella and as Capt. VonTrapp in Doug Elkins’ Fraulein Maria. Mr. Kazin studies ballet with Janet Panetta, voice with Michael Hanko. Mr. Kazin produces the thrice-yearly dance series, Soaking WET at the Upper West Side’s West End Theater, curated by David Parker. He is a board member of the Peculiar Works Project theater company, a member of the Advisory Board for Gibney Dance and often serves on Dance Theater Workshop’s (now NYLA) Fresh Tracks curating panel. Kazin is a graduate of Connecticut College and the National Theater Institute. 

DAVID PARKER began his career as a teenager tapdancing on the sidewalks of Boston.  While attending Bard College, he was introduced to modern, post-modern and classical forms and began putting them all together.  He has pursued an unusually diverse performance career which includes "downtown" dance, traditional modern, classical character roles, rhythm tap, experimental tap and singing and acting.  At the heart of his work is a love of rhythmic form and the humor that flows from it.  He has performed and choreographed internationally and his work has been commended by the New York Dance and Performance ("Bessie") Awards committee in 2002 for his collaboration with Dutch fashion designers Melanie Rozema and Jeroen Teunissen.  In addition, he was a finalist at the International Choreographic Competition in Groningen, The Netherlands in 1994, received a special citation from the Kurt Jooss Awards jury led by Pina Bausch for his Bang and Suck (for which the company is named) in 2001,  from the Nijinsky Awards in Monaco as an "emerging choreographer of distinction" in 2003, and was given a MOVE Award from Dance Theater Workshop at its final gala in 2010, an Art + Action Award from the Gina Gibney Dance Center in 2011 and a prize for his philanthropic work on behalf of Dancers Responding to Aids in 2004.  Parker has made nearly 30 commissioned works for companies large and small, classical and contemporary, university groups, festivals and soloists throughout the United States and Europe.  Highlights include Dylan Dog for 44 dancers of the Verona Ballet in Italy, 2 works for Groundworks Dance Theater in Cleveland, 2 for Summer Stages Dance Festival in Concord, MA, 2 for the Barnard Project at Dance Theater Workshop and New York Live Arts, 1 for the Sokolow Theater Dance Ensemble,  for Juilliard's New Dances for the class of 2010 and for the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana, Alfred College, Northwestern University and Connecticut College.  He has also been commissioned by The American Dance Festival, and The Yard as well as numerous times by Dance Theater Workshop, Danspace Project and DanceNow/NYC.
Parker is currently on the faculties of The Juilliard School, Barnard College, The Alvin Ailey School and Princeton University teaching dance composition at all four.  Together with Risa Steinberg, he serves as mentor for Juilliard's Senior Production and is active as a mentor at Green Street Studio's Emerging Artist series in Cambridge, MA and at Summer Stages Dance Choreographer's Fellowship Project.  He has been a member of the Bessie Awards Committee and regularly serves on granting and curatorial panels.  He sits on the Boards of Danspace Project, and Green Street Studios and served as a board member for The Field for 12 years.  He is a regular contributor to Dance Magazine and has recently written for The Brooklyn Rail as well.  He is a frequent adjudicator for The American College Dance Festival Association and was recently one of the artist-curators at Danspace Project's much-vaunted Platform Series during which he programmed  4 weeks of events under the rubric Rhythm and Humor.  He has also been guest curator at the Harkness Dance Center at the 92nd Street Y.  In the last decade, Parker has found a new career as a guest artist performing with Sara Rudner (Dancing on View at the ICA), Christopher Williams (The Golden Legend), Doug Elkins (in five seasons as Liesl in Fraulein Maria), The New York Theater Ballet (Cinderella), Nicholas Leichter (The Whiz), Larry Goldhuber (The Seven Deadly Sins) and in work by Sara Hook, Kay Cummings, Lorraine Chapman, Fiona Marcotty Dolenga and Catherine Tharin.

NIC PETRY has been dancing aloud with The Bang Group since 2005, and he refuses to quiet down. Working exclusively with the company since 2005, he has both originated new roles as well as undertaken cherished dances from TBG's repertory. Mr. Petry studies ballet with Janet Panetta and Pilates with Clarice Marshall. He is the owner of Dancing Camera, a video production company that specializes in dance documentation and various special projects. Mr. Petry holds a degree in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology from Princeton University and a MFA in Dance from the University of Illinois.

AMBER SLOAN has been a proud member of The Bang Group since 2002. Her choreography has been produced in San Francisco, New Haven, Washington, DC and in various venues in New York City including the West End Theater, DTW (Family Matters), Brooklyn Arts Exchange, Dancemopolitan at Joe's Pub, Dancenow(NYC) Festival and many others. Ms. Sloan is on the board of directors of Dance Omi, an international dance residency program and is currently co-producing Women In Motion as part of the EstroGenius Festival this Fall. She holds a BFA in Dance from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, currently studies with Janet Panetta and is a certified yoga instructor and personal trainer. 

Performance History

Green Street Studios 20th Anniversary Gala	Cambridge, Massachusetts	May 12, 2012
Connecticut College	New London, CT	Apr 19, 2012
Dance Feast: Summer Stages 15th Anniversary Benefit	Concord, Massachusetts	Mar 25, 2012
Soaking WET	New York, NY	Mar 01, 2012
Misters & Sisters	Cambridge, Massachusetts	Jan 11, 2012
Stamp-Ede	New York, New York	Jan 08, 2012
Nut/Cracked	New York, New York	Dec 21, 2011
West Fest	New York, New York	Dec 11, 2011
Nut/Cracked	Bethlehem, Pennsylvania	Dec 07, 2011
Festival ENCORE	New York, New York	Dec 05, 2011
The Barnard/New York Live Arts Project	New York, New York	Dec 01, 2011
The Field Jubilee Celebration	New York, New York	Nov 10, 2011
DanceNOW Festival	New York, New York	Oct 19, 2011
Soaking WET	New York, New York	Oct 06, 2011
Dance On A Shoestring	New York, New York	Sep 30, 2011
An Evening With The Bang Group	Chilmark, Massachusetts	Aug 05, 2011
Backward and in Heels	Boston, Massachusetts	Jul 30, 2011
ShowDown	Bethlehem, Pennsylvania	Jun 11, 2011
Misters & Sisters	New York, New York	Jun 02, 2011
Soaking WET	New York, New York	May 19, 2011
Museum of Art & Design	New York, New York	May 18, 2011
New Dance Alliance	New York, New York	May 01, 2011
WestFest	New York, New York	Apr 29, 2011
American College Dance Festival Association	Elon, North Carolina	Mar 23, 2011
Soaking WET	New York, New York	Mar 10, 2011
Dance On A Shoestring	New York, New York	Feb 25, 2011
Nut/Cracked	New York, New York	Dec 17, 2010
Dance Theater Workshop Gala	New York, New York	Dec 06, 2010
Soaking WET	New York, New York	Nov 04, 2010
Fraulein Maria	Boston, Massachusetts	Sep 23, 2010
Festival Twenty Ten	New York, New York	Sep 09, 2010
Festival Twenty Ten	New York, New York	Sep 08, 2010
Certain Bird Presents	Stamford, Vermont	Aug 07, 2010
Misters and Sisters (Part One)	Concord, Massachusetts	Jul 23, 2010
Governor's Institute for the Arts	Castleton, Vermont	Jul 08, 2010
Silo Dances at Kirkland Farm	Springtown, Pennsylvania	Jun 12, 2010
Soaking WET	New York, New York	May 13, 2010
Show Down	Worcester, Massachusetts	Apr 07, 2010
Live Body Broadcast	New York, New York	Apr 06, 2010
Short Form Weave	New York, New York	Mar 05, 2010
Stam-Pede	New York, New York	Jan 10, 2010
Nut/Cracked	New York, New York	Dec 13, 2009
Fridays At Noon	New York, New York	Nov 20, 2009
Soaking WET	New York, New York	Nov 05, 2009
Dance Now NYC Festival	New York, New York	Sep 26, 2009
Dance Now NYC Festival	New York, New York	Sep 08, 2009
Edinburgh Fringe Festival	Edinburgh, Scotland	Aug 10, 2009
An Evening With David Parker	Concord, Massachusetts	Jul 23, 2009
ShowDown	New York, New York	Jun 04, 2009
SILO	Springtown, Pennsylvania	May 27, 2009
Northwestern University	Evanston, Illinois	May 02, 2009
Dance Sampler	New York, New York	Apr 25, 2009
Soaking WET	New York, New York	Mar 06, 2009
Family Matters	New York, New York	Feb 28, 2009
Pink Empowerment	New York, New York	Feb 08, 2009
APAP Showing	New York, New York	Jan 10, 2009
Hoboken Shelter Dance Benefit	Hoboken, New Jersey	Dec 19, 2008
Nut/Cracked	New York, New York	Dec 11, 2008
Summer Stages Dance Benefit	Concord, Massachusetts	Dec 07, 2008
Nut/Cracked	Storm Lake, Iowa	Nov 25, 2008
Nut/Cracked	Worcester, Massachusetts	Nov 12, 2008
Soaking WET	New York, New York	Nov 06, 2008
40 UP!	New York, New York	Nov 01, 2008
Nut/Cracked	Boston, Massachusetts	Oct 22, 2008
Harvard University	Cambridge, Massachusetts	Sep 27, 2008
ShowDown	Boston, Massachusetts	Jul 29, 2008
ShowDown	New York, New York	Jun 06, 2008
A Little Southern Comfort	New York, New York	Mar 14, 2008
Soaking Wet	New York, New York	Mar 06, 2008
Backwards and in Heels	Philadelphia, Pennsylvania	Jan 24, 2008
APAP Showcase	New York, New York	Jan 12, 2008
First Night Boston	Boston, Massachusetts	Dec 31, 2007
A Different Drummer	Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania	Dec 05, 2007
The Illumination Project	Houston, Texas	Dec 01, 2007
Nut/Cracked	Boston, Massachusetts	Nov 07, 2007
40 Up — DanceNow/NYC	New York, New York	Sep 08, 2007
Groundworks Dance Theater	Cleveland, Ohio	Sep 01, 2007
NDP Performance	Concord, Massachusetts	Jul 23, 2007
Summer Stage Dance	Concord, Massachusetts	Jul 21, 2007
Boston Ballet Grand Studio	Boston, Massachusetts	Jul 15, 2007
AstridPark	New York, New York	May 08, 2007
Fridays at Noon	New York, New York	Apr 13, 2007
Soaking Wet	New York, New York	Mar 29, 2007
Festival 2007	Champaign, Illinois	Feb 01, 2007
Soaking Wet	New York, New York	Jan 25, 2007
Dance On A Shoestring	New York, New York	Jan 19, 2007
The Juilliard School	New York, New York	Dec 14, 2006
MOVE for Breast Cancer Awareness	New York, New York	Dec 10, 2006
Tea Dances	New York, New York	Dec 09, 2006
Nut/Cracked	Boston, Massachusetts	Nov 03, 2006
Dance Now—Joe's Pub	New York, New York	Sep 15, 2006
Forty Up-Dance Theater Worksho	New York, New York	Sep 06, 2006
Summer Stages Dance	Concord, Massachusetts	Jul 22, 2006
Boston Ballet Studio	Boston, Massachusetts	Jul 15, 2006
Dancers Responding to AIDS	New York, New York	Jun 18, 2006
Pink Cher	Houston, Texas	May 04, 2006
Symphony Space—Leonard Nimoy Thalia Theater	New York, New York	Apr 01, 2006
Family Matters—Dance Theater Workshop	New York, New York	Mar 01, 2006
Summer Stages Dance	Concord, Massachusetts	Mar 01, 2006
Concord Academy	Concord, Massachusetts	Jan 01, 2006
Educational Center for the Arts	New Haven, Connecticut	Jan 01, 2006
Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center	Tampa, Florida	Dec 01, 2005
Family Matters—Dance Theater Workshop	New York, New York	Dec 01, 2005
Winter Garden at World Financial Center	New York, New York	Dec 01, 2005
Joe’s Pub	New York, New York	Dec 01, 2005
Two Rivers Theater	Red Bank, New Jersey	Dec 01, 2005
Kaatsbaan	Tivoli, New York	Nov 01, 2005
Dance Theater Workshop 40th Anniversary	New York, New York	Nov 01, 2005
Spoke The Hub 20th Anniversary	Brooklyn, New York	Oct 01, 2005
OT32001	Amsterdam, the Netherlands	Oct 01, 2005
Edinburgh Fringe Festival	Edinburgh, Scotland	Aug 01, 2005
Summer Stages Dance	Concord, Massachusetts	Jul 01, 2005
Family Matters—Dance Theater Workshop	New York, New York	Jun 01, 2005
Joe’s Pub	New York, New York	May 01, 2005
Town Hall	New York, New York	May 01, 2005
Fondation Cartier	Paris, France	May 01, 2005
Short Takes	Amsterdam, the Netherlands	Apr 01, 2005
Studio 32003—Vernissage Danse	Montreal, Canada	Jan 01, 2005
Peculiar Works Project	New York, New York	Dec 01, 2004
Dance Theater Workshop	New York, New York	Dec 01, 2004
In The Blood—Trinity Boxing Club	New York, New York	Nov 01, 2004
New Dance Alliance	Philadelphia, Pennsylvania	Oct 01, 2004
Family Matters—Dance Theater Workshop	New York, New York	Oct 01, 2004
Dancers Responding to AIDS—Bryant Park	New York, New York	Aug 01, 2004
Provincetown Playhouse	Provincetown, Massachusetts	Jul 01, 2004
Summer Stages Dance	Concord, Massachusetts	Jul 01, 2004
Perry-Mansfield Performing Arts Camp	Steamboat Springs, Colorado	Jul 01, 2004
Dance/USA	Pittsburgh, Pennsylvnaia	Jun 01, 2004
Pink Charm 22002004—Cullen Theater	Houston, Texas	May 01, 2004
The Field	New York, New York	May 01, 2004
Family Matters—The Jewish Museum	New York, New York	May 01, 2004
West End Theater	New York, New York	May 01, 2004
Dancers Responding to AIDS	Purchase, New York	Mar 01, 2004
Winter Garden at World Financial Center	New York, New York	Mar 01, 2004
Château Gontier—Le Carré National Theatre	Brittany, France	Feb 01, 2004
Family Matters—Dance Theater Workshop	New York, New York	Jan 01, 2004
Dance Theater Workshop	New York, New York	Jan 01, 2004
Riverside Arts Council	Dobbs Ferry, New York	Nov 01, 2003
Carlo Felice Opera House — Auditorium E. Montal	Genoa, Italy	Nov 01, 2003
Education Center for the Arts	New Haven, Connecticut	Oct 01, 2003
Concord-Carlisle High School	Concord, Massachusetts	Sep 01, 2003
Summer Stages Dance	Concord, Massachusetts	Sep 01, 2003
Belluard Bollwerk International Festival	Freibourg, Switzerland	Jul 01, 2003
Summer Stages Dance	Concord, Massachusetts	Jul 01, 2003
Fire Island Dance Festival	New York, New York	Jul 01, 2003
Auditorium Antonin Artaud	Ivry-sur-Seine, France	Feb 01, 2003
West End Theater	New York, New York	Jan 01, 2003
Monaco Dance Forum	Monte Carlo, Monaco	Dec 01, 2002
First Night Boston	Boston, Massachusetts	Dec 01, 2002
Dance Now Festival	New York, New York	Sep 01, 2002
Nervi Estate Festival	Nervi, Italy	Jul 01, 2002
Summer Stages Dance	Concord, Massachusetts	Jul 01, 2002
Pink Charm 22002002—Cullen Theater	Houston, Texas	May 01, 2002
Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center	College Park, Maryland	Feb 01, 2002
Theater Festival Divadelma Nitra	Nitra, Slovakia	Oct 01, 2001
Arca Theater	Prague, Czech Republic	Oct 01, 2001
Harbor Playhouse	Corpus Christie, Texas	Oct 01, 2001
Family Matters—World Trade Center Plaza Stage	New York, New York	Aug 01, 2001
Invitation To The Dance	Rome, Italy	Jul 01, 2001
Summer Stages Dance	Concord, Massachusetts	Jul 01, 2001
HKA Dance Academie	Arnhem, The Netherlands	Jun 01, 2001
18th Annual Dance Week Festival	Zagreb, Croatia	Jun 01, 2001
Kurt Jooss Prize—NRW Choreographic Zentrum	Essen, Germany	May 01, 2001
Dance Sampler—Symphony Space	New York, New York	Apr 01, 2001
Perugia Festival	Perugia, Italy	Feb 01, 2001
Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center—The Off Center Theater	Tampa, Florida	Jan 01, 2001
Rivertown Arts Council—The Masters School	Dobbs Ferry, New York	Nov 01, 2000
University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana	Champaign-Urbana, Illinois	Nov 01, 2000
DanceNow Festival—Cooper Union Great Hall	New York, New York	Sep 01, 2000
John Jay College	New York, New York	Aug 01, 2000
FLEXX Festival	Montreal, Canada	Aug 01, 2000
Summer Stages Dance	Concord, Massachusetts	Jul 01, 2000
Tanz Fair NRW 220000	Essen, Germany	Jun 01, 2000
Hot Pink Houston—Cullen Theater	Houston, Texas	May 01, 2000
Bard College	Annandale-on-Hudson, New York	Apr 01, 2000
Teatro Modena	Genoa, Italy	Mar 01, 2000