Parsons Dance performs in Tampa

The stage is dark, except for one very bright, very white light. A single shirtless male dancer stands in the light and begins to move as music by Robert Fripp fills the auditorium.

The light goes off, and then suddenly the stage is lighted by strobe flashes. The flashes reveal the dancer moving through space, sometimes soaring, sometimes walking, always several feet above the floor. It's a dancer's ultimate triumph over gravity.

The piece is called "Caught," and it's one of the most famous pieces in contemporary dance.

It will be on the program when Parsons Dance comes to the Straz Center for the Performing Arts in Tampa on Thursday.

Parsons Dance is among the best dance companies in the world, and "Caught" has become the company's signature work.

The piece has its detractors. Mostly, David Parsons said, they're New York dance critics who say they've seen it too many times.

"I think of it as a modern classic," said Parsons, who founded the company and choreographed "Caught." "The thing that gets me mad is the classical ballet world. They can do 'Sleeping Beauty' and 'Swan Lake' year after year and none says they're doing them too often."

For those of us who live in areas where we don't get to see world-class dance every day, "Caught" is a must. Every time Parsons Dance tours, it's part of the program.

"People get mad if we don't do it," Parsons said.

It's a short piece, though, so that gives audiences the chance to experience a range of the company's works. Others may not be as spectacular as "Caught," but they're all just as artistically impressive.

The Tampa program includes "Finding Center," with music by Thomas Newman, who wrote the score for "American "Beauty"; "Union," which Parsons created with fashion designer Donna Karan; "Train," a percussive piece by Robert Battle, who heads the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre; "Alma," a brand-new work by Parsons protege Katarzyna Skartowska, and "Nasciemento," a Parsons classic that's a pure dance piece set to music by Milton Nasciemento, one of Brazil's best-known contemporary musicians.

"Union" is new to audiences in this area, but it's been part of the Parsons repertoire since 1994.

"They partnered choreographers with designers for an AIDS benefit at the Lincoln Center," Parsons said. "I got Donna Karan."

Karan, he said, watched Parsons' dancers perform for a few minutes, then said "OK, I got it." She took measurements and came back with stunningly beautiful costumes.

The costumes had to be adjusted for this tour, Parsons said, because the originals left some of the female dancers' breasts exposed. That was no problem 20 years ago, he said, but his current generation of dancers aren't willing to perform in those costumes.

"Caught" will be the next-to-last piece on the program.

Besides the New York dance critics who say "Caught" is overdone, the piece has drawn some criticism from choreographers who say it's all about lighting and illusions, and that it's not real dance.

"It's an interesting conversation," Parsons said. "They say it's done too much and that it's not dance. But a good artist is always trying to stretch the limits of the art form."

As for choreographers who diss "Caught," Parsons said, "They're just jealous that didn't create it."

Details: 8 p.m. Jan. 14, Ferguson Hall at the Straz Center for the Performing Arts, 1010 N. MacInnes Place, Tampa. Tickets: $45-$55 plus service charge. Information: 813-229-7827, strazcenter.org.

Marty Clear, features writer/columnist, can be reached at 941-708-7919. Follow twitter.com/martinclear.

This story was originally published January 13, 2016 at 6:16 PM with the headline "Parsons Dance performs in Tampa ."