by John Haskell, she creates a duet from the imagery, the fundamental actions, the objects, and the narratives of ballet traditions. Performance history includes the Spoleto Festival of Two World, Umbria, Italy in July 2019 and NYU Skirball in November 2019. Other notable projects Outside of Big Dance, Ms. Parson has created choreography for marching bands, operas, pop stars, theater, ballet, docents, movies, objects, television, symphonies, and most recently for a chorus of 1,000 singers under the direction of Simon Halsey. Her work for theater, MTV, opera and film includes work by Laurie Anderson, Salt n Pepa, Nico Muhly, and such plays as Lucas Hnath's Walt Disney at Soho Rep, Sarah Ruhl's Orlando, Futurity at ART, as well as the string quartet ETHEL. Here Lies Love (2013) In 2013, Parson choreographed Here Lies Love, a musical based on Fillipina First Lady Imelda Marco's life that played at the Public Theater with music by David Byrne. Parson had been a fan of Byrne's since she had seen him perform in her college days. Admiration became collaboration; she choreographed two of Byrne's world tours even before they began working on Here Lies Love. Byrne wrote the lyrics, and the music was created by Byrne and Fatboy Slim. Of the process, which was her first foray into traditional musical theater, she said: “Usually, in my own company or other concert work, I create from a formalist perspective, meaning I work with line, space, shape, and the time of dance itself. Dance is the sacred object. When I’ve created for David's concerts, I ask, ‘What does the music crave?’ But in Here Lies Love, the music and story are the top contenders for the throne, so I knew the dance had to serve those two. Therein lies the struggle— and the interest— for me in this project." Parson studied Marco's movements, riffing on her trademark moves to create choreography so that the audience could see her signature gestures both live and on the TV screens playing historical footage. The resulting choreography offered diverse phrases that had “everything from boy-band step touches and hard-hitting club moves to gestural sections with lotus-flower hands and swaying luau hip circles.” The resulting mishmash created a striking visual effect, which was at this point known as a “Parson trademark.” Parson said that her way of working came from Merce Cunningham who “offered that sequencing and hierarchy of movement aren't