Ephrat "Bounce" Asherie takes the subway for "A Single Ride"

The fun, fast-paced A Single Ride (at Dixon Place now through the 29th) didn't give me time to mentally whine that its director-choreographer--the talented hip hop dancer Ephrat "Bounce" Asherie--doesn't perform in it. Or to ponder the fact that a whole swath of it brought to mind The Groove to Nobody's Business, a popular piece by Camille A. Brown that also features a humorous, sometimes contentious ensemble impatiently waiting for and eventually riding the subway. Asherie carries the physical humor of this situation a little further and funnier. Another sold-out crowd was richly entertained last night at Dixon Place.

You've swiped your Metrocard a billion times, but have you ever thought how that brisk, nearly automatic but sometimes thwarted action might look translated by three dancers' bodies (two to play the turnstile)? Asherie has. You've heard that announcement that "a crowded train is no excuse for sexual harrassment," but have you ever wondered what might happen if a cluster of riders decided that, no, actually it's the best excuse going? Asherie has.

Asherie gets a big assist from her creative team, especially Grammy-winning composer Marty Beller and projection designer David Bengali, both of whom are so bold and brilliant here, I would pay to experience their work even in the absence of an accompanying dance. And her dancers--Ljuba Castot, Teena Marie Custer, Valerie "Ms. Vee" Ho, Erin Holmes, Richard Maguire and MiRi "Seoulsonyk" Park--turn out to be capable dancer-actors, appealing and wonderful overall. You'll forget that Asherie isn't among them until she joins them for the final bows.

Shows are at 7:30pm through Saturday, September 29.

Information and tickets

Dixon Place
161A Chrystie Street (between Rivington and Delancey Streets), Manhattan
(directions)