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(Bare feet and suits included.)
Theres Talking Heads standards.
Unexpected comic relief, compliments of Hugo Balls musings.
(Movement that, we guarantee, youll be trying to replicate as soon as the curtain falls.)
We spoke to Parson about herAmerican Utopiaexperience and what its been like to work alongside Byrne.
Unsurprisingly, it was a once-in-a-lifetime creative opportunity.
I later properly met him through this friend, and we didnt see each other again for ten years.
I was such a huge fan.
You know how it is!
I choreographed two songs for that show, and then he asked me to make a few more.
The first song I heard was Dance Like This.
I thought it was so genius and witty.
I love Davids wit.
I thought the flatness of the statement coupled with the overuse of drum machines was hilarious.
I had this idea that maybe we could stop in the middle of the song.
Thats an example of a song where the idea came right away of what I wanted to do.
So, I was working on my own.
It was a really precious time.
Hearing the material fresh and experiencing it for the first time is really important.
If you hear it so much, sometimes you could shut down to what youre hearing.
That first time hearing something is where I get most of my ideas.
How specific was David about the choreography he wanted?It was an amazing creation for this piece.
Thats fair and normal.
But with this show, the ideas David first presented me with have not changed.
They wear gray suits, everyone being untethered, and were in a white box with a white floor.
Shoes just didnt make sense.
Thats what the show is.
Its got a minimalist aesthetic but its somehow very warm.
Ive worked with him for so long that I can literally get in his body.
I like watching how David constructs things.
Not just watching, but experiencing it, because it affects everything that Im doing.
I feel like Im working with this extraordinary artist whos figuring things out in real time.
His process is extremely rewarding to be a part of.
He looks at everything with very precise observations, and Broadway was the same way.
Hes really one of the great citizen artists of our time.
Its cool to be with someone who cares that much about the world.
Whats your process for thinking up concepts for each song?What is the shape of this song?
Whats going to happen?
David would throw me ideas, too.
He was in India and he saw this traditional Indian theater and sent me photos.
Or he was biking in the Rockaways and saw something interesting.
I know what hes thinking.
He sent me this cult Japanese movie from the 70s.
It was …sofucking out-there.
I loved it so much.
It was three Japanese dudes who break into dance material at random times.
It was very isolated and strange dancing, and it had no organic relationship to anything that was happening.
Everything I made for David since has included some version of that.
He just conveyed,I like this and Im thinking about this.
You dont need to know that those references are there, but Im interested in them.
Im kind of a magpie.
Hes very nonverbal about what he wants.
I come in with a lot of material and then we do it and I teach it.
Sometimes hell not be loving something and I can sense that.
Whats his tell that he doesnt like something?He doesnt say it.
He just doesnt end up doing it.
I cant describe it, its so nonverbal.
Its a lack of excitement.
Hes such a good choreographer for himself.
Some of the stuff he does in the show he totally made up for himself.
Loose wouldnt be the word because neither of us are loose at all.
Hes incredible as an artist in the way he thinks and acts on things.
Ive always felt that I have a huge amount of freedom.
It wasnt because we didnt love it, but the show was too long for the Broadway format.
Everybodys Coming to My House came a little slow.
The quick ones were Dont Worry About the Government and Dogs Mind, which wasalsocut.
I had to choreograph the shadows in Blind and that needed a lot of time to master.
Its only one light!
Were there other songs tested that ultimately didnt make the show?We talked about doing Nothing But Flowers.
He was working with an emotional palette and it didnt fit in.
We also talked about closing the show with Angels.
Its a large-scale, super-epic song and it sends people out flying.
Its not darkly red like Great Curve, its more like a sparkly blue.
He believes the body is a deeper archive than any library or website you’re free to find.
People can know movement the way they know lyrics.
They dont know that they know it, even if its not part of the mainstream.
So he did that arm-choppy thing in This Must Be the Place.
He conceded to the past, just once.
