One of the fundamental challenges for any dance company that decides to base itself on using ropes and rigging, is to explore the freedom of flight while avoiding unimaginative gimmickry. While the Brenda Angiel Dance Company is certainly more theatrical and “circusy” than some dance companies, its members transcend any tastelessness, and present works of breathtaking beauty and fantasy.

One of the ways Ms. Angeil's company do this is by incorporating the use of a giant black wall behind them, which, for many of her imaginative pieces, functions as a floor, giving audiences the perception that they are looking down upon, not across, the stage and watching gravity-obeying dancers from above. That is, of course, until the dancers decide to ignore gravity.

We are treated to this illusion in the company's opening piece, where five of the dancers are suspended like larva against the dark surface, and contort into various shapes against the rhythmic (and very Bjork-ish) soundtrack. But if these are the larvae, then in the following scenes we are treated to the butterflies: Leonardo Haedo presents a charming, gravity-defying Gene Kelly, but with street moves, and Viviana Finkelstein gives a heart breaking and beautiful performance as she struggles to fly against an ever present and cruel tether.

Other pieces (there are fourteen in all) offer other themes, like a humorous clown segment, inventive group pieces, and a kaleidoscopic dance/video segment. Certain pieces seemed superfluous, and this is my only problem with the show. Parts eight, nine, and ten for instance, were all "aerial tangos" with variations. While the first tango, in which Ana Armas effortlessly steps up her partner's arm and slides down his other side, was an incredibly sensual piece of breathtaking beauty, each successive tango watered down the magic, and I was left wishing that I had been withheld from a bit (or is that just Western Puritanism?).

Despite the repetitious elements of certain pieces, and a somewhat weak ending, the talent and originality at work here is amazing, and paring the show down to ten parts would make for a nearly perfect program. It is praiseworthy, after all, when the only fault in a performance is its abundance.

Fri April 4-Sat April 5, 8 pm, PSU's Lincoln Hall; the show is sold out, but standby tickets will be available at the door beginning at 7 pm