Women-Louisville Ballet
“Women” a triumphant ballet for the Louisville ballet and courageous in its content and choreography. It begins with a single glaring beam of light cast down onto a cowering, huddling mass of women. Their dark floor-length dresses hang heavy and constricting on their bodies. Their heads are tightly wrapped in cloth, with what it looks like a pigtail emerging from behind each head, Their faces are downcast.
The light creates harsh, jagged shadows, beyond the little group, all is blackness. This is the world of “Women”. For direct, emotional content Women was unbeatable compared to the rest lighthearted classical dances that preceded it.
The costumes and the choreography are by Domy Reiter-Soffer and danced to Boulez' haunting music. Women shows through interesting dance movement, what happens when women try to cast off traditional roles and grasp for freedom. It is perilous and it is in the end fatal. “Women” is overpowering in its directness and force, its communicative and dramatic power as well as its invention and resourcefulness. There seem to be no wasted emotions. “Women” begins with series of jolting movements graphically display the stultifying roles they are required to play in their normal society. But one courageous soul, danced by Martha Connerton, decides to break out. She pulls herself away from the pack, trying her way through the murk of the unknown. Throwing off her skullcap and skirt, she dances exhilaratingly, sensuously, in celebration of her freedom. The others except one follow suit. Sherry Gilpin as the doubting traditionalist holds back. She is terrified by novelty and change and her terror seem to turn to anger. She stones the revolutionaries, and one by one, the misfits fall lifeless to the floor. “Women” is a theatrical piece that is thought provoking and a wonderful addition to Louisville Ballet's repertoire”.
(Owen Hardy- The Courier-Journal).
“Women” The modern work on the program, was moving and highly polished, it was choreographed by Domy Reiter-Soffer to music by Pierre Boulez “Pli Selon Pli”
A haunting score that folds the ballet admirably.
The five women were costumed in long, dark brown skirts and at the beginning, in tightly fitted brown caps that framed their faces so they stood out against the light.
The patterns- the wonderful, unusual shapes with which the dancers filled the stage- were most dramatic and almost breathtaking at times.
Women is a tale of five women, four of who dare to abide by the rules of a rigid conformity and the society they live in. Martha Connerton's unusual ability to communicate with the audience made her performance as the leading liberationist very impressive and so were the others who follow suit. Except the one (Sherry Gilpin) who remained holding her traditions and fighting to convince the others of the perils of discarding the rules. It is a moving ballet, very poetic in its approach yet powerful and breathtaking”.
(Carolyn Gatz- Louisville Times Critic)
