In Cage Shuffle Paul Lazar speaks a series of one-minute stories by John Cage from his 1963 score Indeterminacy while simultaneously performing choreography by Annie-B Parson. The stories are spoken in a random order with no predetermined relationship to the dancing. Chance serves up its inevitable blend of strange and uncanny connections between text and movement. With live tape and digital collage scored and performed by composer Lea Bertucci.

Cage Shuffle

The sequence of the stories is random.

The sequence of the dance is not.

The performer follows Cage’s original performance instructions:

“Read stories aloud, with or without additional musical accompaniment, paced so that each story takes one minute. Read all stories in order or select a smaller number, using chance procedures or not.”
-John Cage

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PERFORMANCE HISTORY
October 24 – 25, 2017
DeBartolo Performing Arts Center
University of Notre Dame
Notre Dame, IN

October 22, 2017
co-presented by The Poetry Foundation
Links Hall
Chicago, IL

August 14, 2017
A.P.E. Ltd. Gallery
Northampton, MA

July 27, 2017
Walker Art Center
Minneapolis, MN

June 1, 2017
David Byrne’s: This Is How Music Works
The Town Hall
New York, NY

March 3 – 4, 2017
Poets House
co-presented by the Battery Park City Authority
New York, NY

January 7 – 8, 2016 *WORLD PREMIERE*
American Realness Festival
Abrons Arts Center
New York, NY

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CREDITS:
Created by Paul Lazar/Big Dance Theater

Conceived and directed by Paul Lazar
Choreography by Annie-B Parson
Music composed by Lea Bertucci

Performed by Paul Lazar with Lea Bertucci

Producer Aaron Mattocks
Production Manager Brendan Regimbal
Movement Coach Elizabeth DeMent

Cage Shuffle is a production of Big Dance Theater and made possible, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council. Additionally, the production received funding from the Starry Night Fund; the W Trust; the McGue Millhiser Family Trust; Mertz Gilmore Foundation; New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew Cuomo and the New York State Legislature; Andrew W. Mellon Foundation New York Theater Program; and was also funded, in part, by the Big Dance Theater Creation Circle, lead individual contributors committed to the development and support of the company’s newest works.

Photos by Ian Douglas and Martin Rottenkolber

An impressive feat…always mesmerizing.” —Contemporary Performance

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Paul’s ability to alter focus and gestural timings while delivering a stream of text is a neurological feat of its own, a virtuosic expansion of the multi-data stream performance legacy.” —Culturebot