Domy Reiter-Soffer

“Chicago Ballet came up with the most exciting new ballet of many years at the Chicago Opera House last night.
“Chariots of Fire” by enormously talented choreographer Domy Reiter-Soffer.
Based on the myth of Phaedra the beautiful queen who was obsessed with love for her handsome stepson Hipolytus, son of king Theseus, The ballet explores the predestined passion and agonies of the heroic scale figures of Greek Tragedy.
The Curtain rises on dancers with masks and garments of ancient Greek drama.
They shed these and emerge with tights to enact timeless human passions.
Choreographer Reiter- Soffer expands the vocabularies of ballet and modern dance in which he is experienced, boldly inventing new movement. He demands fantastic dancing from his cast, and gets it.
Kathleen Smith as Phaedra was at first a warm, womanly wife-queen. She deteriorates into a tortured seductress, proving herself in the process an actress-dancer who can probe emotional depths. She is particularly sensitive to the demands of the Reiter-Soffer choreography. Richard Collins, virile and regal, was bigger than life Theseus, and when shattered by tragedy his grief was awesome. Gregory Begley as Hippolytus epitomized the athletic youth of Greece in a solo that presented him as the golden boy of the Gods- and his dancing was incredibly fine. This was followed by a filially playful duo with his father, a tenderly romantic duet with his beloved Aricie. He was distraught at the advances of Phaedra and stormy at his fury when, as outcast, he lashed at fate and the chariots horses that trampled him to death. The appropriate music for this complex ballet is by three Greek Composers, Christou, Mamangakis and Xenakis. Reiter- Soffer's staging and choreography was most effective and dramatic and made a tremendous impact on the audience and was rewarded accordingly”.
(Ann Barzel- Dance News Chicago).

“Chariots Of Fire” a great ballet- a powerful ballet- was the notable contribution Chicago Ballet made on inauguration season of lavish presentations in the Opera House. “Chariots Of Fire” the real substance on the program was Domy Reiter-Soffer's Ballet and a moving theatrical experience.
“Chariots of Fire” touched emotional depths, and the means included dance of very high level. There were brilliant performances by Kathleen Smith, Richard Collins and Gregory Begely all displaying extraordinary technique.
The company, in ensemble and minor parts, too, played an important part showed itself highly adept in demanding dances.
The décor and costumes, the music and above all the choreographic invention and the dramatic insights contributed to a ballet that had both artistic taste and human appeal. “Chariots of Fire” is based on the Greek myth of Phaedra, the beautiful wife of king Theseus. Obsessed by a passion for her stepson Hippolytus, Phaedra destroys all three protagonists. Greek drama, encompassing universal emotions on a heroic scale, outwits time fashion and is never obsolete.
The opening of the ballet finds the ensemble in the dress and masks of Greek classical drama, the movements stylized in the poses found on carvings. In the center are elaborately masked figures whose stiff cloaks unfold to become the décor suggestive of shards of antiquity. Masks and encumbering costumes later discarded, the dancers in tights reveal human bodies and emotions- on the heroic scale of Greek tragedy.
Phaedra (Kathleen Smith) and Theseus (Richard Collins) dance of love and trust and mutual confidence. When Theseus's son, Hippolytus (Gregory Begely) is introduced, it is a trio of familial relations. Hippolytus, the epitome of a young Greek athlete, dances with charm and vigor of youth and joins his father for moments of playful rapport. The lovely Aricie (Mirelle Leterrier) attracts the youth and they dance of young love. Phaedra observes, and her passion for her stepson is aroused to an obsession. Her nurse-companion tries to dissuade her, but in Greek tragedy man is the playing of the Gods, and fate had foreordained that thus Theseus would be punished for arrogance. There is seduction and discovery. Distraught Hippolytus cast out by his father mounts his chariot, whips his horses into a fury and is trampled to death. Grief- stricken Phaedra hangs herself. In the most searing dance I have ever seen. Theseus laments his son and his wife while the furies mock.
The music By Christou, mamangakis and Xenakis, three distinguished modern Greek composers of like genre, includes vocal sounds in their scores, sounds evocative of the emotional climate. Lament of grief are echoed physically in a shattering dance by Collin's Theseus.
One must use the word great several times. Choreographer Reiter-Soffer's conception his imagination, erudition, taste and theatricality are great.
Kathleen Smith, reed slim, queenly regal and womanly passionate gave a great performance as did Collins, Kingly arrogant and deeply tragic, his grief was on a heroic scale. Greg Begley, handsome, well formed, dancing as an athlete, a young lover, an infuriated accused, was fantastic. In fact the whole Corps who were the chorus, horses and furies danced and moved the ballet along with such conviction and style that one remained speechless as one was witnessing a true Coup de Theatre”.
( Glenna Syse- Chicago Sunday Times).

“Chicago Ballet took its most impressive leap on Thursday night when the company presented the first program of its first subscription season in the Opera House.
“Chariots of Fire” a dramatic ballet by choreographer Domy Reiter-Soffer based on the ancient Greek legend of Phaedra. “Chariots” Like Reiter-Soffer's “Yerma” presented by the company last November, is another stark, hard-breathing study of guilt and passion.
Richard Collins and Kathleen Smith, brilliant performances, had danced the work's world premiere with the Irish National Ballet, were Theseus and Phaedra respectively, and danced the roles most movingly in their interpretations. Gregory Begley, the company's talented young dynemo, was exceptionally strong in his tortured athleticism as Hippolytus. The Ballet is inspiring and danced seamlessly to three contemporary Greek Composers Christou, Mamangakis and Xenakis.
Reiter-Soffer has created a highly Dramatic work with some exciting fine classical frieze-like segments for the Chorus who move the tale wonderfully, and he whips up frenzied, compelling scenes of eroticism and anguish with such expertise and theatricality. He has also cleverly designed the décor and costumes, Classical Greek in the beginning, the elaborately masked figures shed their garments to reveal the thin line of their bodies in painted tights, to enact this outstanding piece of theatre”.
(Richard Christiansen- Chicago Daily News)