KEEPING MEMORY ALIVE
Memoryhouse, which premiered in 2023 as the first full-length ballet directed by Los Angeles Ballet’s new Artistic Director Melissa Barak, is an abstract work composed of vignettes commemorating World War II, all of which focus on aspects before, during, and after the Holocaust. Barak choreographed the ballet to Max Richter’s powerful 2002 album in its entirety in the order recorded, with all the original electronic voices, sounds, and touches in place. It features 18 movements set to the album tracks, some of which connect with each other while others live on their own.
Shintaro Akana and Aviva Gelfer-Mundl
Blending modern, traditional, and abstract dance forms, the flowing movements take you on a journey of emotional reflection about a world in which 6 million Jewish souls were lost because a dictator felt they were in his way to total domination. And given what is going on in our country today with mass roundups and deportations of “undesirables,” it is a perfect time to experience Memoryhouse as it shares the fear and despair among detainees, with the search for connection and human bonding still surviving and always an essential part of our existence.
Ensemble
With its gripping ensembles and intense partner pieces, often performed behind a scrim with stunning immersive projections by Sebastian Peschiera), movements are designed to recall the feelings of powerlessness when people are forced to be in hiding, unable to interact with the world they formerly knew. This was especially true during the first two movements which begin with Europe, After the Rain during which 8 dancers frolic in the woods during a rainstorm. Perhaps it’s their last day to feel free in nature before being captured, or perhaps the projections were meant to represent the walls of a concentration camp from which they cannot escape as birds fly free above them.
Paige Wilkey and Evan Swenson
In the second movement, Maria, The Poet (1913), we first meet a woman as she glances out a window from within a flat in a ghetto apartment building, terrified at losing the world she knew for the one in which she now finds herself. Soon she is joined by three other dancers, each of whom lighten her spirit by dancing behind the transparent wall of windows, where, by the end, all four look out longingly at a place where they do not feel welcome to be. Their desperation in the face of isolation had me remembering what it felt to live during the initial COVID epidemic when going outside could be potentially deadly, and we all did what we thought was best to survive—lonely as it was.
Lilly Fife (above) and ensemble
In Sarajevo, projections and the exquisite lighting by Nathan Scheuer create a snowy world from under tall lampposts where two troikas of dancers, each with one woman and two men, dance in the wintery wonderland with great abandon. This movement leads into Andras, during which two wonderfully expressive dancers, Cesar Ramirez-Castellano and Jacob Soltero, celebrate friendship and human connection, demonstrating that even in the face of isolation, the need for connection keeps us alive. Their many leaps and ardent affection for each other offers a heartwarming look at how strong the human spirit remains in the face of despair.
Julianne Kinasiewicz (in blue) and Evan Swenson
For those preferring classic ballet, Act II opens with Jan’s Notebook during which four people sit around a table, perhaps enjoying their last meal together (Holly Hynes‘ dresses for the women are a standout). But as it progresses, the “father” figure appears to remember a lovely young woman with free-flowing hair in a diaphanous silver dress who enters the scene dancing on toe shoes during Arbenita (11 Years). The two dancers, Paige Wilkey and Evan Swenson, perform a classically romantic pas-de-deux during which dream-like lifts will make your spirit soar while remembering the power of first love, and the pain of heartbreak when the movement ends and she dances off while the man re-joins his family at the table in Garden (1973) / Interior. After dancing through their fears about being separated, they leave the stage downtrodden into the unknown.
Ensemble
Projections setting scenes were replaced in Act II by a moveable, large white set piece designed by BA Collective that morphed from a table in the above movements to a large white slide upon which several dancers slowly slid down and then crawled back up, often passing under the legs of dancers standing above them. It was clear to me that none of them wanted to reach the end of the slide, which represented their deaths, given when they finally reach the bottom together and disappear into darkness, millions of birds were released via projections, representing all the souls lost during the Holocaust.
Ensemble
The ballet ends with Last Days, which expresses, as director Barak shares, “the defiant and resolute nature of the dancers’ commitment to uprising and survival. Ultimately, Memoryhouse is meant to stir the soul and instill an emotional connection to one of human history’s darkest chapters. Now more than ever, it is a chapter we must learn from and never forget.” And she has brilliantly and artistically succeeded. Now the world needs to never forget.
Poppy Coleman and Abigail Gross
photos by Cheryl Mann Photography
Memoryhouse
Bram Goldsmith Theater
Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts
9390 N. Santa Monica Blvd, Beverly Hills
85 minutes with one intermission
ends on February 1, 2025
for tickets (starting at $59), call 310.746.4000 or visit The Wallis
{ 1 comment… read it below or add one }
I couldn’t agree more. This was an emotionally moving experience that will stick with me for a long time. The more modern and abstract choreography in the first half works beautifully with the themes and settings. In general, I do not care for the use of a scrim as it always seems to obscure the action to some degree. In Memoryhouse, the scrim and the incredibly effective projections become a character enhancing the entire viewing experience. The absence of the scrim in Act II is almost jarring as real life comes into sharp focus. The more traditional ballet feel to the second half works well in the unshaded light of a more carefree existence leading to a dire end.