“Memoryhouse” ballet. Photo: RACHEL WEBER “Memoryhouse,” a World War II and Holocaust-themed created by Los Angeles-native Melissa Barak, will have its world premiere at the Broad Stage this weekend. For Barak, it’s the culmination of her decades as a dancer and lifetime of interest in wartime-themed performances.
The premiere of “Memoryhouse” marks Barak’s first long-formproduction. She describes the ballet as “an abstract work composed of vignettes commemorating World War II and in particular, the Holocaust,” adding that it reflects both the “somber as well as more heroic moments that illuminate this period in human history.”
And she’s quite excited about the cast.
“The cast of dancers have been so collaborative,” Barak told the Journal. “It is such a joy to work with dancers who have their own unique approaches and instincts when it comes to movement creation; it enriches the entire creative process.”
The music in “Memoryhouse” is set to German-born British composer Max Richter’s album of the same name. Richter’s album, originally released in 2002, was inspired by another horrific genocide, the Kosovo War in the late 1990s It was the first recording released under his own name , and in the last 21 years, Richter has become one of the most renowned contemporary classical composers in the world. Reviewing the album’s 2014 reissue, Pitchfork media called it “audacious but careful, intimate but vivid, innovative but reverent Hismusic was most recently featured in the HBO series, “The Last of Us,” where “On the Nature of Daylight was heard at the end of the series’ third episode, “Long, Long Time.”
Audiences around the world are captivated by Richter’s music — including Barak.
“The music is just so expressive and haunting and it really takes you on a journey of some kind,” Barak said. “This album really created the ideal backdrop for this ballet.”
The 43-year-old Barak has been dancing since she was eight. In fact, she teaches in the upper school of where her own training began, the Westside School of Ballet.
Her continued excitement for sharing the fundamentals of dance was on display in a social media post where Barak was asked what her favorite ballet step is.
“I personally always loved the renversé — it’s when you swing your leg around the back, and it’s a big port de bras with your upper body and head,” Barak wrote in a social media post. “It’s usually if you hit that right counterbalance, you can really sustain and linger on point. I love the renversé!”
At age 17, Barak began what would be a nine-year residency as a dancer for The New York City Ballet. In 2001, Barak received the prestigious Mae L. Wien Young Choreographer Award. The late Wein, a daughter of Jewish immigrants from Russia and France, along with her husband Larry were generous donors to arts and educational institutions, including Lincoln Center, New York City Ballet, Brandeis University and Columbia University.
Two years after the opening of the Los Angeles Ballet in 2004, Barak returned to Los Angeles to continue her career. In August 2022, Barak was named the new artistic director for the Los Angeles; after years of pandemic-related delays, “Memoryhouse” will be Barak’s first production as artistic director. While it’s a glorious moment for Barak, the dark undertones of the Holocaust themes in “Memoryhouse” will be on full display.
“I hope people are of course moved by it, moved emotionally but also intellectually,” Barak said. “Hopefully it pushes everyone to have conversations and to remember this dark part of human history.”
You can see the world premiere of “Memoryhouse” at The Broad Stage (1310 11th St. Santa Monica, 90401) June 16-17 at 7:30pm For more tickets and more information, please visit Los Angeles Ballet
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