A decades-long connection between David Parsons, the Adirondacks and the Arts Center continues to shape the future of American dance
Lake Placid, NY – For David Parsons, the connection to the Arts Center goes back long before there was a Parsons Dance Company. As an 18-year-old dancer touring with the Paul Taylor Dance Company, Parsons first encountered the Arts Center in Lake Placid. The experience stayed with him. Decades later, the internationally acclaimed choreographer and artistic director has returned again and again – not simply to perform, but to create.
This September, Parsons Dance returns to Arts Center Lake Placid for its fifth annual creative residency, continuing one of the Arts Center’s most significant long-term relationships with an internationally recognized performing arts company.
From September 17 through October 4, Parsons will use the Arts Center’s studios and performance spaces as a creative laboratory for developing a new work. Away from the pace of New York City, the residency gives dancers time to rehearse, experiment and refine movement. Lake Placid is part of the creative process.
A Creative Laboratory in the Adirondacks
The Arts Center’s residency program is built around a simple idea: artists need time and space to make new work. Resident artists and companies receive access to studios and performance spaces to create new work and advance their artistic practice. In return, artists are encouraged to share the creative process through classes, workshops, rehearsals and informal performances. Parsons Dance has embraced that model. During the residency, company dancers teach free community classes and workshops, giving local dancers the opportunity to work directly with professional artists.
This year’s residency will also share the Arts Center’s Annex with the Lake Placid School of Dance, creating an especially close connection between the professional company and the next generation of local dancers. For a young dancer in a small Adirondack community, that kind of access can be transformative.
New Work, Developed in Lake Placid
The creative value of the residency is not theoretical. Work developed in Lake Placid has gone on to become part of the company’s major performances. During the company’s 2025 Lake Placid residency, Parsons developed Ludwig, set to the second movement of Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9. The piece subsequently became part of Parsons Dance’s New York City season at The Joyce Theater.
“There’s something special about being able to see a work before it is finished,” said James Lemons, Executive Director of Arts Center Lake Placid. “The audience gets to see the questions, the experimentation and the discovery that happen before a piece arrives on a major stage. That’s exactly what an artistic residency should make possible.”
From One Stage to the Next
In 2025, Parsons Dance was the last company to perform on the Arts Center’s stage before the building closed for its major renovation. What began as a coincidence in the renovation schedule became a fitting bookend to the relationship. The company that helped close one chapter of the Arts Center’s history is expected to return as the renovated theatre opens in 2027.
The connection between Parsons Dance and the Arts Center spans generations of dancers and multiple eras of the organization, as well as the evolution of Parsons from a young member of the Paul Taylor company into one of the most influential figures in contemporary American dance. Now, as Parsons Dance celebrates its 40th anniversary, the company is returning to the place where its artistic director’s own history with Lake Placid began.
Class schedules and registration information are available at https://bit.ly/parsons2026.
About Arts Center Lake Placid
Arts Center Lake Placid is a multidisciplinary arts organization serving the Adirondack region through performing arts, visual arts, arts education and services to artists and arts organizations. Through its artistic residency program, the Arts Center provides professional artists and companies with space and resources to develop new work while creating opportunities for the local community to engage directly with the creative process.
About Parsons Dance
Parsons Dance is a New York City-based contemporary dance company founded by artistic director and choreographer David Parsons and lighting designer Howell Binkley. The company is internationally renowned for its athletic, energetic and accessible approach to contemporary American dance and has performed in hundreds of cities around the world. The company is currently celebrating its 40th anniversary season.
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