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A group of ballet dancers perform on stage, each in different expressive poses. They wear colorful dresses, including white, pink, red, and green. The background is dark, highlighting the dancers.

Repertory

Suspended Women

COMPANIES

CHOREOGRAPHER

COMPANY PREMIERE

New York City Center, 2014

WORLD PREMIERE

Buglisi/Foreman Dance (now Buglisi Dance Theatre), John Jay Theater, 2000

MUSIC

Ravel Piano Concerto in G. Publishing courtesy of Theodore Presser Co. as agent for Durand et Cie-European Publisher. By arrangement with Boosey & Hawkes, Inc., Sole Agent in the US, Canada and Mexico for Durand S.A. Editions Musicales, a Universal Music

COSTUMES

A. Christina Giannini

LIGHTING

Clifton Taylor

RUN TIME

  • 18 minutes

Suspended Women is the signature work of Jacqulyn Buglisi, a celebrated former Martha Graham Dance Company dancer, prolific choreographer, and master teacher. The mesmerizing ballet features 12 ghost-like female dancers dressed in tattered gowns who express various states of frenzy and despair through collapsing, off-balance movements. Rising, falling, losing, and finding themselves, they move to the music of Maurice Ravel, with interpolations composed by Daniel Bernard Roumain. Throughout the 18-minute piece, four male dancers intermittently enter and exit the stage, weaving through the women’s ever-shifting patterns. 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” when it premiered in 2000. Margo Jefferson, also writing in The New York Times, called it “a dance about the soul's intimate mysteries.” Suspended Women is the first work by Buglisi to enter the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater repertory. 

A group of ballet dancers performs on stage, each in various expressive poses. One dancer in a white dress is lifted high in the air on the left, while others in colorful dresses, including pink and white, stretch and leap in dynamic movements against a dark background.

Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater in Jacqulyn Buglisi's Suspended Women Photo by Paul Kolnik

A group of ballet dancers perform on stage, with a male dancer supporting a female dancer in a pink dress at the center. Other dancers in various outfits, including white and dark dresses, move expressively in the background against a dark stage.

Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater in Jacqulyn Buglisi's Suspended Women Photo by Paul Kolnik

A group of ballet dancers perform on stage, each in different expressive poses. They wear colorful dresses, including white, pink, red, and green. The background is dark, highlighting the dancers.

Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater in Jacqulyn Buglisi's Suspended Women Photo by Paul Kolnik

Ballet dancer in a flowing pink dress performs with arms raised, while two other dancers in the background lie on the stage floor. The stage is dark with a spotlight on the main dancer.

Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater in Jacqulyn Buglisi's Suspended Women Photo by Paul Kolnik

Hero Credit: Photo by Paul Kolnik