About Sprouts 2023
On June 14 and 15, the company returns to downtown Manhattan’s Battery Playscape for a second partnership with Ballet Tech — The New York City Public School for Dance. In store is another charming performance of About Sprouts, the David Parsons work featuring over 50 fourth and fifth grade students moving alongside our dancers and aerial puppets.
Performances take place at 2pm and 3pm each day and are free and open to the public. We would love to see you there!
Photo of David Parsons’ The Shape Of Us by Paula Lobo
We loved connecting to New York City audiences during our annual Joyce season and thank so many of you who saw us perform. The two weeks were filled with three world premieres, a lively family matinee, and, as part of our outreach initiatives, a special sensory friendly show featuring modified lights and sounds and designated play and quiet spaces.
After rest, rehearsals, and more New York City based activity, the company will take to the road again in early August when it will make stops in Santa Fe and Aspen before heading to Jacob’s Pillow for the first time in 25 years! Running from August 7-11 at the Pillow’s fabulous Ted Shawn Theatre, the Parsons appearance will feature classic pieces like Swing Shift and Nascimento, along with the duet from Finding Center, featuring art work by Rita Blitt. Another program highlight—Jamar Roberts’ Juke, fresh from its world premiere at The Joyce.
Following the Pillow appearance, the company takes off for an exciting tour through Brazil from August 14 through 25 to perform seven shows across four cities: São Paulo, Curitiba, Porto Alegre, and Rio de Janeiro. Stay tuned for more information about the program, and please consider meeting us on the road!
Click to enjoy scenes from our previous Joyce seasons. Video by Suspension Productions.
Parsons dancers are gearing up for another fantastic New York City season when we take the Joyce stage from May 14 through 25 with three world premieres:
The Shape of Us, created by David Parsons and set to music by Son Lux, the experimental group led by Ryan Lott that received an Oscar nomination for its soundtrack for 2023 Academy Award winner Everything All at Once.
Thick As Thieves, created by Penny Saunders and set to a rhythmic musical score by Michael Wall, performed live and described by Saunders as “mischievous, mysterious, and fun.”
Juke, created by Jamar Roberts, set to Spanish Key, a piece composed by jazz legend Miles Davis that appeared on his 1970 seminal album, Bitches Brew.
Rounding out the program are revered repertory works--Caught and Whirlaway, along with Takademe, a solo created by Robert Battle in 1999 when he was a company dancer.
Parsons dancers during the Q&A of a student matinee in Asheville, NC
Following recent performances in Gainesville, FL and Asheville, NC, our dancers returned to NYC to begin working with students from Ballet Tech—NYC’s Public School For Dance for the third annual performance of About Sprouts. This performance will take place on June 14 and 15 at Battery Playscape.
We are also rehearsing for shows that will find us in Aiken, SC on March 8 for Joye in Aiken, the performing arts festival staged at the University of South Carolina’s Aiken Community Theater. Next stop is Atlanta for a March 10 show at Georgia State University’s Rialto Center for the Arts, and then on to Dallas to appear on March 15 and 16 as part of TITAS/DANCE UNBOUND. Stay tuned for more that includes news about our May 14-25 Joyce season.
A highlight of our upcoming Joyce season will be the world premiere of a work by Jamar Roberts, former Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater dancer and Resident Choreographer, and now one of the hottest choreographers around. Roberts’ work is set to Spanish Key, the piece created by jazz legend Miles Davis, that appeared on his 1970 seminal album, Bitches Brew. “I’ve always been attracted to jazz for its effect on me as an artist, for how it encourages me to find my choreographic voice,” says Roberts. And about his collaboration with the Parsons dancers, he declares, “When I watched them rehearse this piece, I wanted to dance with them. They showed me that they had the tools I needed. They were inspired by the music, and they know how movement works.”
Check out the video for some early rehearsal footage of the new Roberts piece. Tickets for our Joyce season go on sale to the general public on January 4.
Video by Suspension Productions
New York City-based choreographer, director and teacher Natalie Lomonte will be joining Parsons Dance as Associate Artistic Director, a newly created position. Adding Natalie to our staff means welcoming her home. A Parsons dancer from 2008 to 2009, she eventually pivoted from performer to choreographer.
In 2014, she returned to Parsons Dance in this new role, serving as David’s assistant when he created repertory works Whirlaway and The Introduction. In 2015, she received our first GenerationNOW choreography fellowship to create Within which premiered and The Joyce. In 2018, she spent six months in Japan assisting David in creating the choreography for A Knight’s Tale. "Performing with Parsons Dance is a rush like no other; the movement still lives in my bones,” says Natalie, “I am honored to return once again to work with David and the company."
Her performance experience beyond Parsons includes dancing for MOMIX and Pilobolus, appearances in the film Sex and The City 2 and in the original Broadway cast of Spiderman:Turn Off the Dark. Following her career as a dancer, she served as Assistant Stage Director and Choreographer to Mia Michaels for The New York Spectacular Starring the Radio City Rockettes. Since 2012, she has been the movement director for One Year Lease Theater Company.
A devoted dance teacher, she has taught at Fordham University, and has led movement workshops at Harvard, Vassar, PACE and Marymount Manhattan, where she currently serves as Vice President of the Dance Department Advisory Board.
“We are thrilled to have Natalie join us,” David Parsons declares, “a former member of the company with years of experience in all aspects of our business, she is a great addition to the team.”
Parsons dancers rehearse new work with choreographer Penny Saunders.
“I love working with Parsons Dance,” says choreographer Penny Saunders about her experience in creating a new piece on the company during our three week residency at Lake Placid Performing Arts Center. “Feeling trusted is a great place to start,” Saunders goes on to say, praising not only our dancers but also David who, when she began the choreographic process, simply said “do what you want.”
As she digs for her own voice, Saunders has called on Parsons dancers to help her explore what she hopes to be a mischievous, mysterious, and fun piece, one filled with sound generating from a rhythmic musical score by the talented composer Michael Wall. Incorporating piano, trumpet and vocals with the amplified sound of dancers’ breathing and stomping feet, the piece will make its world premiere during our Joyce season next spring.
We’re delighted that Lake Placid audiences will have a chance to catch a preview performance
of this new work on September 1 when it appears on a program that features Parsons repertory
favorites as well.
Parsons dancers enjoying 2023 Lake Placid Residency with choreographer Penny Saunders.
The incredible group of artists who came together to perform at the Fire Island Dance Festival. Photo by Rory Pottruck.
This month is packed with great gigs! On July 15 and 16, we were thrilled to return to the Fire Island Dance Festival, where, despite the pounding rain, the captivated crowd cheered us on as we performed excerpts from Whirlaway, the 2014 David Parsons work set to a fabulous Allen Toussaint score. Our thanks goes out to the folks at Dancers Responding to Aids for hosting this annual festival. We’re always proud to partner with you!
And we won’t be away from water for long! Our next stop is Saturday July 29, when we appear at the Westhampton Beach Project, the annual outdoor free event created by local resident and artist Steven Colucci. The evening promises to be delightful, featuring Swing Shift and In The End, two of our most engaging repertory works.
August brings us back to NYC and to The Duke on 42nd Street at New 42 Studios to continue our educational outreach efforts by joining Barkha Dance Company and Ballet Hispánico for New Victory Dance, the much applauded series centered on performances curated for young audiences. We will be on stage for four school shows running from August 1 through 4 and one public performance on August 3, with Balance of Power on tap for all. Although David Parsons created the work as a solo, New Victory Dance audiences will have the special treat of seeing Zoey Anderson and new dancer Joseph Cyranski perform it as a duet. Grab your favorite kids and make plans now to see the show!
See the David Parsons premiere of Mr. Withers and more during our Joyce season, running now through March 26, to experience what The New York Times describes as the “freshness” of the entire program, including live music and a new work by Rena Butler, all of which “bring a youthful energy to a company that is approaching 40—one whose co-founder the great lighting designer Howell Binkley died in 2020. That’s comforting from a group that reliably provides comfort. The shared vision of Binkley and Parsons is still going strong.”
Header photo courtesy of Paula Lobo
Video courtesy of Suspension Productions
Swing Shift photo by David Parsons in 2003, its premiere year.
Throughout our upcoming Joyce season, taking place from March 15-26, audiences will not only be treated to two world premieres; they will have the chance to experience Swing Shift, a cherished David Parsons piece built around a series of duets and trios that he describes as “a study of speed and partnering.” To celebrate the twentieth anniversary of this compelling work, a piano, violin and cello trio, appearing live on evening programs, will perform the original commissioned score created by Juilliard-educated, Oregon-based composer Kenji Bunch. The fervor of the dancing and the jazzy propulsion and “wide emotive appeal” (The New York Times) of Bunch’s music are a perfect match, one that creates what David describes as “just a joyous piece.”
Some great news for Parsons Dance fans! We have selected Rena Butler as the recipient of our 2022/2023 GenerationNOW Fellowship….
