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Parson's Dance Company

Parson’s dance
troupe evolution
in motion

Variety and accessibility
are its keys to success

By Tim Ryan
Star-Bulletin

IT'S a sin for a dance company to be "dull, boring, monotone." "That's why we take risks," says choreographer Dave Parsons who brings his Parsons Dance Company to Leeward Community College tomorrow and Saturday in its Hawaii debut.

"Many choreographers stick to one kind of style or movement vocabulary. We break those bounds and takes risks with each piece. We work hard not to do what's been done before," he says.

The Parsons Dance Company has been praised by the New York Times as "A work of constant change" and by the San Francisco Chronicle as "pure pleasure."

Parsons, in a telephone interview from his home in New York City, bursts with energy, explanations, ideas, enthusiasm. The key to his 12-year-old company's success is simple, he explains: "variety and accessibility."

The Parsons Dance Company has 11 dancers and a bank of some 60 works in its repertoire. New routines are created as often as four times a year, incorporating one to all 11 athletic dancers.

Talent alone won't make a dance troupe successful, Parsons says.

"Passion baby, when you perform you have to push it," he screams.

The company is famous for its risks, gladly bending the traditional rules of dance. The company's accessibility allows audiences to understand "what we do, enjoy dance in a basic form.

"Our dancers are very physical," Parsons says. "Audiences think they're more like jocks but with artistic flair.

"The art world -- especially in New York -- gives me trouble about that but, sorry, that's who I am," Parsons says.

Some of the company's most notable -- and accessible -- routines will be performed during the two-hour Hawaii shows:

"The Envelope" is a comedy with music by Rossini, based on people's work lives of paper pushing. Parsons calls it a satire on humans;
"Sleep Study," another comedy, features dancers performing movements people go through nightly as they sleep;
"Strange Humors" is a solo piece about flying.

Part of Parsons' mission is to allow dance to be enjoyed by a variety of audiences, not just an upper crust.

"Let's face it, dance has become a pretty elitist art form," he said. "Some people fear it because it's been so intellectualized; they end feeling they don't get it.

"We make sure they get it and feel the passion."

Now showing What: Parsons Dance Company When: tomorrow and Saturday Where: Leeward Community College Theatre Cost: $18 and $22.50 Call: 455-0385

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