Parsons Dance

Last night, I had the opportunity to attend Parsons Dance at the University of Massachusetts in Amherst (one of the benefits of being a student in the Pioneer Valley!), and I can't think of a better thing to blog about tonight.

As stated by the company's website:

"Parsons Dance is an internationally renowned contemporary dance company based in New York City. Under the artistic direction of David Parsons, the company presents uplifting, family-friendly contemporary dance to audiences around the world.

"Parsons Dance is a company of 8 full-time dancers and maintains a repertory of more than 70 works by David Parsons, as well as commissions by emerging choreographers and collaborations with some of the greatest artists of our time, including Steely Dan, Dave Matthews, Michael Gordon, Milton Nascimento, William Ivey Long, Annie Leibovitz, Donna Karan and Alex Katz, among many others."

At this particular concert, the dancers performed six very different but startlingly cohesive pieces.  Each was distinct in terms of music and costumes, but David Parsons, the choreographer, linked each piece to the next through use of one particular position: an elongated, almost distended, first-position of the arms.

https://danceguadagno.wikispaces.com/Ballet+Positions+Arms
It's worthwhile to read through this page if you're interested in learning some basic ballet!

My favorite dance was "The Envelope," which seemed to be the most light-hearted piece of the evening.  It began with one dancer in a single spotlight holding an envelope.  He occasionally would toss it offstage, but it would always reappear somewhere else almost immediately.  Other dancers from the company joined in to this, and my initial thought was that, almost humorous, the piece was a satire of classical dance; this was most noticeable in a parody of the "Four Little Swans" formation from the ballet "Swan Lake:"



http://leehippie.wordpress.com/category/dance/

Imagine this formation of four dancers, only in hip-hop sweatpants, dark sunglasses, and hoods, crouched down low.  I laughed so hard, and I wasn't alone: the entire audience seemed to thoroughly enjoy the piece.  However, when I was researching the company, I found this description of the dance on the website:

"The Envelope is a social commentary about loss of identity and individuality in quasi-efficient and highly ordered social structures such as a contemporary office environment. Whatever valuable content the envelope conceals, its delivery is a complex and convoluted journey fraught with questions of authority, accountability, risk and reward."

I was intrigued by this.  A piece that seemed so lighthearted and unassuming actually contains a much less superficial meaning.  I definitely grasped part of this during the performance, but I was more caught up in delight with absurdity of the piece.  It was a welcome break from the seriousness of the other pieces, so I find it ironic that it perhaps was the most serious of all.  Just another way that dance constantly surprises and delights me.