Upstairs, Downstairs, and in My Lady’s Chamber
An Evening of Hope and Other Dances by Scott Heron
New York Native, October 26, 1992

Downstairs at P.S. 122 for two weekends in October, Mimi Goese turned what was probably once a kindergarten playroom into a chamber of exquisitely wrought terror. Upstairs, for one overlapping weekend, Scott Heron and his Homosexuals on Parade Dance Company frolicked and musicked like some funky angels…

Heron is taut and lean; his unselfconscious elegance and innate showmanship are concentrated in a clearly defined head and face of long planes, soft angles and finely drawn features that make one think of a masterfully carved marionette…

Heron’s “An Evening of Hope and Other Dances” was divided into three segments: “Lecture: The Dance of Positions,” “Hope: A Dance in 9 Parts,” and “Magic and Rope”. The H.O.P. dancers included John Jasperse (replacing Jenny Bass), Cathay Che, and Keith Godbout. The event took the form of a variety show, with Heron himself dominating the proceedings.

Wearing different hats or wigs, the grave and slight young man played, by turns, the very vertical dancer--especially when balancing a log-like hat--the testy, argumentative performer--sometimes snarling at an alter-ego on video--and the wry cross-dresser--matter of factly describing the subtle scheme of his drag, all the while daringly and expertly balancing, in and out of his heeled pumps, on a tight rope.

The journey taken by this show was easily dominated by Heron’s presence and magically mysteriously decorated by his wonderfully nonsensical use of props: seltzer empties falling like moths from inside some dresses, a shower of tin cans, and a flower pot spilling green aspic.

—ROBERT GRESKOVIC