Company: Archived Repertory

Select a title for information on each piece.

Falling In... | Patient Spider | Marie's Diary | Four Screaming Women

Falling In ...
World Premiere—2004

Falling in...consists of three female solos, each depicting a woman’s journey toward an essential truth. The first solo, set to traditional Portuguese Fado music, is sung by Amalia Rodrigues. Combining theater and dance, this solo depicts love and loss in women’s lives.

In the second movement, the theme moves toward “falling into awareness”. Set to Nigel Kennedy’s Purple Haze, a reinterpretation of the late Jimi Hendrix’s Purple Haze, now with violin and orchestra. This solo shows the strong counterpoint between traditional women in love with the women of the 60’s and 70’s drug culture who searched for answers and awareness within the self.

The work concludes with a lyrical movement based on the theme of “falling into acceptance” using Joni Mitchell’s re-recording of her classic, Both Sides Now, with a full orchestra. This movement tells the story of a woman’s journey from youthful certainly to doubt and then final acceptance of life’s ambiguities.

“. . .intensely physical. . .” Philadelphia Citypaper

Choreography: Jeanne Ruddy
Music: Portuguese Fado, Nigel Kennedy, and Joni Mitchell
Costume Design: Christina Gianninni, Jeanne Ruddy, Alison Roberts and Jeffrey Wirsing
Lighting Design: Peter J. Jakubowski

Dancers:
Jeanne Ruddy
Christine Taylor
Renee Robinson-Buzby
Janet Pilla
Kimberly Braton Lantz

World Premiere—June 17, 2004—The Mandell Theater

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Patient Spider
2003

Set to the adagio and fugue from Bach’s Sonata No. 3 for Unaccompanied Violin, the work refers to a poem by Walt Whitman,A Noiseless Patient Spider.

Choreography: Peter Sparling
Music: Bach
Costume Design: Jeffrey Bauer
Lighting Design: Peter J. Jakubowski

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Marie's Diary
1986

Choreography: Jeanne Ruddy
Live Accompaniment: Meng-Chieh Liu
Music: Olivier Messiaen
Costume Design: Christina Gianniani
Lighting Design: Peter J. Jakubowski

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Four Screaming Women
1982

Four Screaming Women originally premiered the night the Equal Rights Amendment was defeated.

Text/Choreography: Jane Comfort
Lighting Designer: Peter J. Jakubowski