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Chaddick Dance Theater Goes From Dark To Light

Updated: Friday, February 10 2012, 02:31 PM CST
By Rob Faubion, Austin On Stage www.austinonstage.com

Part of Ballet Austin's three-month long “Light/The Holocaust and Humanity Project,” the March 1 through 3 shows explore issues of the Holocaust, human rights and spirituality.

Local dance company Chaddick Dance Theater will negotiate issues of human rights with Dark to Light, a multi-dimensional performance exploring the issues of the Holocaust, genocide and spirituality through the lens of Cheryl Chaddick’s choreography and kinetic style.  The Chaddick Dance Theater’s fourth annual performance - part of Ballet Austin’s three month-long "Light/The Holocaust and Humanity Project" - will run March 1st through 3rd at 8 p.m. AustinVentures Studio Theater at Ballet Austin's downtown headquarters.
    
The four-part performance will incorporate Chaddick Dance Theater’s organic, full-body style and signature theatrical expression with deep-seated cultural and personal issues about spirituality, human rights and bigotry.  The first Dark to Light piece, entitled “The Hands of Man before the Hands of God,” is a personally-inspired group performance that features nine dancers from Southern Methodist University - where Chaddick initially submitted the piece for an alumni competition. The piece dramatizes the spiritual battle Chaddick underwent in her youth as she first learned about the Holocaust and questioned the existence of a God who would let such atrocities occur.
   
The second piece, “Scatterings of Light,” expands upon that struggle, dramatizing Chaddick’s agnostic beliefs and the question “what if there was something or someone?”  The third performance piece, “Driftwood,” features a duet choreographed and performed by guest artists Maia McCoy and Katherine Hodges.
     
The final installment - “He Said, She Said” portrays a conversation between the sexes, bending the boundary between the stage and the audience.  The collaborative effort work features Chaddick’s choreography and the music and dancing of University of Texas graduate student John Michael Hunt.
    
During each performance, Chaddick will feature interviews and testimonies from the University of Southern California’s Shoah Foundation Institute.  In these testimonies, survivors and other witnesses of the Holocaust will share memories of their experiences - of life before the genocide, of hiding, the ghettos, the camps, liberation and life after the Holocaust.
     
Tickets are $15 on Thursday and $18 on Friday and Saturday, with $12 tickets for students and seniors for all performances.  A choreographer post-show presentation will be offered on Thursday, with a champagne reception following the Friday night performance.
    
The AustinVentures Studio Theater is located at 501 W. 3rd Street in Ballet Austin's downtown headquarters.  For tickets and more information, visit www.ChaddickDanceTheater.com.

(Photo by Rene Michaels)
Chaddick Dance Theater Goes From Dark To Light