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By Deirdre Towers/Follow @deirdre.towers on Instagram
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Published on October 27, 2025
Alexa Maxwell in "The Unspoken"; Photo: Kent G. Becker
Choreographer: Kathryn Roszak
Dancers/Choreographers: Laine Habony, Lia Cirio, Janet Eilber, Gianna Reisen, Keerati Jinakunwiphat
Dancers: Alexa Maxwell, Victor Abreu
Cinematographer: Ernesto Galan
Composers: Antonin, Dvorak, Katie Jenkins, Mads Tolling, Richard Robbins
Cellist: Noelia Carrasco
Ripley Greer Studio
October 13, 2025
“The guys were in charge,” says Lia Cirio, principal dancer for Boston Ballet and choreographer for Cirio Collective in 2024 documentary “Women at the Top.” She never considered choreographing until 2018 when BB’s Artistic Director Mikko Nisssinen asked her to try it. “I was content to be the muse.”
Preview of Women at the Top
Directed by Kathryn Roszak, a dancer/choreographer, “Women at the Top” is a thirty-eight minute film created to affirm the current changes within the dance world that grant women the opportunity to take the reins, while celebrating the rise of consciousness and awareness for greater diversity. Sprinkled through interviews of four prominent women in the dance world, we see clips of performances and rehearsals. In one, Cirio appears to be pushing her way through two men, as though gasping for air.
“She (Martha) always did what she wanted to do,” says Janet Eilber, artistic director of Martha Graham Dance Company, the oldest dance company in the United States. “Dancers today are learning how to be artists and citizens at the same time.” The young choreographer Gianna Reisen had her breakthrough when the School of American Ballet initiated a women’s student choreographic workshop. Keerati Jinakunwiphat, a dancer with Kyle Abraham, the first Asian woman to be commissioned by NYCB, balances a sense of community and individuality in her choreography, showing connections and support.
Roszak cleverly took the retail concept of a pop-up event, to showcase her documentary, along with her dance film shorts “Towpath” and “Secrets,” and live dance choreographed by herself and New York City Ballet corps member Laine Habony. A delightful divertissement came with a live cello solo, ’Flamenco’ by Rogel·li Huguet i Tagell (1882-1956) performed by Noelia Carrasco. The daughter of two prominent writers, Roszak frequently draws inspiration from literature.
