Dance Scene Staple Close to Owning its Chelsea Home Continued from page 16 in and sometimes a performance gets postponed. “Sometimes I wish we had more weeks in the year, but we program as many as we possibly can,” she said. “We have to make sure that we can afford it all too, because our ticket prices are pretty reasonable.” Several Joyce-commissioned pieces have made their way into the upcoming season. Michelle Dorrance is an artist-in-residence and received support to create new work. Her company, Dorrance Dance, will perform at The Joyce for the first time on April and 5. Former principal for the New York City Ballet, Wendy Whelan, begins a new chapter with four duets as part of “Restless Creature” from May 26–31. A new work was also commissioned for Hubbard Street Dance Chicago, May 12–24, a company that is not afraid of versatility. Another artist-in-residence is Stephen Petronio, who is working on a new project called “Bloodlines,” said Shelton. He’s bringing in work from other choreographers, she explained, which many companies do, but in Steven’s case, he’s looking at choreographers with which he has a history — a kind of bloodline. “The first one [is] Merce Cunningham and it’s terrific. It’s ‘Rainforest’ — you don’t see that so often,” she said. His eponymous company will perform from April 7–12. Shelton said that she sees every company at least once. “I could talk all afternoon to you about all these things that I’m extremely anxious to see — I’d take up the whole newspaper,” she said with a laugh. She saw Liz Gerring perform “Glacier” at another venue and knew that she wanted to bring it to The Joyce. “I just loved the piece and I thought it needed to have another showing,” she said. “It’s just so powerful, just intensely physical. I was totally drawn into it. I was riveted for the entire time of the piece.” The Liz Gerring Dance Company will be at The Joyce from March 31– April 2. Another upcoming event is Dance from the Heart on Jan. 26, a benefit for Dancers Responding to AIDS (DRA). Proceeds will go to 450 AIDS and family service organizations across the country. .com

Photo by Paul Kolnik

© Michel Cavalca

The NYC Ballet’s Ashley Bouder and Amar Ramasar, in a promotional photo for Dance from the Heart. The Jan. 26 event benefits Dancers Responding to AIDS (dradance.org).

The Lyon Opera Ballet returns to The Joyce April 29-May 3.

“We worked with them many times before,” said Shelton. “We have a hard time finding a date in the season when we can accommodate some of these outside projects, like galas or events. It’s very hard to find even one dark night in the season. We’re glad that we’re able to find one for DRA, because they really are fantastic.” Parsons Dance will perform at the benefit and is a part of The Joyce’s fall/ winter season, from Jan. 21–Feb. 1. Chelsea Now got a sneak peek at the company practicing “Nascimento Novo” at the 92nd Street Y. Parsons Dance is performing wellloved pieces, such as “Caught,” as well as the New York premiere of “Whirlaway.” David Parsons, the founder of the company and a choreographer who has created over 70 works, said that the New Orleans Ballet Association commissioned “Whirlaway” last year. He was invited to pick a New Orleans musician and immediately choose Allen Toussaint. Toussaint let Parsons check out his repertory and the music chosen became the seed that sparked the piece’s movement. “I picked something that really was just a celebration of New Orleans,” he told Chelsea Now after stepping away from rehearsal. “New Orleans is a feel. It’s an environment that’s really rare in the United States.” His company, he explained, is known for a lot of physicality. “What we do is, when we start a new work, we really try and come up with a new vocabulary for each piece,” he said. “I think that is one of the reasons why we have lasted so long. I learned this from Paul Taylor: variety is an import-

ant thing. Especially when you have a one-choreographer company.” Parsons has danced for several companies, including the Paul Taylor Dance Company for eight years and MOMIX, and has worked with Mark Morris and Peter Martins of the New York City Ballet. “You see a lot of dance where it’s just

the same movements all the way through the evening,” he explained. “I’ve always noticed that and always kind of fought against that.” “Whirlaway” debuted last May in New Orleans and Parsons said he wanted to make it sort of timeless.

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January 15 - 28, 2014

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