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 Dancer
and choreographer David Parsons has come a long
way since his stage debut at the age of 14 at
the Unity Temple on the Country Club Plaza.At
a summer arts camp performance for an invited
audience of parents and friends,the young gymnast
jumped onto a trampoline and ricocheted straight
up into the auditorium’s overhead fly space,
where he grabbed onto a pipe. His performance
stopped the show—at least temporarily—
until he could be rescued from his lofty perch.
Now 43 and one of the brightest lights on the
contemporary dance scene, Parsons will bring his
company to the Folly Theater November 22 for a
Harriman Arts Program performance—his eighth
appearance on the acclaimed William Jewell College
performing arts series.
“How’s KC?” Parsons asks breezily
during a recent phone conversation from his New
York studio.A Kansas City resident from the age
of four until he turned 17, he is curious about
the Kansas City Ballet, and about the proposed
downtown Kansas City performing arts center. “We’ve
heard great things about it, and the company is
really looking forward to performing there someday,”Parsons
says. The founder and creative force behind the
Parsons Dance Company is just back from Rio de
Janeiro, where he worked on a benefit performance
piece portraying the plight of poor children in
the hilltop slums of Brazil. The Parsons company,
which was founded in 1987, maintains a repertory
of more than 60 works, including the mesmerizing
signature piece “Caught,” which incorporates
freeze-frame movement illuminated by the piercing
rays of a strobe light. “Caught” will
be featured on the Harriman Arts performance,
as will a new piece called “Swing Shift,”
which Parsons describes as “very dynamic,
very physical and emotional.”
 The
transition from dancer/choreographer to choreographer
has been a relatively seamless one for Parsons.
“For me there is great satisfaction in being
able to transfer the images in your head to the
reality of the stage,” he says.“You
are still in the work,but behind the scenes.And
it’s a lot easier getting up in the morning
without all the aches and pains.”
 The
coming year will find Parsons involved in his
first work for the Broadway stage—an adaptation
of the vintage Fred Astaire/Leslie Caron movie
musical “Daddy Long Legs,” which is
being directed by John Caird, co-director of the
British mega-hit “Les Miserables.”
Members of Parsons’ company will be a part
of the cast for the show, which does not yet have
an announced opening date.
“It’s a wonderful situation for
us because we get to sit down and work for a while
in New York,” Parsons says. “Since
September 11, travel has become so difficult.
Because of the political situation, borders are
closing all over the world. That is devastating
to artists who are used to collaborating and participating
in each others’ work.”
The Broadway project comes on the heels of Twyla
Tharp’s Tony Award-winning “Movin’
Out,” which Parsons says has opened some
doors for dance as an expressive outlet in popular
culture.
“I think it comes in cycles,” Parsons
says. “Dance has come and gone as a part
of the Broadway experience. But right now, it’s
definitely on the rise.” The Body Electric
by Rob Eisele David Parsons (top) and members
of the Parsons Dance
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