A 'Cat in Hat' dance, full of lovely Things
by Ellen Dunkel
For The Inquirer Published: Apr. 7, 2009

The sun had just set. The wind sure did bite. We went to the theater that blustery night. All we could do was to sit, sit, sit, sit. But we were rewarded with a charming little hit.

Saturday night at the Wilma Theater BalletX premiered The Striped Hat, co-artistic director Christine Cox's adorable tip of the hat to Dr. Seuss. A fresh-faced newcomer, Laura Feig, and Kevin Yee-Chan are featured as the restless home-alone siblings who get a timely visit from the fun-loving, trouble-making Cat in the Hat (Tara Keating).

Thing 1 and Thing 2 are the Cat's usual sidekicks, but Cox added Things 3 through 5 for an even more chaotic effect. The quintet are imps in red footie pajamas who slide across the floor, lead the siblings in little jump combinations, and leave toppled-over furniture and upset flower pots in their wake.

Meanwhile, the pet fish (Anitra Nurnberger) tries to reel everyone in. The inside-ballet joke is that while the rest look like they just stepped out of a cartoon, Nurnberger is a prima ballerina in a salmon-colored ruffled dress, pink tights, and pink pointe shoes. Feig and Yee-Chan encircle her with their arms, creating a human fishbowl.

Set to a selection of music from Elena Kats-Chernin, Debussy, Milhaud, and Mozart, The Striped Hat is a feast for the eyes and ears. Martha Chamberlain, a principal dancer with Pennsylvania Ballet, designed the costumes, Pedro Silva did the sets, and Denise Fike conceived the hat in question, a striped straw number.

Former New York City Ballet dancer Edwaard Liang created a second world premiere, the soothing Largo, for BalletX. Set to Bach, the plotless piece is a thinking person's ballet of shifting geometric patterns. Danced on several levels - the dancers spend lots of time on the floor - it focuses on the angles created by bent elbows and knees, the gorgeous long lines of stretched legs, and shadow puppets created by the dancers' bodies. A particularly beautiful section is a long duet for Nurnberger and Gregory Brown in which she wraps her body around him over and over in various positions (and, at one point, slipped off him). Keating and Ja'Malik dance a sprightly duet, while Feig and Yee-Chan are again paired, experimenting with balance and the physics of pushing and pulling in their pas de deux. In the group portions, Feig was often a half-beat ahead.

The program closes with an emotional Wonder Why, which co-artistic director Matthew Neenan choreographed in 2004 to songs by Sinéad O'Connor.

The three-piece program is BalletX's most beautiful and touching yet. But a fourth piece - perhaps a short duet - would make the evening feel more complete. The program is just under two hours, including two 15-minute intermissions.

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Power Play
by Janet Anderson
City Paper Published: Apr. 7, 2009

It's fun to have fun, but you have to know how." BalletX, now in its second spring season at the Wilma, follows Dr. Seuss' credo, pushing movement boundaries while taking their fun quite seriously. Co-artistic director Christine Cox's The Striped Hat cheerfully, cheekily starts off the program with a dance version of Seuss' childhood classic The Cat in the Hat. Two youngsters are stuck in the house on a rainy day when a saucy cat in a tall striped hat (pert, fleet-footed Tara Keating) shows up and turns everything upside down. The cat invites in friends, who tumble around the stage causing amusing, confusing movement sequences.

Nothing demonstrates more clearly how much BalletX has grown professionally than Largo, choreographed by Taiwan-born, former New City Ballet dancer Edwaard Liang, who was inspired by the serenity found in Jean-Honoré Fragonard's 18th-century paintings. Three couples, beautifully lit in deep blues and purples, quietly, sinuously perform to Bach chamber music. Odd, introspective, elegant moves, like a long-held bent elbow or a woman leaning on her crouched partner's back, appear organic to the musical phrase. All six dancers are superb - especially Gregory Brown dancing with Anitra Nurnberger. This is a sophisticated work in the Balanchine manner, with totally abstract movement intersecting perfectly with music to suggest a storyline when none is given.

The evening closes with a reprise of co-director Matthew Neenan's Wonder Why, set to Sinéad O'Connor. Eight members of the troupe romp through his signature work with guys partnering guys, dancers sliding around, being thrown, chased and banged on, until Neenan's quick hand gesture signals that the fun, like all good things, must come to an end.

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BalletX Both Fanciful And Versatile
by Lindsay Warner
The Bulletin Published: Apr. 7, 2009

In many ways, a company’s maturity is measured by its ability to carry off a work of great playfulness. BalletX dove headfirst into silliness at this weekend’s Spring Series performance, debuting a new piece by Christine Cox, titled “The Striped Hat.”

Loosely based on a storyline from Dr. Seuss’ The Cat in the Hat, Ms. Cox fits a new style of choreography on the spry young company, sending its members cavorting around the stage in pursuit of the fanciful fun found in a children’s book. Laura Feig and Kevin Yee-Chan set the tone as the two children who are visited by the mysterious visitor in a striped hat; Ms. Cox works in a series of modified pirouettes as she represents the children’s desperate search for entertainment on a lazy afternoon, countered by the nimble, jazzy dancing by Tara Keating, the Lady in the Hat, who provides a much-needed diversion on this rainy day.

The interaction between the children, the Lady in the Hat and the agitated Pet (Anitra Nurnberger), who worriedly oversees the Lady’s intrusion, is compelling, danced to music both classical and contemporary. However,  the piece doesn’t reach its climax until the Lady in the Hat’s “Friends” appear.

Six characters dressed in red floppy unitards resembling those worn by Dr. Seuss’ Thing 1 and Thing 2 launch themselves onstage through a cleverly designed red box, setting in motion the barely restrained chaos that is enhanced by the imaginative fabric and set designs by Martha Chamberlain, costume designer; Pedro Silva, set design; and Denise Fike, hat and costume design.

Even as Ms. Cox works in the vocabulary of classical ballet, she also deviates into fun, flippant movement that works with a sense of inertia that seems to literally push and pull the dancers across stage with a magnetic force. The props magnify the effect, pushing the imaginative piece enjoyably over the top.

Edwaard Liang, a new choreographer for BalletX, channels the high energy of the opening piece into a more intensely focused, dramatic work, titled “Largo.” With a program bookended by works choreographed by BalletX’s co-artistic directors — Ms. Cox and Mr. Neenan — it’s interesting to see a guest choreographer’s vision for this highly athletic troupe.

And Mr. Liang does take the company into some uncharted waters, moving with a fluid, restrained pace that gives the dancers time to sink into their movements. At times, he stops the motion entirely, freezing a pose in fascinating profile with help from lighting designer Shelley Hicklin.

But while Mr. Liang’s work forces the company to fully support each position by slowing down the pace and phrasing, he also stretches them nearly to the limit, reflected in coupling that occasionally feels slightly shaky.

Mr. Neenan, on the other hand, knows this company intimately, and plays to each dancer’s greatest strength with an edgy reimagining of his “Wonder Why,” first premiered in 2004 with dancers from his previous company.

Recasting the work with BalletX dancers, Mr. Neenan works in the unsettled medium of Sinead O’Connor, whose jagged arrangements give the company an opportunity to work in equally dissonant movements. A pas-de-deux danced by Ja’Malik and Emily Wagner particularly captures the electricism conveyed by the music, moving in strong, sinuous harmony.

Rock ballads look equally as good on this company as the classical-contemporary movements premiered by Mr. Liang, and it’s particularly nice to see Mr. Neenan’s choreography unleashed after his string of classical works created for companies such as the Pennsylvania Ballet. However, most striking is the sense of precision adhered to throughout the program; whether inspired by Seuss, Sinead or Bach, the company performs with the carefully honed movements of dancers under the influence of two fine artistic directors, who maintain a fine sense of precision even when the company is working in giggle-inducing movements.

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Moving and growing
Three-year-old BalletX surprises and delights with a mature depth at the Wilma.
by Ellen Dunkel
For The Inquirer Published: Nov. 8, 2008

Every time I see BalletX, I get a surprise.
And Thursday night at the Wilma Theater, the surprise was maturity.
Just since July, when the three-year-old company last performed here, it has grown into its own. The dancers look certain and strong, the ballets fresh and well-suited to the troupe.

Co-artistic director Matthew Neenan choreographed two of the three pieces on the program, and his work has come a long way, as well. Neenan sets his dance on many levels; the dancers spend a lot of time sitting or lying on the floor, standing or jumping, or balancing in the arms of another dancer, in a lift. He often plays with scenery, breaks the fourth wall of theater, and creates quirky movements.

But finally, Neenan moved beyond his pet steps and trusted that he could keep the audience interested without relying on every movement's being witty or unusual.

This is true in "Duet From Cali," which he premiered in April in Cali, Colombia. It is a folksy ballet performed first to silence and then to Mozart's Adagio for String Quintet. Rosalia Chann danced it with unforeseen power and confidence, along with a strong new company member, Colby Damon.

Neenan showed even more maturity in "Steelworks," a world premiere set to an industrial-sounding score, with voiceovers about factories, machines and steelwork. It explores the mechanics of people, working both in groups and alone. A plie accompanies the sound of a puff of air. Bourrees are set to a staccato beat. Little jetes are mechanical, quick and precise. When the music slows down, the dancers' center of balance is intentionally altered.

"Giselle's Room" also had its world premiere Thursday night. Created by Philadelphia-based choreographer Zane Booker to Meredith Monk's haunting "New York Requiem," it is loosely based on the classical ballet, with a ghostly cast of Giselles and Albrechts reliving the tale of love, betrayal, redemption and death. Even some of the steps play homage to the well-known Petipa choreography.

Neenan and co-artistic director Christine Cox are growing their company in the right direction. It would be even better, though, if they could maintain a roster of dancers. Admittedly this is difficult, as the company's seasons are short and the dancers work on other projects as well. The cast of women has remained fairly consistent. The men change more often.

A standout is new company dancer Avichai Scher, a small, strong man who can whip off impressive series of pirouettes. I hope he's still around when BalletX returns to the Wilma in April.

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Searching for meaning in modern dance (without program notes, yet)
by Jim Rutter
Broad Street Review Published: Nov. 10, 2008

I’ve long wondered what would happen if a modern ballet company didn’t provide any notes in the program. Could those in the audience discern a choreographer’s intent strictly from what they witnessed on stage? Ballet X’s fall opener— "Giselle’s Room" by Zane Booker, and two works by Matthew Neenan—gave me a partial answer.

At least I got a press release, which informed me that Booker intended to create a short work that “explores our attraction to the unattainable”. He set his "Giselle’s Room" to Meredith Monk’s New York Requiem—a good fit, as Monk’s grating voice clearly expressed my frustration.

Unfortunately, Booker’s choreography didn’t fare as well. The seven dancers in his ensemble ran from the wings to the center of the stage, performing pirouettes or leaps before quickly running off again. When they returned, they inspired a sense of longing in their striking poses and anguished expressions, and I found the classical movements quite lovely to watch, even if the entire piece lacks rigor.

Throughout, the dancers created tableaux of agony as they collapsed into one another’s arms; later, they moved in unison with their arms touching, snaking their way across the stage. This image brought to mind the universally felt frustration of desire; that, or the memory of watching elephants leading each other by the tail in the circus.

And that’s the problem. The entire piece felt like hearing poetry in a foreign language: It sounded pretty, and it even evoked emotions, but ultimately it conveyed little meaning. Booker titled "Giselle’s Room" after a ballet that everyone knows without offering any points of reference other than the “longing” to reconnect that anyone might feel after a young woman’s death. (Or was he referring to the unattainability of supermodel Giselle Bundchen?)

Buttressed by Meredith Rainey’s commanding performance, Tara Keating nearly saved this piece by herself; her features wracked, her movements all labored and yet still looking exquisite and strong, she almost captured Booker’s intent single-handedly. And the vision of Keating and Anitra Nurnberger lying on the floor, frozen with their backs arched upwards, like flowers stretched toward the sun, lent the piece one of its few moments of visual brilliance.

But "Giselle’s Room" became a “room” only in the last instants—and for that, Booker must thank lighting designer Shelley Hicklin.

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X Goes Next Level
Though BalletX has been around since 2005, it seems with this production the company is truly coming into its own.
by Deni Kasrel
City Paper, Published: Nov 7, 2007

Even before anybody danced a step, the atmosphere bristled at BalletX's opening night show. Perhaps the crowd was stoked because the program consisted of three world premières — the good old excitement of the new. Whatever, a charge filled the air, and that sense of stimulation was reciprocated by the dancers who delivered an enthusiastic, well-executed performance that at times elicited audible signs of appreciation from the crowd — ahs, gasps and excited clapping in response to certain movement phrases.

Though BalletX has been around since 2005, it seems with this production the company is truly coming into its own. The roster features erstwhile Pennsylvania Ballet members Christine Cox, Matthew Neenan (the company's co-founders), Heidi Cruz-Austin, Tara Keating and Meredith Rainey; plus Corey Baker, Rosalia Chann, Anitra Nurnberger, Leyland Simmons and Emily Wagner, whose backgrounds include stints with Philadanco, American Repertory Ballet and Complexions Contemporary Ballet. All these outfits demand a high caliber of technique combined with a studious approach to dance and that surely benefits BalletX. All the better to pull off the eclectic choreography for the three premières, each of which placed particular demands on the cast.

Neenan's effervescent Once Again playfully toyed with classical steps to create a soft-textured ballet where one phrase often upended another. Neenan added plenty of twists to formal moves, such as feet tilting askew rather than in the traditional straight line with the leg, and exaggerated échappés (where both legs spring out sideways) that looked like spider-leg quadricep squats. There were even sight gags, such as a woman lying on the floor lazily twirling her finger while being pulled offstage by a male partner.

Cox has said that M.O.M. (My Own Memory) was inspired by her own and her mother's experience with aging. While the pensive work does contain phrases to suggest caregiving, that theme is not necessarily overt. M.O.M. — which occasionally inserts stylings from urban dance clubs — proves a dreamy ode to the passage of time and relationships that occur within that span.

The edgy finale, Risk of Flight by Adam Hougland, started off slow and gradually acquired momentum. A study in contrasts, it was both stark and full-bodied, dissonant and harmonious. The overarching push-pull theme was most fully embodied by a sensational duet by Rainey and Cruz-Austin who portrayed a pair of on-off-on lovers with dramatic brio.

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BalletX succeeds in three premieres
By Ellen Dunkel
For The Inquirer

The beauty of a world premiere is that the steps are custom-created for the dancers you're seeing, meaning they're shown in the best possible light.

That could be why, for the second year in a row, I saw BalletX and wondered: Were the dancers always this good? This time only half the cast of 10 dancers was familiar – from this company and Pennsylvania Ballet. The other five were recent hires, but all looked powerful, both physically and emotionally.

BalletX presented three successful world premieres Thursday night at the Wilma Theater, where it is the resident dance company. Matthew Neenan and Christine Cox, co-artistic directors, each created a piece. The third was commissioned from Adam Hougland, a freelance choreographer who has also worked with American Ballet Theatre Studio Company and Limon Dance Company.

The evening opened with Neenan's Once Again, set to a lush score of trumpet music by Frederic Fasch, Giuseppe Torelli and others. It is a light, lively ballet with plenty of humor: A woman longs for a man, only to push him away at the last minute; one dancer does little massage-type karate chops across a partner's back; a woman lies on her stomach and raises her upper body in a remarkably flexible and stunningly beautiful arch.

Cox's piece, M.O.M.: My Own Memory, takes the audience on an emotional journey through time. Set to hauntingly sad music by Evelyn Glennie, with vocals by Björk and tribal rhythms by Beats Antique, it features Tara Keating as a woman facing a difficult phase of life – dealing with an aging parent. The beginning section is especially beautiful, with the six dancers almost swimming through primordial fluid.

Leyland Simmons was vibrant in his solo, whipping off multiple pirouettes on a flat foot. He and Corey Baker added powerful turns and jumps while remaining sensitive to the otherwise gentle ending.

The deep emotional tug continued in Hougland's Risk of Flight, set to cello music by Zoe Keating. The centerpiece of the dance is an anguished duet for Heidi Cruz-Austin and Meredith Rainey, about a couple on the verge of breaking up. They run to and away from each other, sink all their weight into their partner's arms and brush each other off. Occasionally the movement was difficult to see, though, as the right side of the stage was not well lit.

Nov 3, 2007

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What The Critics Say about BalletX and its Co-founders. . . . .

BalletX's dancers better than ever

BalletX, the Wilma Theater's new 2007-08 artists in residence, staged a lovely coming-out party Wednesday night that raised it from being just some dancers' pet project to the status of contemporary ballet company worth watching.

Both BalletX's artistic directors, Christine Cox and Matthew Neenan, and all its dancers are current or former members of Pennsylvania Ballet. But interestingly, they looked better at the Wilma than they often look dancing with the better-known company.

Part of that is because Neenan - who choreographed all three pieces on the program, one in conjunction with Cox - knows the dancers very well and can cater to their strengths and accommodate their weaknesses.

But even then, BalletX, launched in 2005, looked much stronger than it did in September at the Philadelphia Live Arts Festival. Has Francis Veyette always pulled off multiple pirouettes so easily? Did Amy Aldridge always smile so joyously through most of a performance? Did everyone always attack the steps with such confidence? That last one is a particular sticking point with me, and the dancers seemed far less cautious Wednesday than they sometimes have when performing in the past, whether with BalletX or with Pennsylvania Ballet.

The evening, which launched the closing week of the Wilma's DanceBoom! series, included a world premiere, "I like you different," choreographed by Neenan and Cox. Set to a selection of vocal music by James Brown, Ray Charles, Norah Jones, Nancy Sinatra and others, it's a ballet about many types of relationships, with a good dose of sex, drugs and rock-and-roll stirred in.

My favorite section was a witty duet the artistic directors created for themselves to Chaka Khan's "Tell Me Something Good." Neenan grabbed Cox by one leg, and she trotted along on her hands. He danced a short set of kicks, aiming playfully at her rear. He lifted her, and she almost immediately grew bored and looked at her watch.

But the highlight of the evening was the opening piece, Neenan's 2002 ballet "Die Menscheit," set to Mozart. The clever and sometimes humorous choreography, soothing music, dramatic lighting and gorgeous bodies hit all the right notes in the beautiful theater that will be BalletX's home for the coming year."

Ellen Dunkel
Philadelphia Inquirer, June 15 2007

 

“Neenan stands tall among the current roster of post-Ballanchine American choreographers.  He has set six works on Pennsylvania Ballet, and he and Cox want to fill what they call a void for small ensemble, contemporary ballet.”

“Once Neenan’s About February took over, the evening crackled with bracing inventiveness and variety.  To Lidia Kaminska’s live accordion playing, Cox and Rainey danced with Francis Veyette and other Pennsylvania Ballet colleagues.  Milo Doi-Smith injected elegance with her long, trailing limbs and spiraling torso.” 

“Swirling on her heels in ballet slippers, Tara Keating brought an “April in Paris” giddiness to the scene.  Staying in the same romantically playful vein, Laura Bowman and Jermel Johnson sought to join or break up dancing couples who were oblivious to them.” 

            - Pointe (December 2005/January 2006)

 

“Matt Neenan and Christine Cox, disbanded their five-year old Phrenic Ballet recently to form a new venture. They call it BalletX. The company was introduced at the Arts Bank this week to an enthusiastic full house. There were only two works on the program -a great way to focus attention. One dance was by London-based choreographer David Fielding, the other was Neenan's.

“Fielding's Easy Living, is a fascinating working out of physical space set to Steve Reich's perpetual-motion score Electric Counterpoint. The seven dancers, most of whom also dance with Pennsylvania Ballet - performed its abstract motions smartly. Costumes, by Yumiko, were colorful and sporty. The performance was first-class by performers who in addition to Cox and Neenan include Laura Bowman, Jermel Johnson, Tara Keating, Miko-Doi Smith, Meredith Rainey and Francis Veyette.

“Neenan's piece is called About February.  Music by Ole Schmidt and Rameau is superb and was played superbly by the accordionist Lidia Kaminska. The dance carries a story line of sorts -which I'm still puzzling out - it also references café dance history with a powerfully performed opening duet and variety of ensemble roles. It's worth repeating. . . .”

            - CriticsPicks, WRTI.org (Sept. 7, 2005)

 

“Take one new company - BalletX, launched by Matthew Neenan and Christine Cox, two founders of the disbanded Phrenic New Ballet - and add composers from the Network for New Music, and the result is “Doubletake.” In this latest collaborative effort by The Dance Project, four short chamber music works were played alone and then as accompaniment to choreography. The musicianship and choreography were so strong that “Doubletake” wasn’t an experiment after all - it was vital dance theater.

“In Cox’s Dancepiece, a trio in swirling counterpoint set to music by James Primosch and danced by Neenan, Tara Keating, and James Ihde (all on loan from Pennsylvania Ballet), her deceptively simple movement patterns break away to intriguing lifts, phrasing, and interplay in a sort of deconstructed classical jam. She followed that with Amore Scaduto (meaning “love, trashed”), a smoldering tryst for herself and her frequent partner, Meredith Rainey.
. . . .

“In Neenan’s Vibrate, two songs by bad-boy pop composer Rufus Wainwright, “Vibrate” and “Oh What a World,” were used as springboards for a string quintet by Robert Maggio. Cox, Keating, and Rainey joined Neenan in quick-tempo, asymmetric movement that directly interpreted the music’s tonal drama. Neenan’s dervish-like spins to face the musicians joyously represented the creative intimacy here.”

            - DanceMagazine.com (April 2005)

 

“Cox also created the dance to composer Lee Hyla's Amore Scaduto. Dancing with Meredith Rainey, she matched Hyla's intense violin-cello duet, marked by rhythmic symbiosis and pouncing phrases, with some inventive partnering that suggested extremes of intimacy.

“Composer Robert Maggio has worked before with choreographer Neenan, and their collaboration here telegraphed a happy comfort level. . . .  The three dancers - Cox, Keating and Rainey - fell toward and away from each other with a louche humor that mirrored Maggio’s casual quasi-tonalities and loping lines.”

            - Philadelphia Inquirer (March 11, 2005)

 

“If the new Pennsylvania Ballet triple bill, featuring works by Peter Martins, Matthew Neenan and Twyla Tharp, were a meal, Neenan’s 11:11 would be its sumptuous main dish. Its world premiere Wednesday brought cheers from a euphoric public. There are so many fresh ideas in the work that it made the rest of the program look dusty and tired.

“Dancing to Rufus Wainwright’s lush, yearning music must be a high because in 11:11, set to six Wainwright songs, the dancers are by far the fullest and most impassioned we see them all evening.
. . . .

“With ‘Oh What a World,’ Neenan pulls out all the stops, rendering garlands of fleeting geometries and finally constructing a giant carousel of dancers, the women rising and lowering like its horses.  Breathtaking.”

            - Philadelphia Inquirer (Feb. 4, 2005)

 

“[I]t’s sheer exhilaration to witness the way [Neenan] weds a choreographic idea with a musical score to make magic on the stage. . . .  Whether he is making chamber dances with BalletX - an experimental playground for his ideas - or commissioned pieces for the big field players, this young man is at the top of his game.”

            - Dance Magazine (Feb. 2005)

 

“Neenan’s choreography was innovative - showing off the company’s athleticism and individual strengths - as well as visually refreshing, with strong ensemble segments and wonderful use of space and movement patterns.  Coupled with Wainwright’s intriguing lyrics, Neenan’s creativity kept me at the edge of my seat for the entire piece.”

            - Ballet-Dance Magazine (2005)

 

“Phrenic New Ballet has some nerve presenting four distinguished and pulsating world premieres in the dog days of August, when so few dance afficionados are in town.  But this four-year-old company is known for nerve. . . .

“Taking a deep breath, they placed their bets on a run that began Wednesday . . . and they came out winners.

“Phrenic cofounder and Pennsylvania Ballet dancer Christine Cox choreographed Tabula Rasa, inspired by her physically challenged sister, Barbara.  Cox gave her a cameo in the first section, and like the trouper she is, Barbara played her role with charm and nerve.”

            - Philadelphia Inquirer (Aug. 15, 2003)

 

“Ryan Brooke Taylor's Cantata blended jazz by Miles Davis and Joshua Redman with Chinese and Korean music.  He and Cox alternated a steamy duet with Taylor's martial-arts solo and her bluesy solo. Cox, back to back on Taylor, pulled her crossed ankles close in and then, letting her feet flutter down, provided the best lift of the evening.

“Neenan’s thoroughly magnetic Frequencies . . . was a masterpiece.

“The lighting throughout the evening, by John Stephen Hoey, was some of the most original I've seen in years. To muted klezmerlike music, Neenan and the others flexed their feet folk-dance-style; Cox preened on pointe. All managed steps that could have looked silly. But the work’s innate classicism gave it a cool sophistication, with just a hint of sass.

“This is my 42d dance concert so far this year, and to people who ask if I don’t tire of them, I say: When dance is like this, it can make me feel as if I were in heaven.”

            - Philadelphia Inquirer (Aug. 10, 2001)