CRITICAL ACCLAIM

“Few in my experience have been able to maintain tension and sustain interest. But if Silvia Martins had performed no other dance than Tere O’Connor’s “Exit” at Footwork Studio on Thursday, the program would have been a success. Martins made “Exit” a grippingly visual experience. Each movement, whether it was a little skip or heroic reach of the arms, was infused with great and unforgettable joy.”

-Marilyn Tucker, San Francisco Chronicle

“Silvia Martins is one of those performers who one suspects can make just about anything look good…Each piece had a personality of it's own… "Second Sight"…was a good introduction to Ms. Martin's distinctive blend of reticence and seductive near-abandon. In Remy Charlip's Delectable "We'll Gather Lilacs" too long missing from the New York dance scene, Ms. Martins made clear the solo's subtext…the dance shifts in mood, though not movement quality, from sublimated angst to delicate voluptuousness.”

-Jennifer Dunning, The New York Times

"Martins essentially commanded the attention unaided for 90 minutes with performances of purity, emotional candor and wondrous resilience…Martins has learned all that from experience. She has learned to respect other choreographic sensibilities and to probe their essences, while endowing the work of her colleagues with her own technical resources and physical allure…The trio melted into unisons, reformed into circles, separated and reunited in allusive alliances. Canons flowed into descents with the inevitability of mercury. Martins mimed the devotional quality of the music. Yet, there was room here, also-possibly a legacy from Morris-for surprising transitions, like simple somersaults. One wonders what moves Martins might wring from the remainder of the Gorecki work. But she may be too busy dancing Wong's "Bolero" for us to ever find out."

-Allan Ulrich, San Francisco Examiner

“Martins. . . brings her best gifts to this work: fluency, strength and an instinct for dramatic effect. Martins is persuasive, too, in the other dances created for her. She captures perfectly the tone of "We'll Gather Lilacs" a typical example of Remy Charlip's genius for treating overblown sentimentality with just enough irony to render it lovely even to sophisticates. Martin's gravity and naturalness when her arms become branches and her quivering fingers breeze-swept blossoms, or when she draws a spray of flowers, as if it were a love letter from a fallen soldier, from the bosom of her ash-rose chiffon gown, convince you that springtime emotions are not to be despised."

-Tobi Tobias, The Village Voice