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(2000, Duet, 13 minutes)

“My Sister… is inspired by my memories of bitter-sweet childhood battles. It’s quite sinister, but I think the environment my sister and I grew up in was akin to a war-torn city. There was a lot of drama. She was a refugee in the sense that she was somebody who took care not to make a fuss. When she perceived danger, she removed herself from it. In a way, we weren’t living in our home, but in our imagination and in our relationship with each other.” – Keely Garfield

Details the symbiotic relationship between sisters inspired by childhood acts of sabotage. Arms clash, boundaries are bombarded, pot-shots are exchanged and a truculent truce is negotiated.

Amidst the doom and gloom
we played in our tiny room.
As war raged overhead
we took cover, under the bed.
–Keely Garfield

“Tender and terrible.” Village Voice “A little gem.” The New York Times

“Two sisters taunting, fighting, holding, echoing each other. The brilliance of Garfield’s portrayal lies in the rhythm so intrinsic to the sibling relationship. Things are constantly in a state of escalation or de-escalation…It is clear they are each other’s world; it leaves you wishing for the presence of that person - the one who makes your life miserable and yet loves you so completely.” Lesbian & Gay New York.

“They behaved as only family could, mixing moments of tender affection and familiarity with snarky fits of competitiveness and plotting, where Pippi Longstocking braids became lethal weapons.” The Dance Insider

Premiere: The Duke on 42nd Street (New York, NY), February 20, 2002
Commissioned by the 92nd Street Y Harkness Dance Project New Works in Dance Fund and supported with a space grant from the 92nd Street Y Harkness Dance Center, as well as generous funding from the Jerome Foundation, The Harkness Foundation for Dance, and a commission from DTW’s Bessie Schönberg/First Light Program.