Between rhythmic body and fine mechanics, the virtuoso humor of the Americans won us over.
Anne Soumov

Friday, before our dazzled eyes, The Bang Group explored the “Gender” theme through short pieces full of humor. A made-in-the-USA troupe that is unequaled for tap dance, classical dance and clowning. The portly one is David Parker in person. a typically American choreographer and a classic dance rebel. In his work, everything is a question of rhythm and movement. At his will, ballet slippers become percussion instruments by exaggerating the sound of the foot hitting the floor, of the dancer returning to pointe or pulling himself up.

Dressed in a dress and high heels, Parker appears on stage as a housewife who is a prisoner of her alcoholism. The only music is the sound he coaxes from a wine glass. Wonderfully eloquent. It takes genius to be able to unite dance and alcoholic behavior so perfectly.

The hilarity of the company is when a dancer takes great pleasure in falling onto a sheet of plastic bubble wrap to make it pop. Its virtuosity is when a male dancer wearing toe shoes desperately tries to keep his balance, to remain upright, resembling Bambi. Unforgettable, is a pas de deux where, to the music of the classical ballet The Nutcracker by Tchaikovky, Jeffrey Kazin and David Parker suck each other’s thumbs. With their fingers in each other’s mouths, they perform lifts, arabesques and pirouettes.

A performance without a false note: the protagonists chose to master classical dance perfectly to be able to parody it. A model of perfection.

—Anne Soumov, La Nouvelle Gazette, March 29, 1999