"Sandler establishes the polished and provocative look of the show with the opening "All That Jazz." With her bobbed hair and wry humor, Sandler also captures well Velma's more worldly and cynical side, as a modern woman of the 1920s. Her rendition of "I Can't Do It Alone" is a knockout."

“As We Were” dealt with the razor-like sensation of lovers with both longing and eternal division between them.  Revolving around a long bench under the sound of a restrained piano, Kristen Brooks Sandler and William Commander brought convincing emotion into the choreography of Sara Ruth Tourek.  The two captivated the audience with an elegance that with little change could be cast as Contemporary Ballet as much as Modern Dance.

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Commander forcefully took the lead in moving Sandler, who constantly was able to emanate the precise emotion of neither rewarding him nor rebuffing, often the conflicted emotion in any given stage of an intense romance. After the curtain fell, sniffles and whimpers dotted the audience, clearly touched by the emotion of a true yet failed love, perhaps the most real sort."

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- John Friedrichon on As We Were, Avant Greensboro

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