Everyone told him he was going to fail. But the burgeoning choreographer David Parsons was not deterred.
Twenty-five years ago, Parsons, who was raised in Kansas City, gave up a secure job as an acclaimed dancer with the renowned Paul Taylor Dance Company to strike out on his own and start a dance troupe to showcase his choreography.
Not only did he manage to establish one of the most popular contemporary dance companies of all time, he also secured a place in dance history as the choreographer of a singularly memorable work. Perhaps the most widely known dance solo performed today, Parsons’ “Caught” incorporates ingenious lighting effects that make its dancer appear airborne throughout.
Created in 1982, and included in the repertory of countless dance troupes, most notably the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, “Caught” is surely one of the most astonishing modern dance solos of the 20th century.
Though born in Chicago, from the age of 5 Parsons lived in Kansas City, where he was trained as a trampoline athlete before he got turned on to modern dance at a local arts camp and started performing with Missouri Dance Theater.
He moved to New York when he was 17 to study dance on scholarship at the Ailey school, gained fame dancing for eight years with the Paul Taylor Dance Company and then went off and started his own troupe, Parsons Dance, in 1985.
Parsons Dance will appear in Kansas City on Friday night at the Folly Theater in the dance/rock opera “Remember Me,” which integrates Parsons’ choreography with performances by vocalists from New York’s East Village Opera Company. “Caught” also will be on the program.
A strapping guy, clad in navy blue sweatsuit pants, black T-shirt and running shoes, the boyishly handsome Parsons jumped up from his chair to demonstrate corrections for his male dancers at a recent rehearsal. Though it has been 25 years since he performed with the Taylor company, Parsons still executes quick, clean movement isolations with stunning speed and precision.
Although one can recognize a signature Parsons dance style — fast, sharp, sexy and full of risky leaps and bounds — the choreographer prides himself on developing a brand new movement vocabulary for every piece he creates.
“I do a massive amount of work, in terms of finding the vocabulary,” he said. “But once I get the basic structure and concept, I bring my dancers in to help me come up with new movements inside the world of the vocabulary I’ve created.”
A spot in Parsons’ 11-member company is one of the most coveted performing jobs on the contemporary dance scene today. A troupe of especially attractive, highly skilled movers who throw themselves fearlessly into Parsons’ demanding choreography, the plucky dancers are extremely well-treated.
“It’s a great company to work for,” said Parsons Dance member Sarah Braverman. “They really take you in and are very considerate of dancers’ needs.”
The work is very strenuous for the dancers, however, because of the company’s extensive touring schedule.
“You can choreograph dances, but the reality is, if you want people to see them, you have to make the extra effort to pay people well and get them on the road, or else you’re just doing it for your friends and family in New York,” Parsons said.
The greatest challenge Parsons faces today is holding on to his concert dance audiences.
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