Parsons Dance Returns to White Bird

New York City's Parsons Dance, one of today's most prominent American dance companies, will return to White Bird after a long absence to perform a six-part program, featuring signature works alongside an exciting tribute to New Orleans jazz. Led by Artistic Director David Parsons, the 8-member company's unstoppable energy and spellbinding technique will provide for a spectacular night of contemporary dance. Founded in 1985 by former celebrated Paul Taylor dancer David Parsons and Tony Award-winning lighting designer Howell Binkley, Parsons Dance is internationally renowned for its athletic and energized ensemble work. The show runs April 4-6 at the Newmark Theatre, 7:30pm.

The Portland program kicks off with Wolfgang, a sextet set to Mozart's compositions. Originally created in 2005 for Aspen Santa Fe Ballet, the work "is on a higher choreographic level than similar amalgams-basically balletic, but with a forward looking emphasis illustrating the composer's timeless compositions in a contemporary light," (Critical Dance).

The first half of the evening continues with the duet from Finding Center, an excerpt from a longer work created in 2015. The brightly lit work includes sprightly percussion, curving arms and swerving leaps, with splashes of whimsy - jutting chicken heads and bow-legged sprints.

Closing out the first act is Ma Maison by Trey McIntyre, a choreographer well known to White Bird and Oregon Ballet Theatre audiences. This exuberant work pays tribute New Orleans jazz funerals, set to the glorious brash sounds of New Orleans Preservation Hall Jazz Band. Originally created for McIntyre's own company in 2008 (which White Bird presented twice), the work came into Parson's repertoire in 2018. The dancers are strikingly costumed in skull masks, white gloves, white jazz shoes, and designer Jeanne Button's riotously colored costumes.The Los Angeles Times described the work as a "collision between New Orleans-style jazz and brilliant contemporary ballet...at once unpredictable and wondrous."

The next two program pieces span almost 40 years of David Parson's choreography, starting with one of the company's latest works, Microburst (2018) and continuing on to a the all-time classic solo originally created by David on himself in 1982, Caught. Microburst is a fiery, rhythmic work set to an original score by tabla player Avirodh Sharma.

Caught is David Parson's signature work, performed on virtually every Parsons Dance program due to its enormous popularity. Broadway Voice calls it a "frenetic solo, powerful in both its speed and ferocious choreography." The work's most striking feature is that the singular dancer appears to never touch the ground, with a well-timed strobe flashing only while the dancer lofts her/himself through the air.

The program will culminate with David Parsons' Whirlaway (2015), which The New York Times describes the company as being "its most characteristically optimistic, zooming across the stage with grand jetés and skittering runs." Whirlaway is set to the the upbeat tracks of New Orleans jazz composer Allen Toussaint.

David Parsons has enjoyed a remarkable career as a director, choreographer, per­former, master teacher and producer. Raised in Kansas City, Parsons made it to New York at the age of 17 when he received a scholarship to the Alvin Ailey School. After Ailey, he became an understudy with the Paul Taylor Dance Company and then joined the company as a principal dancer. He stayed for eight years. During summers, he toured with MOMIX; he appeared with Mikhail Baryshnikov and Mark Morris in the first White Oak tour; and he launched his choreographic career by setting work on the Taylor Company and on the Na­tional Ballet of Canada, Hubbard Street Dance Chicago, Batsheva Dance Company, and the Paris Opera Ballet. In addition to the more than 75 works that he has created for Parsons Dance, Parsons has received commissions from American Ballet Theatre, New York City Ballet, among dozens of others. Hailed by The New York Times as "one of the great movers of modern dance," Parsons has received many accolades throughout his career, including three Choreography Fellowship Grants from the National Endowment of the Arts; the American Choreography Award; the Dance Magazine Award; a Howard Gilman Fellowship, and the Dance Masters of America Annual Award. In May 2018, he received the Capezio Award, one of the most prestigious awards in dance.

Parsons Dance has performed in more than 447 cities, 30 coun­tries, and 5 continents and has appeared at such notable venues as The Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Sydney Opera House, Maison de la Danse, Teatro La Fenice, and Theatro Municipal do Rio de Janeiro. The repertoire of the company includes no less than 75 original works by David Parsons as well as pieces by well-known choreographers like Trey McIntire and Alvin Ailey's Robert Battle.

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