Michael Earl Parmenter (born 1954) is a New Zealand choreographer, teacher and dancer of contemporary dance.

Career

Parmenter studied dance in the 1980s in

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...

and was influenced by both New York-based choreographer

Erick Hawkins Frederick "Erick" Hawkins (April 23, 1909November 23, 1994) was an American modern-dance choreographer and dancer. Early life Frederick Hawkins was born in Trinidad, Colorado, on April 23, 1909. He majored in Greek civilization at Harvard Univ ...

and Japanese

Butoh is a form of Japanese dance theatre that encompasses a diverse range of activities, techniques and motivations for dance, performance, or movement. Following World War II, butoh arose in 1959 through collaborations between its two key founder ...

master

Min Tanaka is a Japanese dancer and actor. Biography Tanaka was trained in ballet and modern dance, but in 1974, turned his back on these forms. He began his solo career with a series of nearly-naked primarily outdoor improvisational dances that took place ...

. He has a master's degree in creative and performance dance from the

University of Auckland The University of Auckland (; Māori: ''Waipapa Taumata Rau'') is a public research university based in Auckland, New Zealand. The institution was established in 1883 as a constituent college of the University of New Zealand. Initially loc ...

. He formed the dance company ''Commotion'' in 1990 with notable works including the dance opera ''Jerusalem''. Recent work includes dance opera ''OrphEus'' which premiered at the 2018 Auckland Arts Festival. Parmenter talks about being gay and living with

HIV The human immunodeficiency viruses (HIV) are two species of '' Lentivirus'' (a subgroup of retrovirus) that infect humans. Over time, they cause acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS), a condition in which progressive failure of the im ...

in a TV documentary about him and in his autobiographical solo performance ''A Long Undressing''. He has taught at the

New Zealand School of Dance The New Zealand School of Dance was established in 1967 and is a tertiary educational institute in New Zealand that teaches Contemporary dance, contemporary dance and ballet. It started as the National School of Ballet, and after contemporary da ...

and UNITEC. He has choreographed for Footnote Dance Company, the

Royal New Zealand Ballet The Royal New Zealand Ballet is a ballet company based in Wellington, New Zealand. It was originally known as The New Zealand Ballet Company. History New Zealand Ballet was established in 1953 as an independent charitable trust by Royal Danis ...

and the New Zealand Dance Company amongst others. Reporter Simon Wilson recounting a significant moment in the arts for him about a Parmenter performance:

I remember Parmenter telling his life story, the boy from Southland, born in the 1950s, gay in a conservative Christian family, how he got from there to dance, and then to a show based not on choreography but on words, although there was some very lovely dance in it too. That was ''A Long Undressing''.

In the

1998 Queen's Birthday Honours Queen's Birthday Honours are announced on or around the date of the Queen's Official Birthday in the United Kingdom and some Commonwealth countries. The dates vary, both from year to year and from country to country. All are published in suppleme ...

, Parmenter was appointed a

Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit The New Zealand Order of Merit () is an order of merit in the New Zealand royal honours system. It was established by royal warrant on 30 May 1996 by Elizabeth II, Queen of New Zealand, "for those persons who in any field of endeavour, have ...

, for services to the performing arts, and he received an Arts Foundation Laureate Award in 2010. In 2022 Parmenter spent six months in

Dunedin Dunedin ( ; ) is the second-most populous city in the South Island of New Zealand (after Christchurch), and the principal city of the Otago region. Its name comes from ("fort of Edin"), the Scottish Gaelic name for Edinburgh, the capital of S ...

as the Caroline Plummer Dance Fellow at the

University of Otago The University of Otago () is a public university, public research university, research collegiate university based in Dunedin, Otago, New Zealand. Founded in 1869, Otago is New Zealand's oldest university and one of the oldest universities in ...

, during which he established a

Balfolk Balfolk (from French: , meaning a folk ball) is a dance event for folk dance and folk music in a number of European countries, mainly in France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany, Spain, Portugal, Italy and Poland. It is also known as ''folk bal' ...

group in the city.

References

Living people 1954 births People from Invercargill 21st-century New Zealand dancers 20th-century New Zealand dancers Members of the New Zealand Order of Merit People with HIV/AIDS Gay dancers LGBTQ choreographers New Zealand LGBTQ dancers New Zealand gay artists New Zealand choreographers New Zealand dance teachers University of Auckland alumni {{dance-bio-stub