IT'S NOT DANCE ATHLETES SHOW HOW BODIES CAN MOVE - AND MUCH MORE.

Byline: Vicki Smith Paluch Correspondent

Three of the most innovative choreographers in America today - Daniel Ezralow, David Parsons and Moses Pendleton - have set aside their own wild and crazy dance impulses and let their imaginations take flight in ``Aeros.'' In fact, much of the movement in their new show is about propelling the bodies of some of the world's finest gymnasts into the air, challenging the very laws of gravity.

In collaboration with the creators of ``Stomp,'' the trio is attempting to create a new entertainment form that also includes live music composed by the percussion-based TTG and images projected onto scrims are added to the mix.

``It's a wild combination of spectacle,'' said Ezralow, a dancer-choreographer who brings a cinematic eye to his athletic approach to dance. Imagine the surreal humor of Pendleton, who founded the dance companies Pilobolus and MOMIX meeting the athleticism and grace of Parsons and Ezralow's contemporary dance. Now, forget the dance part and concentrate on performance.

``These people don't dance as much as they perform,'' said Ezralow. ``These guys are like kittens. They are so eager and wide-eyed, and they have a purity which is wonderful. They approach things like an athlete - an athlete looks at something, and says, 'How do I do this? I'll work hard; I'll get it.' ''

``Aeros,'' which had its world premiere Thursday at UCLA's Royce Hall, is performed by gold-medal athletes from the Romanian Gymnastics Team, not dancers. The show brings gymnasts into the world of the performing arts, where they defy gravity and create a visual rhythm through their aerobic gymnastics, a sport borne of the aerobic craze of the 1980s.

``These guys are all trained with a high-impact form of movement that is explosive on stage. What you see is totally explosive,'' said Ezralow, who first met Parsons when they were dancers at Paul Taylor Dance Company and later worked with Pendleton as a member of Pilobolus and MOMIX.

The 15 athletes in ``Aeros'' include five world champions - Daniela Maranduca, Isabela Lacatus, Christin Moldovan, Remus Nicolai and Claudiu Varlam. They are athletes, not dancers. They are able to fly through the air, fall out of the air and bounce back with the greatest of ease. But what they do is not dance.

Originally, the show title was ``The Next Step,'' but that name was dropped in favor of ``Aeros.'' The concept of the show was to take the next step with bodies, Ezralow said. As creators, he, Parsons and Pendleton were choreographing bodies that fly through space and learning for themselves how that works and what it means.

``We're just searching for - and finding - new ways to create movement on stage,'' said Ezralow, who, with Parsons and Pendleton, has spent the past two decades doing just that. They share an athleticism in their work, and Pendleton took it a step further with Pilobolus and MOMIX, adding surrealism and comic costumes to his acrobatic dance style.

``Moses was ahead of us all with Pilobolus. We each did our things. Moses has MOMIX. Dave has his organization (Parsons Dance Company), which is flourishing now, and I've gone off to other things in L.A. more commercially,'' said Ezralow, who has choreographed works for Rudolf Nureyev and London Contemporary Dance Theatre, and has worked extensively in film, including in Ron Howard's ``The Grinch.''

He choreographed Julie Taymor's ``The Green Bird'' on Broadway and just completed a documentary biography title ``Mandela, the Journey of a Dancer.''

The three men also are good friends. Ezralow and Parsons share the same Italian agent, Antonio Gnecchi, who was asked by a multinational corporation in 1998 to create a unique show. Gnecchi thought of using gymnasts in the project and contacted the trio of mad choreographers to choreograph it. While directing the show, Ezralow sought some guidance from Luke Cresswell and Steve McNicholas, the creators of ``Stomp,'' who showed the world that brooms and trash can lids can be musical instruments. Cresswell and McNicholas joined the project as musical consultants; now they are collaborators.

Just as ``Stomp'' has a loose narrative to it based on the rhythmic flow of the percussion, ``Aeros'' taps into a visual rhythm of the bodies in space, McNicholas explained.

``When you go to 'Aeros,' you feel as if you've been taken on a journey of what the physical body is capable of,'' he said.

AEROS

Where: UCLA's Royce Hall, Westwood Plaza at Sunset Boulevard, Westwood.

When: 8 tonight, 2 and 8 p.m. Saturday, 2 p.m. Sunday; also Jan. 25-28.

Tickets: $20, $25 and $35; half price for children under 16. Call [phone].

CAPTION(S):

2 photos

Photo:

(1) World-champion athletes of the Romanian Gymnastics Federation offer a new world of art and acrobatics in ``Aeros.''

(2) ``It's a wild combination of spectacle,'' said Daniel Ezralow, a dancer-choreographer and one of the creators of ``Aeros,'' being performed at UCLA's Royce Hall.