Touch

David Parsons says that Touch is a dance that explores the changes that have occurred in people's relationships over the last two generations. A fast-paced, virtuosic piece for four women and four men, Touch contains single-sex and male/female duets, trios, and quartets, as well as solos and group dances. It is a ballet filled with innovative and intricate shapes and movements for the arms and feet, and turns and jumps executed at dizzying speeds. Says Mr. Parsons: "In classical technique there are stops: you step, prepare, turn. But I give dancers what I call squiggles — there are no stops in a squiggle. It's almost like someone taking a paintbrush and never letting it leave the paper."

The women in Touch wear jazz slippers, not pointe shoes.

23 minutes