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I walked into the theater Friday night with trepidation. A ballet about the Holocaust? It seemed to me like a mine field of a subject, humanly impossible to get through without falling victim to cliched or offensive traps. It could so easily have been slightly off, so easily have been so wrong. Instead, Light has left me breathless. My dear Ballet Austin, for once, did everything right.
You literally could feel the tender loving care injected into every single minute detail. Everyone was so fully committed to the process of making the ballet, that the product speaks for itself. The support and credibility of the Warren Foundation and other major players only serves to strengthen and contextualize it, for Light stands firmly on its own merits.The ballet is made up of five distinct sections, born from the common threads of survivors' individual experiences. Each section has different music (existing music by Steve Reich, Evelyn Glennie, Michael Gordon, Arvo Part, and Philip Glass,) but the tone works harmoniously. The minimalist design (Christopher McCollum) mirrored the metaphorical approach. The twenty dancers danced nearly all of the entire 75-minute show (no intermission.) Looking stronger and leaner than ever before, they were just about flawless. They have been tested physically and emotionally, and it's obvious they've emerged from this process enriched as artists.
Mills has apparently grown, too. His choreography was completely appropriate at all times, and most of it looked vastly different from anything of his I've seen before. One section was based on an earlier ballet, Ashes. However, he made major changes, and it fit seamlessly with the rest. I cannot describe in words this ballet's beauty. Mills managed to effectively convey enormous concepts through powerful imagery. But, it was subtle, not snobbishly weird or overpowering. It's as if he suggested a metaphor, one that was accessable to the entire audience (which included, I believe, a large number of first-timers to the ballet.)
I am confident Light , Stephen Mills, and Ballet Austin will receive great exposure. The ballet is, I think, universally significant. I've always thought dance to be the most communicative of the arts. Now, I am sure of it. A picture may be worth a thousand words, but dance, this ballet in particular, is worth a billion.
