Saved pages 09 documents can not be opened

For the last week, I have not been able to open documents created and saved in pages 09 in my mac. When I try to open I get a message indicating that I need that I need to pupdate to the newer version of pages - though I never used this version to create the document as I do not have it. I have thought about updating but have hear so many negative comments about the new pages. Questions: Does anyone know the solution to this problem WITHOUT having to update? and, is anyone having a better experience with the new version of pages than what I am reporting?