Tuesday, April 13, 2004 | 8:46 a.m.
Forget formalities. Toss aristocratic pomp out the window. David Parsons is coming to town with his troupe of athletic dancers and experimental choreography.
Performing Friday at UNLV's Artemus Ham Hall as part of the Best of the New York Stage Series, Parsons Dance Company will present an evening of modern dance, somewhat nasty behavior and the theatrics that garnered Parsons, a former trampolinist, worldwide acclaim.
By incorporating special effects, sound and music with dances that celebrate the ordinary and emulate the extraordinary, Parsons shows he likes to have fun.
Once regarded by a reporter as a "construction workers dance company," a comment that might have ruffled the feathers of other companies, Parsons, who balks at the elitism of dance, was elated.
"I was thrilled," Parsons said via cellphone from his apartment in Manhattan "I'm a connecting artist. I want people to feel. I don't want them to walk out and say, What the (expletive) was that?' We're humans.
"The heavyweight modern dance people take themselves too seriously. Dance is an elitist art form, especially ballet."
But Parsons, an aggressive, outspoken 44-year-old choreographer who spent nine years with the Paul Taylor Dance Company before forming his own group, has a mission to bring dance to all audiences.
Along with gaining respect in the dance world -- earning a 2001 American Choreography Award and creating commissioned works for the American Ballet Theatre, New York City Ballet and Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater -- the company is known to energize audiences new to dance.
"People tend to think that Parsons is too accessible," Taylor said. "What the (expletive) does that mean? I don't know. Most modern dance companies don't do encores. We do encores."
A former gymnast, Parsons grew up in Kansas City, Mo., and moved to New York at age 17 with only $70 and a scholarship for Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater. He pumped gas at night and studied dance during the day. Comedic silent film stars Buster Keaton and Charlie Chaplain were his inspirations.
Parsons founded the small dance company with lighting artist Howell Blinkey in 1987. Nine dancers perform repertoire of more than 70 works.
Friday's performance will include "Fill the Woods With Light," a mellow jazz piece that has dancers carrying flashlights, candles and spotlights used to create shadows and illuminations.
"Kind of Blue," featuring "So What" from Miles Davis' "Kind of Blue," has dancers performing improvisational and structured moves.
"Caught" includes 110 jumps in five minutes and strobe lights that create the image of mid-air photographs. The piece was inspired by the photography of Lois Greenfield, whose work in the 1980s with Parsons, drew attention to the photographic style of capturing dancers in mid-air.
"Fill the Woods with Light" is a commissioned piece using funds by the Doris Duke Millenium Awards for modern dance and jazz music collaborations and created by Parsons and musician Phil Woods.
The piece was inspired while the two were sitting outside of Woods' Pennsylvania home watching the moonlight filter through the trees.
"It's really a fun jazz, down and dirty kind of like you're in an underground club piece," Taylor said. "It's sexy.
"We use a lot of light. We rely on lights. I love light so much. It fascinates me. Light is life. Without light we would be dead in an hour. Light is the fastest thing that is known. Light is good."
"Fill the Woods With Light" was presented at the Umbria Jazz Festival in Perugia, Italy. It was from that performance that Parsons was commissioned to create a jazz piece with music by Davis.
Regarding "So What," Parsons said, "It's classy, it's not overtly sexy. It's classic jazz done in an almost ballet way. It's improvisational. Just like jazz, you build a structure and let them (improvise) so it's fresh every night."
Parsons has experience with dance improv, a style he first toyed with one night by dancing onstage to a radio preset to about 20 stations. The stations featured anything from weather to talk shows to even an advertisement for Parsons own company.
"It said, 'Go see Parsons Dance Company,' and they're sitting there watching," Parson said. "It's fun."
Parsons has improvised with dogs, Vietnamese potbellied pigs, as well as bands in varying cities on the tour.
"One guy (musician) was so good we took him on the road with us," Parsons said. "There are risks because sometimes you'll get a dancer you're breaking into improv and it's boring."
Parsons pushes his dancers to participate in all aspects of the company. "Stand Back," a piece being presented Friday, is choreographed by dancer Katarazyna Sharpetowska and costumes were designed by company member Mia McSwain.
Currently Parsons is working on two musicals, "Masada," which takes place in the Warsaw Ghetto, where Jews are putting on a production of the story of Masada. With Germans surrounding the ghetto and Romans surrounding the Jews in the Roman era, the production has a love story and weaves between two time periods.
"Masada" is scheduled to open in Chicago in October. Parsons is working on another musical, "Daddy Long Legs," with director John Caird (Les Miserables).
"It's a good time for me," Parsons said. "I almost gave it up about a year ago. There was complaining, debt, Sept. 11. But you hold out and you hope. You wish that things will get better.
"I never went to college. They always said, 'He was a white boy from the midwest.' Now we're a major force. We're very proud of what we've accomplished."
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