Parsons Dance Summer Performance June 1, 2011

Parsons Dance – praised around the world for its virtuosity, exceptional theatricality, athleticism, energy and accessibility – presents a special summer performance on Wednesday, June 1, 2011 at 7pm. The one act program includes David Parsons’ stroboscopic masterwork Caught and takes place at Manhattan Movement and Arts Center, 248 W. 60th Street between Amsterdam and West End avenues. Tickets are $30 general admission ($20 for students) and are available at www.manhattanmovement.com or 646-385-8493.

Parsons Dance will present four works spanning more than twenty years of David Parsons’ choreography, including The Envelope (1986), a farcical and hysterical romp where the dancers are pitted against a renegade piece of stationery. Slow Dance (2003) is a piece created for three couples, performed in 12x12 inches of light. Each dancer employs beautiful, geometric shapes enhanced by the haunting and romantic score. This work is sultry and smoky, full of intricate manipulations of bodies from the sky to the floor. Caught (1982) is an internationally renowned stroboscopic dance masterpiece that features a solo dancer performing more than 100 leaps in less than six minutes. Each leap is “caught” by the flash of a strobe light, to create a breathtaking illusion of flight. Caught has been performed thousands of times, worldwide, for more than 27 years. An exuberant tribute to the Brazilian spirit and to the music of guitarist Milton Nascimento, who created the score as a gift after seeing Parsons Dance perform, Nascimento (1990) moves spaciously, floating on waves of seductive samba rhythms. Couples fly across the stage in sophisticated spatial patterns, abandoning themselves to the uninhibited thrill of dancing. A bright rainbow of colorful costumes, music, and lights, this inventive, imaginative, and uplifting piece proves to be a celebration of life, music, and dance.

Official Website: http://www.parsonsdance.org