- Title: ISRAEL: Ballet Austin brings Holocaust project to Israel
- Date: 24th September 2013
- Summary: ACRE, ISRAEL (SEPTEMBER 23, 2013) (REUTERS) OPENING SEGMENT OF BALLET AUSTIN'S DANCE ENTITLED "LIGHT/THE HOLOCAUST AND HUMANITY PROJECT" CLOSE OF DANCERS ON STAGE ABOUT A DOZEN DANCERS LOOKING AT A RAY OF LIGHT ON STAGE DURING DANCE PERFORMANCE WIDE OF BALLET AUSTIN ARTISTIC DIRECTOR STEPHEN MILLS DURING INTERVIEW CLOSE OF MILLS (SOUNDBITE) (English) BALLET AUSTIN ARTIST
- Embargoed: 9th October 2013 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Israel
- Country: Israel
- Topics: Entertainment
- Reuters ID: LVA61CNQ43TRPV60QUX7NUDI7QK
- Story Text: A glaring ray of light draws dancers into a cone at the corner of the stage as the vivid music and scenic dance inspired by the biblical story of Adam and Eve comes to a complete halt. It is the opening scene of Ballet Austin's "Light/The Holocaust and Humanity Project", and something horrible is about to happen.
The ballet is based on the story of Naomi Warren, a Holocaust survivor who during World War Two was held in three concentration camps. She lost the majority of her family in the war.
Ballet Austin's Choreographer and Artistic Director Stephen Mills created the project as a response to the September 11, 2001 attacks on New York's World Trade Center. His hope was to promote tolerance and encourage the protection of human rights against bigotry and hate.
After extensive research on the Nazi Holocaust, including visits to key sites in Europe and meeting other Holocaust survivors, Mills attested that after seeing concentration camps, victims and the aftermath of the war, one is left with images of bodies and faces, not words.
The medium of dance, Mills says, is therefore one of the most appropriate ways of dealing with the emotions.
"There's a range of dance styles, some classical dance styles, some folk dance styles and then very contemporary grounded dance styles as a way of metaphorically talking about positivity and the evolving of lives that would have happened during that period," Mills explained ahead of a performance in Acre, Israel.
The ballet premiered in Austin, Texas in 2005 and has since been replicated across the United States. The dance performance is preceded in each location with collaborative community dialogue focusing on Holocaust education.
Mills fears the possibility that the phrase regarding the Holocaust 'never again' could prove false.
His choreography portrays scenes from the Holocaust, such as what occurred inside people's homes before they fled or were captured at the start of the war. It ends, however, as requested by survivor Naomi Warren's, with a glimmer of hope.
Mills hopes his project, the dance and workshops, will remind people of their responsibility to society.
"The last section, which we call hush, to me is really reminiscent of the idea, if you go to the ghetto fighter's house, or if you go to Yad Vashem at the end you've seen all of what took place but there's always a place for you to come back to your reality, to know that did not happen to you but that you are responsible, you know, once you know something you can't unknown it and a call to action, really, and so the danceup in a very positive way," Mills said during a dance class before the performance, which was part of the annual theatre festival in Acre, a mixed Jewish-Arab city of 46,000.
Ballet Austin came to Israel for two weeks after being invited by the Acre theatre festival and the dance troupe will perform in Acre, Tel Aviv and Jerusalem.
"Bringing it to Israel was a big step, it was a step that I took with great trepidation but I've been encouraged along the way by people who think that it's important," Mills said, aware that art focusing on the Holocaust may provoke mixed emotions in the Jewish state.
Albert Shlush, Director General and Producer of the Acre festival, said he was surprised by the troupe's involvement with the topic of the Holocaust since it does not have Jewish roots.
"For me I was so surprised that non-Jewish people, no one is Jewish in the group, and they feel so deep inside that the story of the Holocaust and they so much want to come to Israel to perform, I said I will do everything for you for coming to Israel," Shlush said.
Every year, crowds flock to the ancient port of Acre in northern Israel. The popular tourist destination was once the Crusader capital of the Holy Land.
Mills' project offers the city -- which is mostly peaceful, but has seen infrequent outbreaks of violence between Arabs and Jews -- a timely reminder of the importance of the protection of human rights against bigotry and hate, Shlush said.
Many in the audience, like Haifa resident Yael Tirosh, seemed ready to learn about the Holocaust through a new medium.
"I think to use art to talk about the Holocaust is the best way because we hearing so much about the Holocaust and we're talking so much about the Holocaust and we know so much and we see movies that see this horror and we're longing, we long for something else, the youth long for something else to see another point of view, to see something they can connect to see it in other face to see the other, enough of talking," Tirosh told Reuters Television.
Freddy Shechter of Acre shared the same view.
"You know years ago it was something that was untouchable in the arts, all kinds of arts, theatre and something else about the Holocaust. The Holocaust was something too big but I think that today, make it one of our lives, performances, songs, books, I think it's a part of life and it has to be like this."
Austin Ballet's final performance in Israel will take place in the Beit Haam auditorium where senior Nazi organizer Adolf Eichmann stood trial 50 years ago, before being hanged. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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