Aspen Santa Fe Ballet presents Parsons Dance

David Parsons isn’t afraid to take risks. In fact, that’s exactly what Paul Taylor encouraged him to do.

Parsons spent eight years as a principal dancer with the Paul Taylor Company — and gathered experience from plenty of other renowned companies, including New York City Ballet, Alvin Ailey, and MOMIX. He somewhat jokingly says he started Parsons Dance in 1985 over a bottle of wine on a bench in Paris (“because you have to be a little tipsy to start a nonprofit”) with his good friend and award-winning lighting designer Howell Binkley. The two aimed to create a company full of dancers with athletic prowess, technical skills, and the ability to celebrate the joy of dance.

After crafting 85 works — including commissions from American Ballet Theatre, New York City Ballet, Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, and many more — he describes his overall choreographic style as physical and versatile. Within his life-affirming and inspiring works, he pushes boundaries.

“I’m constantly looking for new vocabulary. Dance movement is like a language. If your language becomes monotone, it becomes boring,” he said. “There’s a feeling that the choreography is taking risks. There’s a feeling that I’m taking risks. There’s a feeling of exploration of the art form through an evening of Parsons Dance.”

He credits one of his early pieces, “Caught,” which debuted in 1982, for propelling him into the dance world as a choreographer. The innovative — and mesmerizing — piece employs a perfectly timed strobe light catching a solo dancer midair, making it appear as though the dancer is literally floating across the stage. The precision needed to time the seemingly still-life moment is measured in inches: If a dancer’s legs aren’t fully extended when the strobe illuminates her, the illusion is marred. Add to that the fact that there’s no rhythmic beat to hit each mid-air pose due to the atonal music, and it makes the feat even harder to pull off impeccably, as Parsons Dance artists have, time and time again, throughout the decades. Clocking 100 jumps in five minutes, “Caught” is just one of the compelling works Aspen audiences can look forward to on Saturday.

Other earlier Parsons’ works on the evening’s program include “The Envelope,” created in 1984, and “Nascimento,” from 1990.

Taylor’s use of comedy within dance helped inspire “The Envelope,” in which an envelope controls the dancers, yanking them around stage. It has become so popular that up to 50 companies have performed the piece internationally, Parsons said.

“Comedy is one of the hardest things to do,” he said.

He set it to music by Gioachino Rossini, whom he describes as a jovial Santa Claus type guy who loved to eat and was like the U2 of his era — characteristics that also inspired the comedy-driven choreography.

“Nascimento” stemmed from Parsons Dance performing at Carlton Dance Festival in Brazil and then winning an audience appreciation award, which resulted in a full tour throughout the country. During the company’s second trip to Brazil, Grammy-award-winning Brazilian artist Milton Nascimento offered to compose music for Parsons.

“He gifted it when we had just started as a company,” Parsons said, adding that the work is a celebration of Brazil’s diverse, rich, and colorful world, as seen through a North American’s eyes.

More recent pieces featured in Saturday’s program include 2003’s “Swing Shift,” 2020’s “Balance of Power,” and 2022’s “Mr. Withers.”

Parsons describes “Swing Shift” as a pure dance piece that showcases partnering, to the music of Kenji Bunch. Meanwhile, “Balance of Power,” created just as the pandemic hit, is a dense and complicated work, which begins with slow music and ends up in a cacophony of sound.

“It’s an ode to the power of women,” Parsons said.

“Mr. Withers,” set to Bill Withers’ music, links the musician’s songs with his talking about his life. It’s another example of Parsons taking risks.

“His lyrics and his hip funk was just always on my mind,” he said.

Overall, the program shines as an example of Parsons’ commitment to making dance relevant and intriguing to both older and younger audiences.

“I will do anything to grab their attention,” he said.

The company works with all kinds of kids and community members through open rehearsals, master classes, and school performances. It was the first company to offer sensory-friendly workshops, in collaboration with the Dance Education Laboratory at the 92^nd Street Y, under the guidance of a licensed psychologist and dance therapist. On the other end of the spectrum, Parsons works with the likes of Moses Pendleton to make dance more entertaining through rapid-fire, no-intermission shows. He set his last piece that catered to younger audiences to Son Lux’s music.

This season, Martha Graham’s influence has been a common thread in Aspen Santa Fe Ballet’s presentations: Taylor, who greatly influenced Parsons, studied with Graham and performed in her company for several years.

“It’s how we think of a season and like to curate it, though it’s not always possible,” said Executive Director Jean-Philippe Malaty.