The ebb and flow of Ballet Creole
After 25 years of struggles and success, dance company founder keeps looking up
It’s a good thing Patrick Parson is an incorrigible optimist.
The Trinidad-born choreographer, and founder and artistic director of Toronto’s Ballet Creole, has faced what others might view as insurmountable hurdles in pursuing his dream, but he keeps on going, come what may. This weekend, Parson keeps looking to the future as Ballet Creole, despite serious setbacks over the past few years, confidently celebrates its 25th anniversary with four performances at Harbourfront Centre’s prestige venue, the Fleck Dance Theatre.
“I’m trying to bring a different voice into the contemporary dance world,” says Parson, 56. “I try not to dwell on the past. I’m always thinking of the next thing.”
The four-part program takes its overall title, Agua Como Vida, from a new 40-minute work Parson has made for the silver anniversary of the Afro-Caribbean contemporary dance fusion company. The title’s translation is “water as life” and water in a metaphorical sense flows through the show.
“Water is a powerful force,” says Parson. “It sustains life, but it can also destroy. And it always finds a way around obstacles to keep on moving.”
In a nod to the past, Parson is reviving Fete — what he calls a “heritage piece” from 1990. With its celebratory tone and steel-pan music, it evokes the vivid spirit of Caribbean life that infuses much of Parson’s work. Fete was Ballet Creole’s first production as a professional dance company.
Parson is also a musician and, as usual, will be part of the onstage band, but he’ll also be dancing, making what he calls a “cameo appearance” in Agua Como Vida. He’s fully featured in Refleksyon, a new duet by company associate choreographer Gabby Kamino that pairs Parson with Ronald Taylor. The Myth Atlantis, Kamino’s other new work, also runs with the metaphor of water.
When Parson arrived in Toronto from Trinidad in 1988, his intent was to extend his education into Western contemporary dance. He planned to return home afterwards, but as he looked around, he saw a need for a company that would celebrate the diversity of his own culture and show the potential of fusing it with other contemporary forms.
“We were trailblazers,” says Parson proudly, but it has not been an easy progress. In 2012, escalating rents forced Ballet Creole out of its rented studios at College St. and Dovercourt Rd. The company had to suspend its educational activities. A funding cut only worsened the outlook.
Yet, Parson persisted and, in February, Ballet Creole moved into a new leased space near Evans Ave. and Royal York Rd., in Etobicoke. It’s smaller than he’d like, just one studio, but Parson plans to revive Ballet Creole’s school. He hopes funding agencies will support the company’s fresh start.
“Dance is my life,” says Parson. “As long as I live, I want to do this. What would life be without struggle?” Agua Como Vida is at the Fleck Dance Theatre, 207 Queens Quay W., Friday and Saturday; harbourfrontcentre.com or 416-973-4000.