New Works By Parsons and Skarpetowska

Wednesday January 20th, 2016 – The opening night of the Parsons Dance 2016 season at The Joyce. New works by David Parsons and Katarzyna Skarpetowska were on offer, as well as Robert Battle’s TRAIN, a revival of David Parsons’ UNION, and two of David’s signature classics: NASCIMENTO and CAUGHT.

It was a grand night for dancing; each of the six works presented offered ample opportunity for the vibrant Parsons Dancers to dazzle us with their strength, passion, and fearlessness. If it’s true that there’s no rest for the wicked, then these dancers must be very naughty indeed. They danced full-out, with nary a hint of pacing themselves, all evening. The vociferous screams (yes, screams) of delight from the packed house at the end of each piece said it all.

David Parsons and I go way back, to his dancing days with Paul Taylor’s company and his earliest explorings of the choreographic terrain at Jacob’s Pillow. Read a bit about this history here.

Above: dancers of Parsons Dance in a © Lois Greenfield photo. (Check out Ms. Greenfield’s latest book, Moving Still, here). These six dancers – Ian Spring, Omar Roman de Jesus, Geena Pacareu (back row), Sarah Braverman, Eoghan Dillon, and Elena D’Amario (foreground trio) comprised the cast of tonight’s opening work: David’s newest creation, FINDING CENTER. Having its New York premiere this evening, the piece is inspired by a series of paintings created in the 1980s by artist Rita Blitt.

FINDING CENTER is danced to a laid-back score by Thomas Newman. Throughout the work, Ms. Blitt’s oval-shaped images – in vivid, ever-changing colours – are projected behind the dancers. Howell Binkley, David Parsons’ long-time lighting collaborator, again proved his essential value to the on-going success of the Parsons repertory: his lighting is always perfect. 

Among the many arresting choreographic elements in this new work are unusual lifts of the women in seated positions. An adagio for Elena D’Amario and Ian Spring finds Mr. Parsons’ gift for inventive partnering at full-flourish: not only are there some gorgeous lifts, but twice Ian suspends Elena in a floating plank position, her body parallel to the floor and only inches away from it. Mlles. Braverman and Pacareu, squired by Eoghan Dillon and Omar Roman de Jesus, turned what might otherwise be considered ensemble roles into beautifully expressive moments.

Photographer Travis Magee and I watched a rehearsal of David Parsons’ UNION a couple of weeks ago. This dancework premiered at the New York State Theatre in 1993 as part of an AIDS benefit gala. It marked a collaboration between the choreographer, composer John Corigliano, and fashion designer Donna Karan. 

The elegy from Mr. Corigliano’s Concerto for Clarinet and Orchestra creates an atmosphere of luminously pensive mystery…even before the dancing begins. The eight dancers, clad in Ms. Karan’s provocatively ‘nude’ costumes, enter in slow-motion from upstage left; they cross the diagonal and pause center-stage where they become entwined and entangled. Individual dancers rise out of the dense human hive only to inexplicably vanish again. Suddenly they begin to move faster, though the music maintains is eerie adagio tempo. As the music fades, the tribe gather their energy to continue their diagonal trajectory, moving toward some unknown fate.

Among the individual dancers in this work, Sarah Braverman stood out – as she had at the rehearsal (above, with Ian and Omar in Travis Magee’s photo) – for her ability to maintain a deeply feminine lyricism every moment she is onstage. Whether she’s dancing fast or slow, or being suspended upside down, Sarah is always hypnotic to watch. 

It was also in UNION tonight that we met the two newest members of Parsons Dance…

…blonde and luscious Zoey Anderson…

…and Ahmad Simmons, a pillar of strength and a born mover.

The evening continued: 

Above: Elena D’Amario, in a Travis Magee portrait. Elena’s solo in Robert Battle’s TRAIN was simply thrilling.

TRAIN is set to a blazing percussion score performed by Les Tambours du Bronx. It’s not about trains as a mode of transportation, but rather about training the body for rigorous sports activity. Here the dancers, whether in marching mode or sailing about the space in free-flowing passages, took on an almost animal intensity. Elena D’Amario’s solo, in which Mr. Battle makes uncanny demands on the dancer, was performed with Ellie’s trademark daring and all-out commitment, winning this beauteous dancer a forte round of cheers when she took her bows.

Katarzyna Skarpetowska, a particular favorite of mine among choreographers currently on the scene, offered her latest creation, ALMAH, and added yet another feather to her cap with this finely-conceived and musically inspired work. Performing live, the musicians of Ljova dazzled us with their colourful playing. A felicitous soundscape – combining fadolin (an acoustic 6-string violin/viola/cello hybrid made by Eric Aceto), tuba, trumpet, bass clarinet, and drums – evoked beer gardens, country weddings à la LES NOCES, and visions of Russian villages and the people who live there. 

Ms. Skarpetowska had wonderful dancers to work with – Elena D’Amario, Zoey Anderson, Eoghan Dillon, and Omar Ramon de Jesus – and she used the music as an inspiration for their rich and detailed movement, with some intriguing partnering motifs in the mix.

Two pas de deux for Geena Pacareu and Ian Spring (above, rehearsing with the musicians of Ljova in a David Parsons photo) are high points in this excellent work; in the longer of the two, the voice of Inna Barmash cast a spell over the theatre with her one-word vocalise – talk about creating an atmosphere! – to which Ian and Geena responded with dancing that was truly heartfelt. 

Ms. Skarpetowska took a bow to warmly affectionate applause at the close of this premiere of her newest piece, her silver shoes a charming touch. How I would love to see Kate working with oh-so-many dancers/dance companies…and most especially with the Martha Graham troupe. Let’s make it happen!

    

Above: beloved dancers Sarah Braverman and Ian Spring, in a Lois Greenfield photo 

No Parsons Dance evening is complete without CAUGHT, the unique strobe-light solo that includes 100 jumps and leaves audiences in a stupefied state of “how-the-hell-did-he-do-that?” wonderment. I have seen it dozens of times and tonight, as always, I was thinking: “Oh…Caught…again!” and then moments later I was whooping and hollering along with the rest of the crowd.

Ian Spring gave an astonishing performance; at first he moves slowly from one pool of light to another as Ljova intoned the opening phrases of the Robert Fripp score live. And then Ian takes off, flashing in and out of our vision in a series of perfectly timed snapshots. Like a dreamworld spirit, he pops up uncannily in various parts of the stage, seems to suspend himself above the floor, walks on air. Periodically the ‘real’ Ian materializes, as if he’d been standing still the whole time. Dazzled by the visual magic and by the dancer’s mouth-watering physique, the crowd went absolutely wild at the end while the sweat-drenched Ian – who, during his seasons with Parsons Dance, has developed into one of Gotham’s modern dance icons – basked in a standing ovation, casting a benevolent smile on the adoring throng.

David Parsons’ sunny and seductive NASCIMENTO (1990) is always a perfect closing work. Here the dancers fill the music of Milton Nascimento – and David Parsons’ casually sexy combinations – with the effortless charisma that seems to be de rigueur for joining this elite dance family. Everyone has ample opportunity to shine – or glow, really – as they leap and sway to the tantalizing music, which includes some spine-tingly vocal passages. Meanwhile, the Binkley lighting scheme with its warm, rich colours, is an ideal setting.

So many moments give NACSIMENTO its visual appeal: there’s a great passage when the girls race upstage and fly into Ahmad Simmons’ arms. And a simple but savorable section where Sarah Braverman wanders wonderingly among her colleagues who are hailing us from the shore with stylized arm gestures. Overall, it’s an irresistible piece performed by irresistible dancers.

A few more images:

Eoghan Dillon, a young Irishman who is carving out his own niche in the Company…

…and Geena Pacareu, the Spanish beauty, with Omar Ramon de Jesus, a sweetly sexy guy, and a suave mover; I borrowed this picture of them – on vacation – from Geena’s Instagram.

And finally…The Boss, getting everything perfect. Photo: Travis Magee.

Parsons Dance continue their Joyce season thru January 31st. You’d better go see them!