Home Dance Memoryhouse at The Wallis Explores a Challenging Subject with Passion and Dedication

Memoryhouse at The Wallis Explores a Challenging Subject with Passion and Dedication

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Memoryhouse at The Wallis Explores a Challenging Subject with Passion and Dedication

In the Bram Goldsmith Theatre, The Wallis teams with the Los Angeles Ballet to revive Melissa Barak’s Memoryhouse, a ballet choreographed to the 2002 Max Richter album.

By John Lavitt

Beverly Hills, CA (The Hollywood Times) 01-31-2025

Memoryhouse is an abstract investigation of themes about the Second World War and the Holocaust created by the Los Angeles Ballet’s Artistic Director Melissa Barak. Her first full-evening work for the ballet, first performed on the Broadstage in 2023, the revival marks the coming together of the Los Angeles Ballet and the Wallis Annenberg Foundation for the Performing Arts. Taking advantage of the intimate setting of the Bram Goldsmith Theatre, the ballet conveys, through emotional abstraction, the extremity of the experiences of European Jewry during the Second World War.

Perhaps the most significant gap in the presentation is its lack of storytelling. Focusing on emotional abstraction, if the presentation did not inform the audience beforehand of the ballet’s contextual underpinning, they would not know what was being conveyed. The emotional abstraction becomes more palpable and easier to understand with the information in hand. Still, more storytelling and contextualization in the ballet would help take it to the next level. After all, you cannot occupy a Memoryhouse without memories.

Presented in association with Glorya Kaufman Presents Dance at The Music Center, the interactive settings of the ballet at The Wallis, with subtle video effects conveying rain, snow, dense forests, and looming walls, proved effective. There is no question that Max Richter’s haunting soundtrack highly influenced Barak and formed the backbone of the storytelling. When asked by Stage And Cinema about the challenge of doing a ballet about the Holocaust, Barak explained:

“Dance is tricky in a sense. The story of the Holocaust has such a darkness and a weight to it, the last thing you would want is for dance to take something of that nature too literally. For me, it was all about keeping it symbolic, removing the personal emotion as performers and to approach it as a ballet that focuses on symbolism and poetry.”

Los Angeles Ballet
The Dedication and Passion of the Los Angeles Ballet’s Company

Indeed, when it comes to a genocidal tragedy on the scale of the Holocaust, focusing a performance piece on symbolism and poetry is a challenging task. Although not wholly successful, one cannot help but admire Barak’s courage in taking on the challenge. Moreover, the company of the Los Angeles ballet is powerful and intense from beginning to end. There is no questioning the quality of the dancing and the dancers’ dedication.

The Los Angeles Ballet’s Memoryhouse at The Wallis is a moving experience that conveys collective stories of loss and fragmentation. Running on January 30, 31, and February 1, 2025, tickets are still available for those willing to take this challenging journey. As the start of a new partnership between The Wallis and the Los Angeles Ballet, Memoryhouse opens a vibrant door in the cultural landscape of Los Angeles County.