ARTS . Dance

Parsonal Best

Parsons Dance


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Published: Oct 21, 2008

Some choreographers are super serious, creating work loaded with concepts and ideas. David Parsons isn't one of these, although he's never been short of either concepts or ideas. What Parsons does best with his 11-member dance troupe is set them spinning to some of the most interesting music available. He creates contagious, joyful moves that make the whole audience smile and his dancers shine. What a concept.

PLEASE DON'T STOP THE MUSIC: Members of New York-based Parsons Dance don't let concept cloud their creative impulses.

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For Annenberg's Dance Celebration kickoff, Parsons gave this series' loyal audience six short, juicy dances. None were too long, overdone or obscure. There were no big sets. Spectacular lighting in deep tones transformed the stage into marketplaces, warm Southern climates and, now and then, a blue mood. If lighting could have stood up and taken a bow, it would have been well-deserved.

Two richly crafted works created with Brazilian musician Milton Nascimento stood out. Nascimento Novo (2006) uses music propelled by fabulous drumming while wailing and moaning voices overlay the instruments. These multilayered sounds gave impetus to Parsons' signature combination of modern, ballet and social dance. Nascimento (1990) was composed for Parsons: It's pure samba, fast and slow, with some capoeira thrown in, hypnotic drums and unexpected still passages where dancers simply raise and shift their arms like an exotic drill team. Plus Parsons knows how to have fun. In the midst of a dance, he included a nod to Pilobolus, his dancers unexpectedly flying into body formations spelling out the word "vote."

Swing Shift is a saucy dance for eight to lilting Kenji Bunch string and piano sounds. Program notes announced the theme as "manifest destiny in the late 18th century." Happily, it looked more like manifest Parsons, with free-flowing movement, a sense of joy, plus a standout solo from Abby Silva.

The duet Ebben, well-performed by Silva and Zac Hammer, was a preview of a forthcoming collaboration between Parsons and Italian opera composer Alfredo Catalani. The spiritual journey of Beatle George Harrison was explored in My Sweet Lord with a nod to India segueing into a big dash of Western pop culture.

Caught, a solo Parsons created for himself and a strobe light in 1982, remains his showstopper. Miguel Quinones performed this small masterpiece of dance illusion on opening night. You'd think this dance-staging trick would get old, but it's still pure magic.

(j_anderson@citypaper.net)

Parsons Dance | Thu., Oct. 16, Annenberg Center