Light / The Holocaust & Humanity Project in Austin 2012
Artists Can Make Change
Austin American-Statesman
April 19, 2012
by Stephen Mills
Art can't change the world. People change the world. But art can act as a catalyst for change. Art can inspire and motivate people to be better through the creation of ...
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Behind the scenes with Ballet Austin's 'Light: The Holocaust & Humanity Project'
Austin360
April 17, 2012
by Jeanne Claire van Ryzin
On April 19 at 7:30 p.m., in conjunction with Yom HaShoah or Holocaust Remembrance Day, KLRU will debut "Producing Light," a 60-minute documentary ... [following] artistic director Stephen Mills and company over the last several months as they re-mounted Mills' acclaimed ballet, 'Light/ Holocaust and Humanity Project.'
...
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Ballet Austin: Moving Toward the Light
The Austin Chronicle
March 30, 2012
by Adam Roberts
Those who did not attend Ballet Austin's remount of Light / The Holocaust & Humanity Project last weekend missed an unmistakably transformative experience. .. Light refused its audiences the usual comfort of an evening at the ballet. Instead, we were confronted with the lens of the bystander; remaining safely in our seats and unable to tear away from Mills' kinesthetic interpretation of the atrocities at the core of what is unspeakable, a hailstorm of questions flooded the collective consciousness of Dell Hall. At this moment, it became clear that the message was not to be found only onstage but also in the house, where each of us had been forced into the position of witness. And it was startling.
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Dancing What's Overwhelming
The Austin Chronicle
March 30, 2012
by Robert Faires
No longer fueled by the peculiarly intense energy of creation (or the pressure of trying to get everything finished by opening), Light drew power from the certainty of the work's message and the way it would connect with audiences. Mills and his dancers most of whom were not with the company when Light was first produced delved into a work that was set, exploring it with confidence and forcefulness. Now, Light is clearly not an ambitious roll of the dice that landed luckily on the first throw but the mature work of a choreographer who invested all of himself his larger beliefs as well as his talent and skills in its creation, with the intent that it would endure. It does and feels as much like Mills' masterpiece as any choreographic work of his I've seen.
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Stand up for justice, no matter who's being denied their rights
Austin American-Statesman
March 23, 2012
by Steve Adler
This evening is an important but small part of a three-month project in which Ballet Austin is showing how art has the power to convene important community conversations, such as this one about hatred and bigotry. Through this extended ...
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Dancer finds renewal in a Holocaust ballet
Austin American-Statesman
March 22, 2012
by Jean Claire van Ryzin
Paul Michael Bloodgood performs in the 2005 production of Ballet Austin's 'Light/The Holocaust and Humanity Project.' Recently Ballet Austin officials ...
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A personal connection to a powerful project
Austin American-Statesman
March 21, 2012
by Kirk Rudy
Stephen Mills, the artistic director of Ballet Austin, and his colleagues Cookie Ruiz, Dr. Brent Hasty and Dr. Mary Lee Webeck conceived of a project to ...
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Fight ignorance and hatred it spawns
Austin American-Statesman
March 20, 2012
by Arnold Garcia / Statesman staff
You don't have to go far to find evidence of the deterioration of civility in public discourse. Politicians and pundits aren't at all shy about using the crudest of language to appeal to our coarsest emotions. Bullies now intimidate their prey...
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Theatre Action Project: Light/The Holocaust & Humanity Project
Theatre Action Project
February 20, 2012
By Chelsea Gilman
TAP has a a new collaborative project going on, working with Ballet Austin and others on the Light/The Holocaust & Humanity Project. About 150 Papier-mβchι lanterns will be made, through community events and after school programs, 50 of which will be featured in the Yom HaShoah (Holocaust Remembrance Day) event at Agudas Achim in the evening on April 19th.
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Project sheds light on human rights
Austin American-Statesman
March 1, 2012
By Ari Auber
When Cheryl Chaddick was in junior high, she learned about the atrocities of the Holocaust in one of her classes. She says the experience shook her to the core. So when Ballet Austin asked her dance company, the Chaddick Dance Theater, to participate in a three-month-long ballet and Holocaust education partnership, she agreed.
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Ballet Austin: One thousand points of 'Light'
The Austin Chronicle
January 27, 2012
By Robert Faires
Ballet Austin has once again turned on the Light, but this time it's even brighter - 50 times brighter... From Martin Luther King Jr. Day last week to Yom HaShoah (Holocaust Remembrance Day) on April 19, hardly a day will go by in Austin without some event shining a light on human rights and social justice.
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Ballet teams up with play, exhibit, more for message
Austin American-Statesman
January 22, 2012
By Jeanne Claire van Ryzin
When "Light" debuted seven years ago,
Mills and other Ballet Austin leaders never
intended for the dance performance to exist
on its own without a roster of adjunct
opportunities for education and discussion
about the importance of human rights.
"We always imagined it being used as a
convener of conversation, and any artist
hopes that what they create has a life
beyond its creation," Mills said. " 'Light'
became a huge conversation. I don't think
we understood at the time how large that
conversation could be and still is."
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Ballet Austin travels to Holocaust Museum Houston
CultureMap Austin
December 15, 2011
By Nancy Wozny
As a cultural community effort involving a major ballet company, nothing rivals the depth and reach of this project. It has set the standard for how a ballet company can engage with its citizens and its leaders...
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Ballet Austin Holocaust & Humanity Project Brings Light to Central Texas
The Jewish Outlook
January 2012
By Tonyia Cone
"Light / The Holocaust & Humanity Project tells the story of one survivor, a woman whose family was lost in the Holocaust. Through her courage, tenacity and great good fortune she endured the darkest period of history and now bravely tells her story to the world..."
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Light / The Holocaust & Humanity Project in Austin 2005
Performance Media
Guiding Light - Ballet Austin aims to go deep
Pointe Magazine
August/September 2005
By Jocelyn Anderson
"People couldn't imagine how you would do a ballet about this subject matter and truthfully, it is almost an impossibility" says Stephen Mills, artistic director of Ballet Austin about creating Light / The Holocaust & Humanity Project, an evening-length ballet he premiered in early April.
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Holocaust Dance Evokes Deep Emotion
Austin American-Statesman
April 7, 2005
By Sondra Lomax
Dancing about degradation, suffering and genocide sounds like fodder for a dodgy, R-rated movie. Not so in Ballet Austin's poignant Light / The Holocaust & Humanity Project. Wisely avoiding clichés or...
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Light / The Holocaust & Humanity Project
Austin Chronicle
April 8, 2005
By Robert Faires
No swastikas. No jackboots. No guns. No ghettos. No boxcars. No barbed wire. No showers. None of the images we have come to associate with...
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Ballet to Shine a Light on Intolerance
Austin American-Statesman
January 25, 2005
By Jeanne Claire van Ryzin
The September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks made Stephen Mills think hard about the ethical responsibilities of art.
"The intolerance and hatred we felt after the attacks horrified me" said Mills, artistic director of Ballet Austin "and there's still an underlying current of intolerance today that nobody wants to talk about." Today at Ballet Austin headquarters...
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Seeing the "Light" of tolerance and hope
Austin American-Statesman
January 29, 2005
Editorial
This community's attempt to get its collective arms around the concept of tolerance and the responsibility of artists to the world has sparked and unprecedented effort.
Stephen Mills, Ballet Austin's artistic director, accepted the task of...
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Coming together for social justice, awareness, tolerance
The Jewish Outlook
February 2005
By Tamara Cryer
An awakening is taking place in this city. Many Austinites have been moved to raise awareness of prejudice and social justice issues in hopes of bettering the world - starting with Austin. Some of the most organized participants in this endeavor have labeled their efforts "Light / The Holocaust & Humanity Project", but the goings on toward the ultimate goal of promoting tolerance extend beyond that defined by any one group. The effort is a convergence of individuals and organizations across all lines of religion and ethnicity...
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"Light" Dawns in Austin
The Austin Chronicle
February 11, 2005
By Robert Faires
For six decades, survivors of the Holocaust have cried out, "Never Forget". But their message grows fainter as fewer and fewer of them survive to remind us. Many have wondered, as they pass on, who will take up their call and speak out against bigotry and hatred? This season Ballet Austin, and the College of Education at UT-Austin are adding their voices to the cause...
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Light / The Holocaust & Humanity Project in Pittsburgh 2009
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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'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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