(CHATHAM, N.Y.) – Parsons Dance brings down the curtain on the third annual Chatham Dance Festival and the performing arts summer season at PS21: Performance Spaces for the 21st Century with its 11^th consecutive appearance at PS21 on Friday and Saturday, September 2 and 3, at 8pm.

Internationally renowned for creating and performing accessible and enriching dance of extraordinary artistry, the modern dance ensemble will present new work by choreographer Katarzyna Skarpetowksa, as well as works by artistic director David Parsons.

During Parsons Dance’s three-week residency last summer, Katarzyna Skarpetowksa created a new piece for the company called “Almah.” Audiences saw this new work in development during open rehearsals, before the piece premiered in full at the Joyce Theater in January to an enthusiastic audience and critical reception.

Following the Joyce premiere, Philip Gardner in “Oberon’s Grove” wrote that Skarpetowska had added “yet another feather to her cap with this finely conceived and musically inspired work.” He noted that “Two pas de deux for Geena Pacareu and Ian Spring are high points in this excellent work.” The dance explores the connection between an eastern European childhood and an urban adolescence in New York City.

In addition to Skarpetowska’s “Alma,” the program will include David Parsons’s “Slow Dance,” “Union,” and his stroboscopic masterwork “Caught.”

Tickets for the Friday and Saturday performances of Parsons Dance are $40 general admission, $35 PS21 members and $20 students. Purchase a pass to all four week-ends of dance performance: $110 general admission, $90 for PS21 members, $64 for students. Tickets can be purchased at PS21: Performance Spaces for the 21st Century, by calling 1-800-838-3006, or at the door until the show sells out. For other information about this or any other event at PS21, please call (518) 392-6121.

 

DANCE CLASS FOR LOCAL STUDENTS

In addition, Parsons dancers will teach a three-session class for local dance students Tuesday, August 30 from 1-2:30pm, and Wednesday and Thursday, August 31 and September 1 from 10am-11:30am. These classes are designed for students of all levels ages 13 to 18. Participants learn the Parsons style of movement through fun combinations set to popular music. The fee for this program is $15 for one class or $30 for three classes.

PS21: Performance Spaces for the 21st Century is a not-for-profit organization in Chatham, N.Y., dedicated to the performing arts and to serving a diverse community with concerts, programs and residencies by professional artists and ensembles, youth and children’s programming and cultural education opportunities for all ages.

PS21 is located at 2980 Route 66, one mile north of the village of Chatham.

Parsons Dance performances at PS21 are made possible in part by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew Cuomo and the New York State Legislature, and business sponsors: Metz Wood Insurance, Ed Herrington, Inc., Mario’s Home Center, Main-Care Energy, and the Lofgren Agency, and PS21 members