Caught

Music

Robert Fripp
(1984, 1981)

Choreography

David Parsons

Staging

Jaime Martinez

Lighting Concept & Design

David Parsons

Duration

8 minutes

Cast

1 dancer

Premiere

1982
Dance Theater Workshop (New York, New York)

PNB Premiere

September 15, 2007

The 2007 Pacific Northwest Ballet premiere of David Parsons’ Caught was generously underwritten by Marcella McCaffray.

Caught is maintained in the active repertory of Parsons Dance through generous support from the Jim and Linda Ellis Foundation.

David Parsons’ signature solo, Caught, is a fusion of art and technology demanding split-second timing and athletic stamina. The effect is a stunning suspension of weight, in which the dancer appears to fly through the air, devouring space before magically returning to rest at center stage. The concept behind Caught is simple and unexpected, with the dancer executing a continual series of leaps synchronized to the flashes of a strobe light. At the root of the piece is humankind’s fascination with flight, something that Parsons believes is universal. “Everybody on the planet has dreamt of flying … The feeling when you’re floating in the air is always a very exciting moment for me,” he explains. The idea for Caught came to Parsons after working with photographers and looking at the ways light is used in photography to capture images. By controlling the light to illuminate only the desired shapes and poses, he created a series of snapshots. Strung together, these isolated images build into a dance that seems to take place entirely in mid-air.

Notes compiled by Doug Fullington.

Artist Biographies

David Parsons

David Parson is the Founder and Artistic Director of the Parsons Dance Company.

David Parsons is a recipient of the 2000 Dance Magazine Award, as well as the 2001 American Choreography Award, for his work as a co-producer of AEROS, a production featuring the Romanian Gymnastic Federation that was featured on the Bravo Channel. He has enjoyed a remarkable career as a performer, choreographer, teacher, director and producer of dance. Mr. Parsons was born in Chicago and raised in Kansas City. From 1978-1987, he was a leading dancer with the Paul Taylor Dance Company, where Mr. Taylor created many roles for him in works such as Arden Court, Last Look and Roses. In 1987, Mr. Parsons founded the Company that bears his name with lighting designer, Howell Binkley.

As Artistic Director, Mr. Parsons has created over 70 works on The Parsons Dance Company, having received commissions over the years from the American Ballet Theatre, New York City Ballet, Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, Paul Taylor Dance Company, the American Dance Festival, Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival, the Spoleto Festival, and Het Muziektheater in Amsterdam. His work has been seen on Paris Opera Ballet, Joffrey Ballet, Nederlands Danse Theatre, English National Ballet, Hubbard Street Dance Company, and BatSheva Dance Company of Israel, among many others.

Mr. Parsons choreographed and directed the dance elements for Times Square 2000, the 24-hour festivities in Times Square celebrating the turn of the Millennium, which was watched by billions of people all over the globe. He created Shining Star for the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater that premiered in November 2004 and recently participated in the NYC 2012 Olympics bid, as his signature piece, Caught, was performed for the IOC’s evaluation commission in 2005.