Dry Bones: Resurrection of the Living

The Jewish Week
 
"The piece features three women in intricate contrapuntal duos, solos and threesomes. They dance at different speeds on different levels – one reaching out, while the other crumples to the floor and the third sits down on a pew-like bench. The movement is alternatively lyrical, celebratory and staccato; they use their whole bodies and then emphasize isolating parts.

The composition is about self-renewal. Schiff tells The Jewish Week that she intentionally uses dancers of different faiths and has them go off and then move in unison, in order 'to emphasize religious diversity while, at the same time communicating that underneath we are all made of the same stuff.'  What’s more, she has her dancers finely attune to one another so that they can improvise responsively. This, Schiff explains in an unexpected association, 'becomes a metaphor for the spontaneous exchanges in a Beit Midrash'." - Susan Reimer-Torn

New Voices Magazine

"From her first moment on stage, she proved she knows how to get people like me to understand dance. With a stage presence so warm and encouraging that it coaxed a room filled with mostly Jews to bypass their physical inhibitions, she had us all move our arms and hands into the D, R, and Y she designed according to her own kinetic alphabet to spell the word 'DRY.'

'Perfect! Now let’s spell "Resurrection!"' she said. We laughed, but she was serious. So we moved our arms and hands all over to spell, or better, cause to happen, 'RESURRECTION.' This exercise had a powerful effect on me. Much like the practice of Judaism itself, going through symbolic motions taught me how intentional movement can illicit a feeling or substantiate an abstract concept in a way that’s radically unconstrained from the bonds of conventional language. Creating then telling a story through these new alphabets, I now understood, is the essence of what dance performance is." - Derek Kwait, Editor in Chief

Jewish Eyes on the Arts - post and podcast
 
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BlogTalkRadio interviews, hosted by Heather Butts

 

On August 5th, 2012, I was given the opportunity to share my choreographic journey with listeners of L.E.A.R.N. for Life Consulting, L.L.C.'s  BlogTalkRadio station.

Naturally, I had so much to say the Heather invited me back for a second interview on September 9th, 2012!

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Eugene Onegin

New York Times
 
"The dance added here, through the course of the work, was choreographed and performed in a free modern style by Sydney Schiff, backed by the Princeton Ballroom Dance Club... Ms. Schiff’s exertions as Tatiana were admirable, showing fine athleticism and stamina in stretches, spins and swoons..." - James R. Oestreich
 
New Jersey Arts News

"...a portrait of Tatyana, rather than a narrative, this version ... showed the title character mainly through fantasy... [It] was about a woman’s frenzied fall into love, her effusive declaration of it, her rejection and reinvention... At a particularly effective moment, Tatyana (a whirlwind of youthful longing as danced by choreographer Sydney Schiff) spun giddily around a chair just after meeting Onegin. The orchestra burst into an ecstatic transformation of her music..." - Ronni Reich

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