Yerma-Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre
“The evening's surprise was “Yerma” a ballet by Domy Reiter-Soffer about a woman who takes part in a sinister fertility rite when her husband refuses to give her a child.
“Yerma” is relentlessly dramatic ballet of frustration and degradation with a modern score by George Crumb. It also inspires a moving performance from Miss Desutter, confident in her abilities as an actress. The role is well suited to her angularity. Heels digging into the floor, splayed fingers, tautness in her shoulders and outbursts of movement testify to her character's anger and frustration.
Tolentino is proffered as the answer to her prayers. His solo is Spanish Flavored in the turn of the hips and rounded arm movements. He prances around her, offering what husband Marco Pierin wouldn't, the baby she craves for.
Pierin catches her in a frightening orgy, precipitating a tragic and symbolic end- if not the expected one. Miss Desutter and Pierin's last duet is particularly dramatic: she tries to spin or kick away from him but is caught by the hand as a chained dog to its collar. Finally Murder and one of the most dramatic and poignant moments takes place when in her madness she rocks her dead husband in the hammock believing it to be her child, a moment of true lyrical moment and extraordinary theatre”.
(Pamela Reasner- Pittsburgh Press).
“Domy Reiter-Soffer's ballet “Yerma” based on the play by Fredrico Gracia Lorca, provided Desutter with a Herculean role, with anguish and troubled yearning in the title role. Desutter brilliantly created the character of an obsessed woman on the brink of insanity. Marco Pierin gave the husband a self-centered and unbending strength. Reiter-Soffer succeeds in telling the story economically in the most dramatic and direct way, drawing great performances from his principals as well as from the Corps. Yerma was an excellent contrast to Balanchine's “Serenade” and “Concerto Barocco”.
(Jane Vranish- Pittsburgh Post Gazette).
