About Choreography

Press

"The Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny"
Performed by Opera Boston, February 2007
By Berthold Brecht and Kurt Weill
Directed by Sam Helfrich
Photos ©Clive Grainger 2007

“The final tableau is chilling as bright florescent lights descend and the cast twitches unnervingly to the beat. The movement suggests both the plight of automatons caught in a system beyond their control, and average citizens engaged in a kind of proto-march that could morph at any moment into a goose step.”
Jeremy Eichler, The Boston Globe

"...gritty and contemporary... The cast -- all opera singers, unamplified -- played the denizens of Mahagonny as rough, unglamorous and desperate.  It was a tighter, more absorbing production than the one in L.A., and it made its point more clearly."
Heidi Waleson, The Wall Street Journal

“Scantily-clad females flashing spread-eagle poses, plenty of cleavage, panty and bra-clad girls bumping and grinding on stage to taunt the men, and men cavorting around in boxer shorts and t-shirts, this is not a promo for a soft-porn DVD, but rather Opera Boston’s brilliantly executed and flawlessly performed take on Kurt Weill and Berthold Brecht’s nightmarish vision of a town where crime pays, money talks and being unable to pay a bill is a capitol offense. This production which premiered in Boston on Friday evening, February 23rd was a huge success in every way…collaborating in this very seductive and hypnotic production was a team…choreographer Gayle Madeira (love those bumps and grinds) gave us a beautifully choreographed ensemble, not missing a single actor on stage”
Paul Joseph Walkowski, Opera Online

BEST CHOREOGRAPHY award from Opera Online:  The winner is GAYLE MADEIRA for Opera Boston’s production of “Mahagonny.”
As noted earlier, the dance sequences for Opera Boston’s “Mahagonny” were spellbinding and hypnotic, and gave this opera a genuine “Cabaret” look and feel so much so that it actually lifted the score above what it would otherwise deserve.  With choreography that good, it’s hard not to acknowledge it as the “Best Of” what we saw in this category.

"In a Pig’s Valise"
Bard College NY, March 2004
A musical written by Eric Overmeyer
Directed by Sam Helfrich

"Mirandolina"
Manhattan School of Music,
April 2004
Directed by Sam Helfrich
Music by Martinu

“…crisply professional… The sets, staging, and music direction were all in tune with the antic spirit of the piece, which surely sent everyone out of the theatre in the best of moods.”
Peter Davis, New York Magazine

"Transparency of Val"
New York Premiere at the La Tea Center for the Arts, July 2002
Directed by Sam Helfrich
Written by Stephen Belber

 
“...the choreography is smart and often hilarious.”
Alexis Soloski, TIMEOUT New York

“They [Gayle Madeira and Sam Helfrich] created a production of striking physicality. In pubescent angst, Val and his love Rudi, a girl-turned-boy-turned girl, perform an awkward love dance with chicken-neck jerks and come-hither shoulder twitches.”
Francine Russo, The Village Voice

"Smile America"
Phffft Dance Theater Company, 1993-1995

Choreographed and performed by Gayle Madeira, Cyrus Khambatta, Jenn Paisley Clark and Rob Kitsos

Performed in:  Spoleto Festival (USA), Dunois Theater (Paris, France), Dance Space (Washington DC), Here Theater (NYC), SummerFest (Pennsylvania)

Also seen by 500,000,000 people in a featured performance on Beijing Television and on three major networks in the U.S.

“The evening-length piece was at once clever, amusing and unsettling.  It managed to condemn our entire consumer culture, even linking Madison Avenue and organized religion. …the work’s scathing satire hit its mark.”
Dean Smith, The Charlotte Observer (North Carolina)

“[There was] an arresting solo crisply danced by Miss Madeira whose arms and legs were attached to strings allowing her to move precariously within the confines of her manipulated space.  The strong presences and individuality of the performers made the jam-packed evening work."
Eliza Ingle, The Post and Courier (North Carolina)

“...a flow of clever choreographic material...in almost constant contact with one another, dancers flew, pulled and drew on each other’s energy. In the end, it was the sheer physicality of the dancing that won the evening.”
Pamela Squires, The Washington Post

Namaste Danse
1994-1996

Choreographed and performed by Gayle Madeira with a revolving cast of six additional performers

New York City venues:  Adobe Theater, City Center Studio Theater, Context Studio Theater, Cunningham Studio Theater, The Joyce SoHo,  Mulberry Street Theater, Next Stage Theater, Performing Arts Collective, Ohio Theater, Pace Theater, Pink Inc, Westbeth Theater

Other venues:  Lyceum Summer Arts Program (Virginia), New Balance Series (Virginia and Washington, DC), Dance Theater Lab SUNY (Purchase, NY)

“…persuasive dances with cosmic themes...handsome caryatids grew progressively nuttier and more abandoned in Ms. Madeira’s
‘Ha Ha Haah’ ”
Jennifer Dunning, The New York Times

“[Madeira] loses control of her hands a la Doctor Strangelove and races around the stage like Jim Carrey on a good day.”
Heather Mitchell, The Washington Post

“Burgeoning genius… tremendously creative pieces danced with the utmost technical excellence… brilliantly bizarre and humorous.  A strong demonstration that dance can still explore new territory while maintaining a classical ballet/jazz/modern foundation.”
Terri Goldman, The Review Magazine (Washington, DC)

“All the performers were of the highest quality, especially the fluidity and immensely interesting movement quality of Ms. Madeira.  The evening had recurring themes that connected one piece to another, always in a surprisingly fresh manner.”
Janet Panetta, master ballet teacher and ballet mistress for Pina Bausch Tanzteatre