| | Posted by Sloan
That’s David Parsons, over Doug’s shoulder.

At SAB, the company (NYCB) sometimes hires students to do lighting rehearsals. This requires donning the costume for whatever new piece they are doing the lighting for. They sit you at various parts of the stage for long periods of time and sometimes ask you to move around a bit. As a student it’s such an exciting experience to be backstage at the New York State Theater, and to be wearing costumes of the dancers you admire. Way back in 1997(maybe?) when I was at SAB, David Parsons did a piece called “Touch” for NYCB, and I met him because I was doing the lighting rehearsal for his piece. Kinda funny.

One of my favorite things of his is a piece he created where the dancer has a strobe controller in his hand. The stage is dark, but when he jumps, he hits the strobe. You only see him when he’s in the air. Depending on what positions he hits, it can look like he is walking on air. Various companies still perform this piece, try to catch it if you can.