The New York Times
November 20, 2000

DANCE REVIEW
By ANNA KISSELGOFF

Kinetic humor is David Parsons's strong suit as a choreographer, and squeals of delight from a young audience punctuated the Parsons Dance Company's performance at the New Victory Theater on Thursday night.

In "Beach," a premiere Mr. Parsons created for this season, which runs through Sunday, he typically keeps his dancers on the move: or at least most of them. Two lie on stage pretending to sunbathe.

Two other couples in colorful print bathing suits romp through an exhaustive lexicon of quirky movements. The languor of the couple on the floor (Elizabeth Koeppen and John Carroll) contrasts with the energy admirably exuded by Henry Jackson, Sumayah McRae, Katarzyna Skarpetowska and George Smallwood.

John Mackey, the company's music director, wrote the commissioned score, whose jagged fast rhythms, played by the Elm City Ensemble, suit the step-packed phrases. The communal frolic, with the dancers galumphing palm to palm in a circle, is full of head rotations, disco wiggles and arm swiping. The accent is upbeat, and the dancers, sometimes with the two pairs echoing each other, are admirable in their speed, stamina and good humor.

The lighthearted tone in Mr. Parsons's pieces on this program is echoed by Robert Battle, a company member who also choreographs for the troupe. Nonetheless, there is an occasional dark edge in his works. In "Strange Humors," set to another score by Mr. Mackey, he sets up an inventive competition between two bare-chested men in chic orange pants by Missoni. Mr. Smallwood is the supposedly dominant figure, and he is echoed and then equaled by Mr. Jackson as a mosquito-swatting antagonist. Both are fabulous dancers. The collage of karate kicks, sudden falls on the back and high springs into the air held no terrors for them.

The battle of the sexes took different forms in two Battle pieces. Ruth- Ellen Kroll and Jaime Martinez were hippies in "Two," and Ms. Kroll was the woman imprisoned under Mr. Smallwood's backbend in an excerpt from "Mood Indigo." The program included Mr. Battle's "Rush Hour" and Mr. Parsons's "Three Courtesies," in which Ms. Koeppen, Mia McSwain, Ms. Skarpetowska, Mr. Carroll, Mr. Jackson and Mr. Smallwood revealed a wilder nature behind their characters' facades.

Like many entries on the program, "The Envelope" by Mr. Parsons makes fun of its music (Rossini). Fun, however, is the point of the piece: the dancers cannot rid themselves of an envelope. In "Caught," Mr. Parsons's ingenious signature piece, Ms. Koeppen did a fine job as the dancer (usually a man) seemingly frozen in mid-air.