Parsons Dance is a contemporary dance company founded by choreographer David Parsons. Based in New York City, Parsons Dance was founded on July 17, 1985 by David Parsons and lighting designer Howell Binkley. Since its founding, Parsons has toured six continents. It is also the only dance company in history to perform at all three Spoleto Festivals (Italy, Australia and the US) in a single season.Since 1985, Parsons Dance has toured an average of 32 weeks per year, to a total of more than 235 cities, 30 countries, six continents and millions of audience members. The company consists of eleven full-time dancers.The Company members are: Abby Silva Gavezzoli, Miquel Quinones III, Emily Daly, Ian Spring, Melissa Ullom, Maria Elena D'Amario, Sarah Braverman, Christina Ilisije, Eric Bourne,Jason Macdonald, and Steven Vaughn.
It maintains a repertory of more than 70 works, twenty of which feature commissioned original scores by composers and musicians including Dave Matthews, Michael Gordon and Milton Nascimento. Parsons Dance has collaborated with many other artists, including Julie Taymor, William Ivey Long, Annie Leibovitz, Donna Karan and Alex Katz. David Parsons is both the choreographer and the artistic director, and his assistant artistic director is Elizabeth Koeppen. Parsons Dance has been seen on PBS, Bravo, A&E and the Discovery Channel. Millions watched worldwide as Parsons Dance performed live in New York’s Times Square, as part of the internationally broadcast, 24-hour Millennium New Year’s Eve celebration on December 31, 1999.
What draws me to this company is its timelessness. From founding, it has made huge steps internationally and has been on the dance scene for over thirty years. Its ability to stay on top for so long shows how creatively impressive David Parsons is. The piece that I am posting is a duet that was performed in Bryant Partk NYC last year. One aspect of this piece is that it transitions from soft and smooth to sharp and fast very quickly. The transitions are abrupt but fitting. At the end of this piece the company performs whilst someone sings onstage. This piece is called "Remember Me" and it is one of their most famous pieces and is performed quite frequently. But the singing on stage is something that Parsons experiements with often. Parsons is known for its work with musicians.
