An exuberant celebration of light and life, movement and moments in time banished all lingering glumness on a blustery Friday evening. The Parsons Dance Company opened to a sold out audience, thrilling dance aficionados with displays of power and virtuosity, mingled at times with an engaging humour.

Rather ironically, the programme opened with a piece entitled 'Closure', a firey dance to the accompaniment of an insistent rhythm underlying a metallic-sounding melody. Bare arms and shimmering torsos reflected coppery light, like flames leaping from charred embers, the effect enhanced by the dancers' matte black trousers. The ensemble broke into smaller groups, the coppery light giving way to purply-blue as if a fire were dying before bursting into life again and ending with pulses of blinding light.

'Sleep Study' which followed was a light, humorous piece presented by a pyjama-clad ensemble and reflected a careful, sympathetic observation of human sleep patterns. Clever and witty, it offered a quiet interlude before the vibrant 'Nascimento' which followed.

Commissioned by the Festival in the Sun at the University of Arizona, the piece, as the programme notes observe, is 'an exuberant tribute to the Brazilian spirit and to the music of guitarist Milton Nascimento'. Falling leaves or petals in a golden light gave an autumnal feel at the beginning, but a kiss brought life to a dancer still as a statue and a bright rainbow of costumes and seductive samba rhythms created a celebration of young love, new growth and tulips in the spring. Great leaps and high energy marked the couples 'uninhibited thrill of dancing'.

The second half of the programme was, if it can be imagined, even more exhilarating, with the highlight for this reviewer being the astonishing 'Caught'. A single light beaming directly down on the torso of the solo dancer began this amazing dance which combined athleticism and split second timing to create the illusion of the dancer hovering above the stage. The piece required the dancer to fly across the stage in a series of gravity-defying leaps in time to a stroboscopic light; each pulse of the light caught the dancer in mid-air, creating the illusion that he was actually floating across the stage. The dancer returned to the same spot between each flight, his gulps for air becoming another pulsating part of the piece.

Of the other two pieces, 'Kind of Blue' conveyed the smoky imagery of a blues bar, with 'four cool customers' twisting, turning and taking a turn in the spotlight with a studied nonchalance to the music of Miles Davis. Fittingly, the programme was rounded out by a piece entitled 'In the End', a series of solos, duets and small group studies. The very helpful programme notes point out the dynamic, uplifting piece featured 'intricate combinations of lifts, jumps, turns and floor work' which left the audience sharing the sentiment 'makes me want to stay'.

The well-composed programme had something for everyone, and the programme notes offered insightful comments about each piece that made the dances accessible to the layman or younger member of the audience. Without a doubt, the company achieved its stated goal of presenting 'American works of extraordinary artistry that are engaging and uplifting'. There was certainly a spring in this reviewer's step as she reluctantly made her way out of the theatre.