Suspended Women was choreographed in 2000 by the celebrated former Martha Graham Dance Company dancer, prolific choreographer, and master teacher, Jacqulyn Buglisi. Set to music by Maurice Ravel, with interpolations composed by Daniel Bernard Roumain, it has since been recognized as one of her signature works.
The mesmerizing ballet casts 12 ghost-like female dancers who, dressed in tattered period costumes, seem to express various states of frenzy and despair through off-balance and collapsing movements. Throughout the 18-minute piece, four male dancers intermittently enter and exit the stage, weaving through the women’s ever-shifting patterns. The heart of the work speaks to the challenges and strength of women across the ages.
The New York Times dance critic Anna Kisselgoff called Suspended Women “mesmerizing” after its premiere. Dance Magazine has described Buglisi’s choreography as a series of “images that seduce the eye as much as the imagination, with shapes, luminous textures, and stilled moments in time that offer an adventure in perception.” Suspended Women is the first work by Jacqulyn Buglisi to enter the Ailey repertory.
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Members of the Company in Suspended Women, photo by Paul Kolnik
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Members of the Company in Suspended Women, photo by Paul Kolnik
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Members of the Company in Suspended Women, photo by Paul Kolnik
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Rachael McLaren in Suspended Women, photo by Paul Kolnik
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Linda Celeste Sims in Suspended Women, photo by Paul Kolnik