Who

The artistic director of the Parsons Dance Company, David Parsons is a contemporary choreographer who likes to work on a large scale—like Times Square.

Backstory

Parsons grew up in Missouri and moved to New York after high school, working nightshifts pumping gas and washing windshields so he could study dance during the day. He joined the Paul Taylor Dance Company in 1978, replacing an injured dancer during a tour of Russia; he went on to become the company's star, with Taylor creating a number of roles specifically for him. Following stints dancing with the New York City Ballet, MOMIX and Mark Morris and Mikhail Baryshnikov's White Oak Dance project, Parsons founded his own company with lighting designer Howell Binkley in 1987. Since then, the duo has created more than 70 dances, although Parsons' signature piece remains his 1982 work Caught, which features a dancer captured in mid-leap by strobe lights.

Of note

In recent years, Parsons has choreographed a number of major public performances, including "Times Square 2000," a 24-hour celebration in Times Square marking the millennium, as well as the closing ceremony at the 2006 Olympic Winter Games. He's also worked on several Broadway shows, and was commissioned to choreograph a work in Hawaii for the National Park Service. His work on such mainstream projects has earned him some criticism for choreographing work that is "accessible," or too conventional. In response he's said, "I make dance for people, not dance groupies. We have enough avant-garde." And such "accessibility" has kept Parsons' company in the black since its inception, which means its dancers are given relatively generous salary and benefit packages.

Personal

Parsons has lived in the same apartment on East 91st Street for three decades—it's around the corner from the gas station he worked at when he first arrived in New York.

No joke

Parsons collaborated with Julie Taymor on a little-known 1992 television movie called Fool's Fire. He also worked with the Romanian gymnastics team on a hairspray commercial.