  We study the string propagation in the 2+1 black hole anti de Sitter
background (2+1 BH-ADS). We find the first and second order fluctuations around
the string center of mass and obtain the expression for the string mass. The
string motion is stable, all fluctuations oscillate with real frequencies and
are bounded, even at $r=0.$ We compare with the string motion in the ordinary
black hole anti de Sitter spacetime, and in the black string background, where
string instabilities develop and the fluctuations blow up at $r=0.$ We find the
exact general solution for the circular string motion in all these backgrounds,
it is given closely and completely in terms of elliptic functions. For the
non-rotating black hole backgrounds the circular strings have a maximal bounded
size $r_m,$ they contract and collapse into $r=0.$ No indefinitely growing
strings, neither multi-string solutions are present in these backgrounds. In
rotating spacetimes, both the 2+1 BH-ADS and the ordinary Kerr-ADS, the
presence of angular momentum prevents the string from collapsing into $r=0.$
The circular string motion is also completely solved in the black hole de
Sitter spacetime and in the black string background (dual of the 2+1 BH-ADS
spacetime), in which expanding unbounded strings and multi-string solutions
appear.
