Pre-Performance Media
PBT dancers begin ‘unprecedented’ preparation for Shoa-themed ballet
The Jewish Chronicle
August 31, 2009
by Toby Tabachnick
An extraordinary ballet requires extraordinary preparation.
For “Light/The Holocaust & Humanity Project,” that preparation began last Monday. Dancers with the Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre became an audience, viewing “Genocide,” the 1982 Academy Award winner for best documentary, produced by the Simon Wisenthal Center, and listening to Holocaust survivor Sam Weinreb recount his horrific experiences in Nazi-occupied Europe...
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Inspiration for ‘Light’ ballet recalls tale of survival
The Jewish Chronicle
October 7, 2009
by Toby Tabachnick
“Light/The Holocaust & Humanity Project,” the centerpiece of Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre’s 40th anniversary season, is divided into three parts, just as survivor Naomi Warren sees her own life: before the war, during the war and after the war.
“Light,” which premiered in Austin in 2005, was created by Stephen Mills, artistic director of Ballet Austin, and was inspired by Warren’s life. The PBT will perform it in Pittsburgh from Nov. 12 to 15, following a wide range of community events designed to promote dialogue about the Holocaust...
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Backstage at ‘Light’ rehearsal
The Jewish Chronicle
October 29, 2009
by Toby Tabachnick
Four men and four women stand in a line. One by one, they seem to be called out. They are each alone, but soon begin to define relationships with each other.
A circle is formed, growing in intensity. It may be the circle of life, or the 24 hours of a day, or the population of the camp growing...
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Shedding a Light
Pittsburgh Magazine
By Karen Dacko
A foray into a darker artistic territory led to the creation of Stephen Mills' Light/The Holocaust & Humanity Project, a timeless work about genocide. Performed by Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre this month, the ballet is augmented with educational events aimed at raising human-rights awareness.
For dance maker Stephen Mills, choreography is a puzzle with thousands of possible solutions and finding the right configuration is the challenge that inspires him. When he embarked on his choreographic journey for Light/The Holocaust & Humanity Project, he also discovered that dance can be a teaching tool...
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'Light' ballet traces the journey of Holocaust victim
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
November 11, 2009
By Sara Bauknecht
The centerpiece of Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre's 40th anniversary season is no classic about kings, queens or sugarplum fairies.
Instead, PBT has selected "Light/The Holocaust & Humanity Project" to mark the 71st anniversary of Kristallnacht, the "night of broken glass," considered by many to be the beginning of the Holocaust. The production runs tomorrow through Sunday at the Byham Theater, Downtown...
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'Light' examines humanity beyond the Holocaust
Tribune-Review
November 8, 2009
By Mark Kanny, Classical Music Critic
Some experiences are more transformative than you expect. That's what Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre's staff and dancers have been discovering as they ready for the local premiere of an acclaimed ballet about the Holocaust.
"We realized we were getting into something more than just a ballet. It's a community-wide event," executive director Harris Ferris says...
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Dance Magazine
November 2009
By: Kathleen McGuire
A far cry from fluffy fairytales, Stephen Mills' Light/The Holocaust & Humanity Project challenges ballet to take on big issues. Ballet Austin's 2005 production is performed this month by Pittsburgh Ballet Theatere as the centerpiece of PBT's 40th anniversary season.
As it did for many artists, the events of September 11, 2001, left BA artistic director Mills looking to dance in order to work through his shock and grief. It was at this time that he met Naomi Warren, a Holocaust survivor living in Houston...
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Pittsburgh Ballet sheds 'Light' on Holocaust.
The Pitt News
October 21, 2009
By Laura Nizlek
Partnering pirouettes and pliés with the historical background of the Holocaust, Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre created a month-long series of events titled, “Light / The Holocaust & Humanity Project,” to make sure that this infamous time in history is never forgotten.
By looking back at the Holocaust, Stephen Mills, the artistic director of Ballet Austin, hopes that people will “apply it ... and draw something out of it that is relevant to today...”
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Post-Performance Media
Holocaust ballet extracts beauty from tragedy
Review
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
November 14, 2009
By Jane Vranish
We've been watching the collective "Light/The Holocaust & Humanity Project" unfold in the Pittsburgh community over the past month as 19 local organizations participated in assorted panels, exhibits and performances that exposed a great human tragedy from all angles.
It came to a climax when the ballet that inspired this unprecedented collaborative atmosphere made its local debut at the Byham Theater Thursday night...
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Review: Wise choices make 'Light: The Holocaust' compelling dance
Tribune-Review
November 13, 2009
By Mark Kanny, CLASSICAL MUSIC CRITIC
Choreographer Stephen Mills attempts the impossible, to deal with the incomprehensible, in his "Light: The Holocaust & Humanity Project" that Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre presented Thursday night. Performances continue through Sunday.
Mills is a smart artist. He took advantage of the opportunity to speak with Holocaust survivors to create a manageable perspective -- from, but not limited to, the experience of a single survivor -- for his 90-minute ballet...
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PBT, Holocaust Center have special opening night performance
Tribune-Review
November 15, 2009
By Kate Guerriero
The Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre and the Holocaust Center of the United Jewish Federation raised the curtain for more than 300 during a special opening night performance of Light/The Holocaust & Humanity Project at the Byham Theater on Thursday.
The largest collaborative project in PBT history, the concept stemmed from a casual conversation between PBT director Harris Ferris and HC prez Hal Waldman, an idea to turn a ballet into a community collaboration that soon garnered the support of Ballet Austin director Cookie Ruiz and Artistic Director Stephen Mills...
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Blog Features
Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre Embraces the Light: The Holocaust & Humanity Project
The Pittsburgh Art and Technology Blog
November 11, 2009
By: K Chestney Harvey
This groundbreaking production is an important artistic work that explores the Universal themes of family, segregation, isolation, survival and the hope of the unconquerable human spirit. Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel wrote, “some things are too large to write about, but nothing is too small.”
With this passage in mind, the ballet follows one person’s journey from suffering to salvation, telling the story through symbolic movement and choreography that is often stark, athletic and raw...
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Ballet Austin’s ‘Light’ impress in Pittsburgh
Austin American-Statesman
November 16, 2009
By Jeanne Claire van Ryzin
Ballet Austin artistic director Stephen Mills left Austin audiences breathless with ‘Light/The Holocaust & Humanity Project’ in 2005.
This fall, Mills took his groundbreaking multimedia contemporary ballet that deftly re-visits the Holocaust to Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre...
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