The Parsons Dance Company: Fine Dining, Caught, Scrutiny
Product Type: DVD
Product Price: $32.98
Manufacturer: Arthaus Musik
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Description
If you like your contemporary dance to be full of abstraction and metaphor, The Parsons Dance Company is unlikely to move you greatly. However, if you believe that dance should be about something, then you'll appreciate the group's work and its leader's choreography. David Parsons spent nearly 10 years with the Paul Taylor Company before forming his own group in 1987. The seven dances here are each inspired by a very specific idea such as social interaction, male companionship, or judgmental behavior.
"Reflections of Four" is both the most interesting and, in some ways, the most irritating piece. Taking as its theme "the strength of women," it's a tour de force for the troupe's female members while also being patronizing to the point of sexism--no doubt there's a reason for the dance being staged in four inches of water other than for the girlies to get their leotards wet, but you can almost hear Barry White grunting "Feel mah lurve." Elsewhere, it's a woman who gets her top pulled off during "Scrutiny" for no obvious reason, while David Hasselhoff-lookalike Parsons reserves the clinical appraisal alluded to in the title for his female dancers. These odd peculiarities aside, this is a successful and very approachable collection. --Roger Thomas
Reviews
Rating: 5 / 5
Date: 2007-08-08
Summary: "Expressive modern dance"
David Parsons not only owns the dance company, but is also the sole choreographer. The troops are all experienced perfomers and dancers, and the theme of each dance piece is so expressive and overt, I use this DVD when introducing ballet and dance to a novice. Most of the performers, and especially David Parsons, exhibit the decipline and skill to dance classical ballet if required.
Rating: 5 / 5
Date: 2007-05-13
Summary: "Dance Extraordinaire"
Awesome dance DVD!!!!!!!! Very thought provoking. The dancers are amazing and the choregorgraphy is original, artistic, surreal, and avant garde. A featured dance, The Envelope is perfect! Enjoy!
Rating: 3 / 5
Date: 2005-10-21
Summary: "Good contemporary dance DVD"
Good! It's from the 80's. I'll like to see a more recent performance, but it is very good.
Rating: 5 / 5
Date: 2002-12-08
Summary: "Caught in the Air by Intense Illumination"
David Parsons had studied gymnastics before being introduced to dance through Alvin Ailey's association with Leonard Bernstein's "Mass". Some years later, after a brief fling with audio engineering work, he joined the Paul Taylor Dance Company, eventually becoming one of the male lead dancers. After hours, he experimented with his own choreography and some of these pieces came to be presented at New York City's Dance Theater Workshop. Elliot Feld purchased one such work and it was this confidence, in Mr. Parson's talent, that lead David to starting the Parsons Dance Company in 1987.
"The Parsons Dance Company" DVD features seven separate pieces that consist of two different styles of video translation.
The first three works on the disc, "Fine Dining", "Brothers" and "Reflections of Four", take full advantage of the capability of video as a recording medium. These pieces incorporate set design, editing, composition and lighting that would be difficult to translate into a live theater setting.
The last four works, "Caught", "Scrutiny", "The Envelope" and "Nascimento" are performed on a more or less traditional dance stage, with minimal set design and a surreal lighting sensibility. These four works appear to proceed as live events, with the camera work and editing used mostly to support documentation of the stage choreography.
Each of the seven pieces is introduced by David Parsons and a short verbal portrait of the principle dancers, in the Parsons Company, is presented towards the end of the disc.
The music chosen for the dances is by David Linton, Igor Stravinsky, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Robert Fripp, Michael Raye, Gioacchino Rossini and Milton Nascimento. The duration of the entire presentation runs some One Hundred and Sixteen minutes.
"The Parsons Dance Company" DVD can be recommended, without reservation, to all fans of contemporary dance, for the physical zeal of the dancers, their humor, their grace, and also for the fine technical quality of the audio/video recording.
Rating: 5 / 5
Date: 2002-02-22
Summary: "Outstanding Dance"
Filming a dance piece designed to be performed live is, like any other translation, a compromise at best. The beauty and athleticism here is amazing. Black tights against a black background in some pieces made the dancers legs difficult to see. Maybe I was supposed to be distracted from their legs in the water piece, Reflections of Four, or not notice them in the silliness of The Envelope. In live performance, in was breathtaking to see David Parsons floating above the stage in his signature piece, Caught. In the recording, it was difficult to tell what was going on. Wonderful performances, but also see the company live if you can.
