Paradigm and the Bang Group

Life is a small cabaret

Paradigm and The Bang Group at Thalia Dance: Complete Cabaret.
by Nancy Dalva

The Thalia, the downstairs theater at Symphony Space on New York City's Upper West Side, is home to a wide stage with a postage stamp depth, which is what you might expect from a former movie house. Nonetheless, it's home to a dance series. The first show I saw there, the twentieth anniversary celebration of David Parker and The Bang Group, was fun, but gave no real feel for the range and depth and interesting spatial and metric complexity of Parker's work. His finely eclectic musical taste (Irving Berlin, Arlen and Hamburg, Rogers and Hammerstein, traditional conga, Jule Style, Gounod, Manicini, and Hava Nagila, with all but the first the score for one new dance called "Backward and in Heels") was in evidence, but his style was sorely cramped. Thus it was his oldest piece, a duet in silence called "We're Not Married," that fared best in this venue. It's a tight piece and works in a tight space. The mordantly matched Jeffrey Kazin and Amber Sloan, in identical tight blue jeans, skinny white sleeveless t-shirts, and spectator shoes, essayed the soft shoeing percussive intercourse that makes this dance, whose sounds are its score, into an entire epic of a relationship. They were intense and interesting, and I loved seeing this piece from 1990 again. It would, in fact, be interesting to see it in various other ways—such as with two men, or two women—but I can't imagine a better way.

The second show I saw at the Thalia was PARADIGM Cabaret, hosted by Paradigm's founder and guiding light Gus Solomons jr as a trio comprised of himself, Dudley Williams, and the woman I consider the most beautiful on earth, Carmen deLavallade. These forces, already considerable, are now enhanced by the additions of the imperturbably glamorous Valda Setterfield, and divine Hope Clarke, the urbane Michael Blake, and the ever appealing Keith Sabado. Guests for the evening included—does it get better than this?—Stuart Hodes, which was pure delight, James Martin and Susanna Weiss, the eccentric and accomplished Judith Ren-Lay, and Martine Van Hamel. All this, though not all at once, on a stage the size of several bath mats. Given the intimacy of the venue and the long aquaintance of many member of the audience with these performers, it felt like an evening with friends—if one's friends were all exceptionally gifted and glamorous. PARADIGM, according to Solomons, "vividly illustrates the eloquence that years of experience bring to dance expression." Well, yes. And, how! The show was a teaserSolomons pointed out while acting as emcee, for the company's upcoming July season at the Joyce Theater.Chief among the reasons to see it (and I hope this is on the bill, because it is a knockout performance) is deLavallade in "Willie's Ladies Sing the Blues," concocted by the lady herself with her husband Geoffrey Holder, with texts from Shakespeare. Never mind "age does not wither, nor custom stale." Never mind any kind of "not." Instead, try this: allure and magnetism do increase. One can never grow accustomed to that, only fall in love with it.

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Life is a small cabaret