Domy Reiter-Soffer

“The Irish National Ballet Company is fortunate in having Domy Reiter-Soffer as Artistic Advisor and Choreographer- extraordinary. He is also fortunate in Having George Crumb's score and the inspiration of Lorca's tragic play Yerma.
The Marvelous score for his balletic re-creation of Lorca's tragedy- and it all added up last night at the Abbey Theatre to one of the most exciting Ballet premieres that Dublin has seen for a long time.
Reiter's choreography tells the story of the unfulfilled wife as starkly as the poet wrote it. It was danced with impressive fire last night by Kathleen Smith (Yerma), Richard Collins (Juan) and Anna Donovan (Delores- the Sorceress).
The Corps work, mostly silhouetted against a bleak cyclorama, was controlled disciplined, and effective in the story context. Miss Smith's performance was a total tour- de- Force; and had tremendous impact. This Ballet will certainly be in Demand for other dance companies and no doubt the Irish National Ballet company danced the work with such conviction and power that it deserved the ovations it got last night”.
(Seamus Kelly-The Irish Times).

 “The main offering of the evening of The Irish National Ballet performance last night was the first performance of Domy Reiter-Soffer's “Yerma”. Set to an eclectic and effective score by the American composer George Crumb, this dance version of the Gracia Lorca play is taut, spare, catching the Andalusian rhythms very effectively and with a powerful dramatic punch and, is the kind of creation that justifies the whole purpose of the company.
Richard Collins as Juan, Kathleen Smith (Yerma), Dennis Spaight and Anna Donovan were all extremely good, with Collins showing himself as a powerful character dancer and Kathleen Smith a great poetic performer, poignant and strong. The suitably Spare setting and authentic costumes, it is no doubt the best creation of the company so far”.
(Desmond MacAvock- Evening Press).

“The actual performance of the Irish National Ballet's “Yerma” choreographed by Domy Reiter-Soffer was stunning. Reiter-Soffer retained tension without losing simplicity or poignancy. Desperation is the key word in this ballet of great power (poetry and play) and Kathleen Smith as the confused wife danced the role with total commitment and feeling. Richard Collins and Anna Donovan as husband and a sorceress wee equally inspiring and the set and costumes were complete triumph. This Ballet is a major artistic experience”.
(Lindie Naughton-Hibernia).

“The dance programme of last night performance of the Irish National Ballet exceeded expectations. It certainly had reached maturity with precision and attack in Domy Reiter-Soffer's “Yerma” The major offering a pulsating brilliant adaptation of the Lorca Tragedy in original conception and fully exploiting the drama's sexuality.
Kathleen Smith, tautly and movingly portrayed the wife who yearns in vain for a child, with Richard Collins as the husband, Anna Donovan (sorceress0 and Dennis Spaight (her son) in notable support. The music by the American composer George Crumb, is proved to be most effective in capturing the anguished mood”.
(John Finegan- The Evening Herald).

“ The evening was dominated by domy Reiter-Soffer's ballet “Yerma” which Jan Murray reviewed in Dance and Dancers last October following its Dublin premiere.
I would Like to reinforce her comment then that Yerma would be an impressive addition to the repertory of any company with training in both classical and modern Technique; I hope very much that it will sometimes be seen in Britain.
The fact that it is set to that ancient voices of children by George Crumb which has fired several other choreographer's imaginations is no disadvantage, for Reiter-Soffer has gone further and more daringly than the others I have seen in matching to the American composer's setting of Lorca's poems the substance of a well known play by Lorca. This drama of a Spanish peasant wife desperate for motherhood, whose husband has denied her a child, and who turns in frustration to a fertility rite, which leads her to kill her husband. As the poems set by Crumb are also concerned with motherhood and children, expectancy and tragedy, there is a parallel of mood and feeling which Reiter-Soffer uses imaginatively in a work of true dramatic dance-theatre.
His Choreography combines elements of modern dance idiom with classical steps involving point shoes. With the help of simple but vividly effective designs, he conveys a range and depth of mood without fussiness of details.
Yerma's restless frustration and desire is suggested at the start with the aid only of a hammock, which also cradles her husband's dead body at the end. A reversible cross symbolizes the twisted Christian-Pagan association, of the fertility rite and the simple letting-down of Yerma's long hair has more erotic allusion than any amount of undressing, for an orgy scene done with style and skill.
Kathleen Smith, one of the company's American Dancers portrays Yerma with smoldering intensity of feeling-a performance of compelling character and sympathy. She was well matched by Richard Collins as the self-centred, indifferent husband, Juan, his imagined machismo subtly contrasted with her tortured sense of reality, and by Dennis Spaight as Victor, the handsome young male brought to her in the fertility rite. Anna Donnovan's stern sorceress, and a group of villagers and toreros played by the rest of the ensemble, complete an imaginative and successful dance-drama at its best, and at no point do the choreographer's ideas betray the musical conception”.
(Noel Goodwin- Dance and Dancers).

“The highlight of the evening was Domy Reiter-Soffer's creation of “Yerma” a Lorca tragic play set to music by the American composer George Crumb. The ballet is intense and overwhelming in emotional content, it was beautifully performed by Kathleen Smith in the main Role. Her Physicality and reaction to the anguish and frustration of the role was outstanding and the psychological power that made a really sublime effect. She was ably assisted by Richard Collins as her Husband, Dennis Spaight and Anna Donovan in what was, for me, the finest ballet of the evening and the audience gave it an enthusiastic reception which was well deserved”.
(Geraldine Neeson- The Examiner).