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Thursday, October 25, 2001
Holocaust remembered
Local ballet dancer creates 'Remembrances' in honor of friend, other survivors
By Brendan Walsh
Caller-Times

David Adame/Caller-Times

Members of the Corpus Christi Ballet rehearse 'Remembrances,' a performance in honor of friends and survivors of the Holocaust. '... It's very important to me to make sure that people always remember (the Holocaust),' choreographer Brian Honigbaum said.

When Brian Honigbaum was 8 years old, he met a man with a series of numbers tattooed on his arms. Curious, he asked what the markings were. The answer began a friendship and changed his life.
   Nazis had branded Michael Vogel with those markings.
   Over the years, Vogel told Honigbaum about the Holocaust and the three years he spent as a prisoner at Auschwitz, the notorious Nazi concentration camp. A Jew himself, Honigbaum was struck by Vogel's account and the history he learned as he grew older and grew closer to Michael and his wife, Agnes, who was the secretary at the dance school where Honigbaum took lessons.
   Memorial to self
   Inspired by "Schindler's List" and concerned that the number of Holocaust survivors was decreasing, Honigbaum, a professional dancer with the Corpus Christi Ballet, decided to choreograph a dance as his own Holocaust memorial.
   "Remembrances" is Honigbaum's tribute to survivors as well as a vehicle for education. It will make its debut as part of the Corpus Christi Ballet's Saturday evening performance. It will be presented again on Sunday afternoon, then for area students on Monday.
   While Vogel was the impetus for the project and the person to whom it's dedicated, Honigbaum also sought out other survivors, read books and did research at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum to help him write his ballet.

David Adame/Caller-Times

'Remembrance' is a 45-minute piece that loosely chronicles the experience of a fictional Jewish family.

   "What I've tried to do is tell the story through dance," Honigbaum said. "There's not many survivors left ... and it's very important to me to make sure that people always remember (the Holocaust). I've created something that can last."
   The 45-minute piece loosely chronicles the experience of a fictional Jewish family, tracing its member's lives from when the persecution began in full force to the concentration camp Auschwitz.
   Squeeze together
   One scene shows how many Jews were transported to concentration camps - up to 200 people were stuffed into railway cattle cars without food, running water or toilets for

What: "Remembrances," to be proceeded by "Prince Igor," "Pas de Quatre" and "Esmeralda Pas de Deux"
When: 8 p.m. Saturday, 2 p.m. Sunday
Where: Selena Auditorium
Cost: $10 - $25 plus fees
More Info: (361) 882-4588

a three-day journey. Honigbaum illustrates this inhumanity by having the onstage dancers form a rectangle (to resemble the shape of the cattle car) and squeeze together as tight as possible. They then move around the stage as a group, with several people dropping out to show the death that inevitably took place on these voyages. The dancers "are very uncomfortable, but that's a good thing because the audience senses that," Honigbaum said.
   Between scenes, recorded accounts of Holocaust survivors' experiences will be played.

David Adame/Caller-Times

This rehearsal of the Corpus Christi Ballet depicts a firing squad during the Holocaust.

   Russian-born, Indianapolis-based cellist Polina Umansky will play "Kol Nidre" during the performance.
   In dedication
   Michael Vogel passed away in November, before he got the chance to see the dance that was dedicated to him. His widow, Agnes, will be at a performance this weekend. She said that her husband would be honored by the dance, and she's just as sure "Remembrances" will do some good.
   "I think it's very important for young people to learn about (the Holocaust) and what it was, and what caused it. If they learn about it they can, in some way, prevent it so that it won't happen again," she said. "Especially today with the things that we're going through - it's good for the young people to see what happened before."

   Contact Brendan Walsh at 886-3763 or walshb@caller.com

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