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"intimidatingly creative"
SF Chronicle
"that this form (aerial dance)...can make for emotionally
nuanced, vital art is being proven once again right now by the
continuing three-week run of Jo Kreiter's "Maybe grief is
a good bird flying low" at SomArts Theater."
"Kreiter ...has created an evening-length work in which
substance trumps considerable spectacle."
"...a visceral journey through all of grief's stages shared
by seven women of exceptional emotive integrity (Christine Chen,
Patricia Jiron, Krista DeNio, Rachael Lincoln, Rachel Shaw, and
Dominique Zeltzman round out the skilled cast). The inquiry is
gutsy, and Kreiter's exploration of it is compelling."
Rachel Howard, SF Examiner
"She (Kreiter) places the gifts of gymnastics and the props
of circus arts, such as trapeze, poles and ropes, inside the aesthetic
boundaries of the concert stage and liberates often stodgy modern
dance by freeing movers from the floor."
"...she has created a means to fuse the freedom of athleticism
with the poetry of fine art."
Ann Murphy, Oakland Tribune
"With her newest endeavor, 'Maybe grief is a good bird flying
low,' she has taken a big step forward in giving formal expression
to a feminism as physically powerful as it is spiritually gentle."
"'Grief' sores on the strength of its individual episodes,
Kreiter's ability to shape transitions, and, above all, pacing
that is lyrical and leisurely but never sags. Kreiter and her
dancers are wondrously assisted by Jack Carpenter's evocative
lighting and a score, by Carla Kihlstedt and Shahzad Ismaily,
that was ever supportive of the choreography, yet sang with its
own voice."
Rita Felciano, SF Bay Guardian
"Kreiter avoids extraneous details in her work and builds
subtle rhythms..."
"Kreiter regards her apparatus with the loving admiration
of a conceptual artist."
Ann Murphy, SF Weekly
"Kreiter's artful direction pushes the physical feats far
beyond spectacle."
Jennifer Copaken, Dance Insider Online
"...A wonder of equilibrium..."
The New York Times
"In TEST, Jo Kreiter used an anchored steel pole, which
she climbed and dangles from in an impressive display of strength
and agility."
Christian Science Monitor
"Among the dozens of ensembles that vie for space and audiences
among the local stages, there are three that most recently struck
me me with their ability to articulate movement ideas and craft
them in to expressive forms that are at the very least promising.
Flyaway Productions is the brainchild of Jo Kreiter. Kreiter is
trying to bridge the gap between gymnastics and dance, developing
a dance style which demands upper body strength and a willingness
to embrace physical risk. But unlike sports or a circus act the
effort and energy to create the movement are totally subversive
to the expressive end."
Dance View
"Kreiter's feats of athletic dance are a philosphical assertion.
On one level, with their emphasis on upper body strength and embrace
of physical risk, they're a feminist statement, celebrating the
potential of the female body... But on another level her choreography
affirms the simple sensuousness and communicative power of the
human body."
East Bay Monthly
"At the Aerial Festival, Jo Kreiter danced like a cat in
an urban jungle, clambering up a pole shadowed by the black concrete
walls. The technique was gymnastic; the dance a poem."
SF Magazine
"Kreiter propelled herself up, down, and into the air from
a shiny black pole, sometimes barely hanging on by a heel or a
hand. While the immaculate control and willingness to take such
physical risks are admirable, what made Test so compelling was
its sense of quest. this challenge was clearly in the heart as
much as the muscles."
SF Bay Guardian
"...hundreds of spectators watched in fascination as the
performers descended into the alley and for a time transformed
one of the city's most despair ridden stretches of asphalt into
a celebration of spirit..."
North Mission News
"Chinese pole acrobatics, with its intense relience on upper
body strength, is dominated by male performers, but that didn't
dissuade choreographer Jo Kreiter. She studied the form last year
at the San Francisco School of Circus Arts and then added it to
her already demanding technical arsenal."
SF Weekly
"Pregnant pauses intermingle with careful and deliberate
gestures or mournful falls to the floor. They approach each other
back to front, testing to see if they can rely on one another.
The stakes are high, the cost is a tempestuous and pressing love."
SF Bay Times
"(Kreiter) explodes into a hurricane of running attacks
and blurring whirls whose energy collapses into a stillness only
to gather greater intensity."
SF Bay Guardian
"A very beautiful, physically adroit and well trained dancer."
SF Bay Times
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